What's your favourite gear ratio?

tl:dr

If it's a 90s race then the effort is anaerobic. The rider is not clearing co2 from the blood.

Nobody actually races like this, so all cycling - because it required more than one short effort - is an endurance sport as it's commonly understood.

...therefore efficiency matters ...this is where cadence comes in. So on and so forth.

It's really well documented and available to read online.

The body doesn't ever use only one energy pathway. However, one is dominant at any given time.

Cadence alone won't determine the effort so it's all moot.

And I'm pretty sure anaerobic isn't the most dominant energy pathway in most circumstances with a sub 90rpm cadence.

It definitely isn't, unless the effort is sub 90s and maximum effort. Therefore it is an endurance sport #ffs

I'm not sure you are reading my posts properly. 90s = 90 seconds.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Does the sprinter and the endurance athlete require the same cadence?

No. @xavierdisley is your man for exact numbers, but generally the longer the race, the lower the cadence. Once you get past a kilo, though, the range isn't huge. Somebody who rides pursuits at 110rpm might drop down to 90rpm by the time they get to a 100 mile TT

Even a track sprinter rides for more than 90 seconds

Not at anything like maximal effort. In a match sprint, worst case is going from the gun which will be about 65s for elites, if the serious acceleration doesn't happen until close to the bell then there's well under 30s of real effort.

When I'm home I'll have a look at my numbers, since starting to run lowers gear I've definitely gotten faster.

I was moving 49/18 and higher speed and obviously higher cadence than I was on 53/18. And now when I get onto a bigger gear, after a mile or so of getting used to it I'm even faster again, it's been pretty useful.

I'm not having problems maintaining 20mph on 49/20 and also ok getting to 25mph for a little while. This is obviously personal and hopefully I'll get better.

Do you ride with brake/s? If I did I'd probably ride a slightly bigger gear and just go everywhere slightly faster.

I had a break from cycling for about a year as I sold up preparing to go abroad but that fell through. Also, I needed to do more walking and standing up to bring some balance back to my body. Anyway, new bike (secondhand) and swapped the bars out which left me with no brakes for a week. Just fitted a front brake so will definitely go for a bigger gear now.

Can I talk geared bikes here?
Switched out my 53/39 for a compact 50/34 - running a 12-26 rear cassette.
WOW - huge difference to the enjoyment of riding. I've stuck with the 53/39 combo for ever and never really touched the last 2 cogs at the back for any length of time. Went for a ride today on the compact chainset and I was faster everywhere (according to strava) and I utilised all the cogs on the back. I'm sure if I was on a long descent I'd feel under geared but since I'm in the UK that's unlikely to happen. Knees feel better too. Dunno why I persisted with 'standard' chainset for so long!

and just to keep it fixed - 49/17 is the most fun for everyday riding

That's why I run 46/30.

Nice selection of cog in the middle without resorting to an MTB cassette.

The magic of a new thing = 37 watts.

is this 37 watts quantifiable? Show me the data!
You are probably close to the truth but it does definitely feel better having amore useable spread of gears (not a pro...) Basically was more comfortable spinning at just the right effort. Dunno if it will have an adverse effect or not.

The main negative for me is now I have a set of nice force cranks sitting unused.

It does actually make you see the sense of 11 speed I guess - a gear for every scenario.
Does also make you wonder why a lot of OTP bikes come with 53/39 when 50/34 is probably better for most people. Macho ideas I guess.

Now OTP road bicycle is starting to come with 52/36 on account of the 11 speed having a much more usable range.

53/39 make sense when I'm riding in a group shielded from the wind.

can't believe this thread is still live. god in heaven people must be soooooo bored

@conker Beats talking football

Just dropped my GI to 66.4 (running 48/19). Teaching my legs to "spin to win!"

Using 72-81" at the mo (48/18-48/16) I'm Leicester based though so different terrain to London. Thought 72" was spinny but may try a smaller gear and see what getting it spinning more is like. Quite like it geared at 81" unless I get slammed with a headwind :-/

Gearing of the seven Gods.

Might be worth decreasing 1 teeth from the chainring (48/18 is 70.5GI with 25mm tyres) instead of the cog, as the decrease is much smaller.

47/18 is 69.1GI, and 46/18 is 67.6GI.

48-19 is just such a fun gearing. Urge to wheelie like a dick is constant.

Need to get some different chainrings, have only played with changing the rear sprockets so far.

I'm currently enjoying 46/17 on my Cube Agree GTC Pro here in Ayrshire. Pretty hard going on some of the hills but I'm averaging +1 to +2mph on my normal commutes than I did when it was geared! Plus that combo is the "magic gear" which I happened upon first attempt! Result!

For my CX bike 40/18 does me for the moment in most cases.