Wrong bike?

Hi all. I've just got my old mountain bike out after a while and went for a ride on it. It seems that on the flat, I can cycle in top gear (21st) very easily, any kind of decline and I'm pedalling faster than the pedals can go and on a slight incline I'm having to down as far as 8th gear. Do I need to get a road bike? are the gears differently 'spaced' on them? I'd like to have more of a range.

Thanks for looking.
«1

Comments

  • DavidT67
    DavidT67 Posts: 382
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    How many rings on the front of the chain where the pedals are ?
    How many cogs on the rear wheel at the back ?
    How many teeth on the smallest and largest cogs ? (May be written on them)

    For steep uphill you want smallest ring at front and biggest cog at the rear.
    For downhill big ring at the front and smallest cog at the rear.

    If you are using the gears correctly you should be fine on most gradients and not spinning out.

    Hope this helps
  • Hebrews12
    Hebrews12 Posts: 111
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    There are 3 large and 7 small cogs. Not sure about teeth. I'm pretty sure that I'm using the gears correctly - there just doesn't seem to be much range between the highest and lowest gears. I was wondering if using a road bike may be better than using a mountain bike.
  • DavidT67
    DavidT67 Posts: 382
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Impossible to say without knowing the specific gear ratios...
    Usually Mountain bikes have a wider range than road bikes, but that's a generalisation.

    Best to read a few websites about bike gear ratios and work out what you want to achieve.
  • esuhl
    esuhl Posts: 9,409
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Hebrews12 wrote: »
    There are 3 large and 7 small cogs. Not sure about teeth.

    You really need to count the teeth on the largest and smallest gears (front and back) to know what gear ratios you have.

    You could change the gears so you have more teeth at the front, and/or fewer at the back, so in the highest gear, the pedals wouldn't spin so fast.

    You might possibly be able to change the rear gear (and d!railleur and gear shifter) to use 8, 9 or 10 gears instead of 7, giving you a bigger range. Although I assume that adds the bigger "easier" gears, so you'd need to change the chainrings too...?
  • dunroving
    dunroving Posts: 1,881
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Forumite
    Bikes are a potential money pit in the sense that you can easily get sucked into getting new kit (or a new bike!) that you don't really need.

    If you ride alone, there are two main questions: (1) is it comfortable (perhaps the most important question of all)?, and (2) does it suit the type of riding you do? If the gears allow you to ride up, down, on the level on the routes you ride, I'd say don't spend your money on new gears. Spinning out on the downhill is only an issue if you ride downhill a lot and want to go as fast as you possibly can.

    After 20 years, I have just got my Litespeed MTB a whole new drivetrain (front/rear gears, crankset and chain). The new gearing means I still run out of gears going downhill on the Crow Road, but only after I hit the 30 mph mark. I don't especially want to go any faster than that! I don't run out of gears going UP the Crow Road (a long, steep 2-mile hill), and THAT is more important for me.

    If you plan to ride in a group, or in events where you want to maintain a higher speed, only then would I suggest looking at alternatives. If you are riding mainly for pleasure and fitness, it doesn't really matter if you are riding a heavier MTB with chunky tires.
    (Nearly) dunroving
  • Gloomendoom
    Gloomendoom Posts: 16,550
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I swapped the fat knobbly tyres on my MTB for smooth tyres (Shwalbe Marathons IIRC) and it felt like a different bike. Far easier to pedal generally and a lot easier to keep in higher gears on inclines.
  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,816
    Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker First Anniversary
    Forumite
    It's not the fact it's a mountain bike that's the issue, it's just the age as seven gear at the back gives a limited range compared to cassettes with more gears. The difference between road and mountain bike gearing tends to be not the range but how high or low that range is, my ten speed mountain bike and road bike actually have the same cassette at the back but the mountain bike has smaller chainrings at the front to give it lower gearing while the road bike has bigger chainrings for a better top speed.

    As others have said, it's important to find out what cassette and gearing you currently have as it may be possible to replace the cassette with one that has a higher range. You may be able to find the gearing by looking closely at the cogs in the cassette and looking for a number stamped on each cog in the 11-32 range - for example, if you use the magnifying tool on the picture for this cassette, you can see the 12T stamped on the first cog:

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sram-pg730-7-speed-mtb-cassette/rp-prod6387
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Newbie
    edited 11 November 2017 at 12:12PM
    You refer to "8th gear", but how can you possibly have sorted 21 different ratios into ascending order if you haven't already counted the teeth on each gear?

    Once you know the number of teeth you may find this helpful.
  • dunroving
    dunroving Posts: 1,881
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Forumite
    Be careful about simply buying a new rear cassette (cassette = the rear gears with all the cogs) as this may not solve your problem. Depending on how many gears you have, the rest of your set-up may not allow you to just switch out cassettes.You may need to buy a new chain, a new derailleur, and/or the cassette may simply not fit into the frame.

    What you do depends a lot on how serious you are about your cycling, how often you will ride, whether you will ride alone, etc. You could end up spending a lot of money on upgrades, then get involved with a local club and decide you need a road bike, in which case the expensive upgrades to your MTB will have been wasted.

    The simplest upgrade that will add to your comfort might be, as someone else suggested, buying some smoother tyres. The Schwalbes are bulletproof but are also heavier than many other tyres. They can also be very difficult to fit, unless you have lots of experience fitting tyres. I had some on a city bike (sort of a hybrid, but closer to road bike type frame) - they were Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. Very smooth ride on pavement and paths.

    I'm a big fan of the local bike shop (LBS). If your LBS is trustworthy, they will give you good advice - maybe take your bike along and ask for their advice. Many cities now have bike shops that are run by cooperatives, so prices are kept down and they have a good community spirit. Many of them even run basic repair and maintenance classes.

    I have a classic Litespeed mountain bike, over 20 years old, 26 inch tyres (you rarely see 26 inch tyres these days, it's all "plus" size - 27.5 inches, 29 inches). I recently paid £600 to my LBS to replace my 20-year-old original 3 x 7 set-up with a 2 x 11 set-up. New gears front and back, new crankset, new bottom bracket, new chain, new derailleur. This bike is my baby, I love it. £600 well-spent, and has completely changed the feel and operation of the bike. I only spent this much because I knew exactly what I needed and the bike just feels right so I didn't want to sell it and buy a new one.
    (Nearly) dunroving
  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,816
    Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker First Anniversary
    Forumite
    jack_pott wrote: »
    You refer to "8th gear", but how can you possibly have sorted 21 different ratios into ascending order if you haven't already counted the teeth on each gear?

    Once you know the number of teeth you may find this helpful.

    I was a bit puzzled by that as well but I'm guessing they're counting eighth gear as the second/middle ring on the front and the fourth one down at the back.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards