Gear ratio

hey, I know birmingham isnt flat but it isnt super hilly either, its kinda in between (my commutes are anyway) so what is everyone riding and how does it fair??

i'm riding 48/18, seems like a good all rounder, sometimes gets too spinny on flats but nothing too crazy.

going to try 46/17 soon. not much higher but will be good for practicing skidzz. doubt i'll go much higher than that, im pretty happy round the 72" mark.

your turn.

48:18

48:18 but will; be going for 46:18 very soon... to aid the wheelies enit.

these are all the ratios ive had.

52 : 19 - Awesome

46 : 15 - 81" Brutal, would not reccomend unless you were riding clipless.

39 : 15 - Current Very Good All round Gear. About 69"

39 : 16 - Just got a 16 for the other side of my hub, might be good for longer distances and popping wheelies (not that I can wheelie of course)

48:18 is my ratio, not come across any hills in birmingham that i can't ride up on it ( the one from stirchley to kings heath is a bit of a grind though )

46 15 sounds harsh man

46:17 or 18 is better

seems like the majority of folks (well the ones who have replied) ride 48/18 or an similar gear.

so what is everyone else riding??

I knew it.

42:15
Moseley to brum everyday and sometimes to solihull. works a treat.
not many hills though, I tried 52:15 a couple of months ago and it was usable but scary fast!
38:16 on my mountain bike / freewheeled commuter for the last few years is good too as the freewheel means no spinning...

44:17 (~70") - pretty good, gets me up most hills (in fact every hill so far apart from ditchling - on the way to Brighton, but that was a killer)

46:16, which i think means i'm harder than anyone else on here. (unless i'm mistaken). i

46:16, which i think means i'm harder than anyone else on here. (unless i'm mistaken). i

We have the unknown factor of crank length, makes a big difference to the gear inches.

does 175mmmake me more hard or less?

it makes you a pussy due to the miniscule increased leverage compared to 165's

i ride 100mm cranks cos i'm solid

I might be harder? I'm on 47-17 with 170mm cranks.

42-17 ie 68" spin to win

i still think i'm pretty hard. also, i'm fairly sure that a longer or shorter crank makes no difference to gear inches. longer = more leverage, but shouldn't change the gear inches. if i've made a cursory error here though, please feel free to wade in with base insults.

You fucking thick cunt! You... err... actually, you're right. I take it back.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

Im confused now, not sure what is real.

Gear inch calculator tells me Dan is right, but I was sure that the leverage/radius of motion for the pedals made a big difference.

A brainfuck moment, gotta think about this...

Heres a good calculator if anyone needs it:

http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/rabbit.applet.html

Well dfp dan is right, but you are right that the leverage does make a difference. As you obviously know, longer lever = less force requiered to move a certain load, so longer cranks = a bit easier to pedal. But for a given gear ratio, the same distance is travelled per crank revolution regardless of crank length, thus the gear inche value remains the same. Gear inches ain't telling you exactly how difficult it's gonna be to pedal, just how far you're gonna travel per crank rev.

42:16 seems about right for me in Brum

44:17 good all round
going up to 46:17 soon/next bike

However I have my own take on ratios:- Either the chainring or cog should be a prime number so that your skid patches are high.
It's the one thing I think you should all adopt. Primes rule.

yeah, longer cranks definitely make a difference - more leverage is better for pulling away from lights and climbing steep hills. however, spinning is more difficult. i tend to bob around a lot on my saddle when i'm going over 30 miles per hour.

Heh. I accidentally bought 165's as replacement for my broken crankz, I thought they were 175's for ages and it was strange how much easier it was to spin - not massively, but it was certainly noticeable. I thought my pedaling technique had improved until I checked the crank length out of curiosity one day. what a disappointment!