Due to continued "advice and encouragement" from some of our esteemed committee members I'm trying very hard to "get out of the f..king Granny Ring"!
Two questions;
Firstly - do all mountain bikes typically have the same gearing ie The same number of sprockets on the front 3 rings and on the rear cassette?
Secondly - When in the front Granny Ring what gear on the rear sprocket would be the equivalent to the largest rear sprocket when in the middle ring at the front?
The bottom line is that I find it impossible to pedal, for any length of time, on any sort of a steep climb in the middle ring!
It's called fitness & experience. use the granny ring, if you need to. It's a macho thing. on other websites, it's uncool to drop to the middlering.
do you have a 11/32 rear or a 11/34. 2 teeth make a big difference.
the other option you have is to run a 26/36 on the front, instead of the usual 22/32/44.
I have a 26/36 shimano combo, if you want to borrow it....
This is not about being macho, plenty of people ride their granny rings. But they spin properly, I kick you for going into it when you don't need to, even for the descents. If you want to be a good mountainbiker, learn to push yourself, and you don't need a HR monitor on a Sunday Social spin or worry about cadence.
You are spinning like a mad thing.
This is definitely not about being Macho..though there are times when it is, but that only goes on between the experienced riders.
I'm not telling you to ride your middle ring because i think you are a pansy..i'm telling you to stay out of the granny when you don't need to be in it.
Trust me on this. You will get better at it.
Richie
Gears are measured in metres....put the bike in whatever gear and turn the pedals one complete revolution, measure the distance the bike traveled. You can then compare different ring/sprocket combo's to see whats comparable.
Dont get too hung up on what gear your using cause you'l figure it out soon enough. Make sure you're not using crap chainlines or you'l be snapping chains allot, ie, granny & top 3 sprockets only bla bla bla........
Fair point Richie, I thought he was just goober-concious.
RichardL.... Listen to him, he knows plenty. forget the HR monitor..
only change down when your legs stop moving...