Questions tagged [gears]
Gears in the drivetrain of a bike.
745 questions
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What are the pros and cons of internal gears?
I've had my hybrid 24-speed for a bit over 3 years now, and just last weekend, when looking for a bike for my wife, discovered internal gears. Suffice to say it blew my mind when I saw 7-speed ...
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What's the efficiency of hub gears compared to derailleurs?
What's the efficiency of hub gears compared to derailleurs? I know that hub gears are not as efficient. Apart from being heavier, how much will I lose in performance if I use hub gears?
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Perfectly setting up gears - how?
Every time I have my bike serviced, the bike shop sets up the gears on a stand in their workshop. The gears change perfectly on the stand, but when the bike is on the road, the rear derailleur doesn't ...
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Why are most bicycle gears designed to have so much overlap
For bikes with a front derailleur, I've noticed that the gearing ratios of most bicycles are not linear, and there is an odd "overlap" between those power ratios as you switch from one front gear to ...
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How bad is switching derailleur gears under load?
I have heard several times the wisdom that you should not switch derailleur gears while pedalling hard ("under load"). The "right way", according to those people, is to pick up ...
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Help Me Understand My Bicycle's Gears
I've recently started commuting with a bicycle (Giant hybrid bicycle). I've been trying to learn a little about bicycling to make my commute easier and my time on the bicycle more enjoyable. Please ...
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Can you shift both the front and back gears simultanously?
Is it advisable to shift both the front and back gear simultaneously? Can this cause any damage?
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Pedaling at different gear ratios on flat terrain: what's the point?
I have seen many cyclist pedaling at different gear ratios on the same (flat) terrain and cruising at (roughly) the same speed. They move quite fast, but when I look at how fast they pedal, I realize ...
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14 "Trashed" bikes acquired for free. Worth repairing and reselling? What do I look for?
Very new to this, bike repair specifically. I tried my best with the tags. I'm mechanically inclined, like to tinker, and have many tools (not bike specific). Learning and time aren't really an issue. ...
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What is the simplest way to lower the gearing on my touring bike?
I have a 2004 Jamis Aurora with a 52/42/30 triple and an 11-32 cassette in the back. 30x32 (25.3 gear inches) being the lowest gear is frustrating for the hilly terrain where I live (e.g., 7% grade ...
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Does riding high gear up a hill damage a recumbent bike?
I have a recumbent trike with 26 gears. While normally I would shift to a low gear when going up a hill, I found that I can go up hills in the highest gear, the configuration that gives me the fastest ...
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Always cycling in highest gear, why?
For all my life I have noticed that I always cycle in the highest gear (most of my bikes had at least 3x7, so it wasn't a lack of options) whilst most serious cyclists cycle on relatively low gears ...
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New to Bikes: My chain fell off and I put it back on. How can I know if it's on the right cog?
I am new to bikes not ridden one since I was 11 I am now 63!
I have a mountain bike and never used gears before they are mind boggling.
I went out and rode it no problem but trying gear changes I don'...
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Is a 1:1 gear ratio the same regardless of the specific gear sizes?
I have a gravel 1by bike with 42t and a 11-42 cassette. I also have a road bike with 50-34t and then 11-34 cassette. My question. When going uphill in easiest gear in both, they would both be a 1:1 ...
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10 gears to singlespeed
My second hand Hercules bicycle came with 10 gears. Two gears in the front and five in the back. The gearshift does not work well and since I cycle in the same gear all the time anyway, I consider ...
- 1,528
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Worries about a gear ratio of 1:1?
I'm planning a randonneur-like bike with drop bars, STI shifters, and nevertheless some low gears. The crankset could be a "compact plus" (I guess from Sugino), 44 and 28 teeths, and the cassette a ...
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How efficient is string bike? Is this really a revolutionary bike?
Bicycles are getting evolved with good technologies or methodologies as the period changes. Now, this one bike, so called string bike has been introduced, which doesn't have chain, derailleur but ...
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Bike mechanic told me: Gear cable too "springy"
I bought a new groupset and I tried installing it all myself.
Somewhere I must have messed up, because I could not get it to shift precisely. I took the bike to my local bike mechanic. He told me he ...
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Why does my gear slip when going uphill / standing?
I have a road bike that I use to commute ~6 miles to work every day. Some of the portions of the ride are at a steep incline, and I've noticed that when I get up to stand on some of these hills, my ...
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Setting chain length
My chain broke and in a moment of silliness (I was cold wet and slightly annoyed) I threw the broken one away before thinking about measuring the new one.
Is there a guide to getting the chain ...
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Should I clean the grease off the gears?
I usually keep my chain well lubricated. However, my gears are usually greasy. Should I be cleaning the gears or are they supposed to be greasy?
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Why are bicycle gear ratios computed as front/rear and not the opposite?
I recently realized that when people talk about bicycle gear ratios, it's calculated as number of teeth on the (front) chainring divided by the number of teeth on the (rear) sprocket/cog.
This made me ...
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What is the purpose of so many gears?
My bike, which I love dearly, has 21 gears, which appears to now be standard among mountain bikes. Is that truly better with a bike that has, say, 7 gears? And why is it that the amount of gears a ...
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How many effective gears do I have on a 21 speed bike?
I have a 21 speed bike (a hybrid commuting bike). But AFAIK, this does not mean that I have 21 different gear ratios. Is there any way to calculate the different gear ratios?
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While pedaling standing up, bike crank gives in as if shifting, what is causing this?
While standing up and pedaling, the cranks give in as if shifting.
It seams like I am shifting down, but my hands are off the shifter, almost like the chain is skipping a link.
I took it to a bike ...
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Does gear ratio affect Power?
Let me preface by saying that this may not be the right SE. I considered asking on the Physics SE, but I thought I might try here first. If it is wrong, I am not against it being migrated.
From basic ...
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How to position a bike for work without a stand
I want to tweak my gears, from time to time: Adjust my front and rear derailleur limits, see if the shifts are smooth, make small adjustments on the cable tension, and so on.
Is there any way to get ...
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Is there a word for the range of "difficulty to pedal"?
On an older bike I had 21 gears with two blocks of chainrings (one at the pedals and one in the back). Currently I have 8 gears with a shimano system where the chain does not hop on different ...
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Why do I constantly have to re-index gears?
I've got a road bike with a high end 11 speed groupset that is about 3 years / 30,000 km old. Chain and cassette have both been replaced recently (i.e. 500 km ago).
What I'm experiencing is a constant ...
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How to avoid wearing out gears?
I have a Specialized Tricross which I bought new last year.
In that time (approximately 1K miles), I wore out my chain and gears. At least two of my gears are still slipping, even with a new chain.
...
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2
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Moving from Shimano 9- to Shimano 10- speed
I'm thinking of changing the 9-speed Tiagra rear mech on one of my (road) bikes to something, still Shimano, but 10-speed.
The obvious replacements I'll need are cassette, right-shifter and chain. But ...
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My bike goes up one gear at a time, but down two: is this normal?
Just over a year ago I bought a new bike (a Giant Escape 3) with a trigger gear system - my previous one had a grip-twist to change gears.
After riding and experimenting for a while, I was able to ...
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How to fix front gear taking 2 shifts just to move onto next cog
I was out on a ride yesterday and several times when I was changing up and down between big chain ring and little chain ring (I only have the 2 rings up front) it required 2 gear changes. The gears ...
- 2,209
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3
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What is the impact of changing to a smaller chainring?
My road bike has a Campagnolo Veloce gearset. It's running 53 and 39 tooth chainrings. I have a 13-25 10sp cassette.
I find that a lot of the time when I'm cruising, I'm on the big chainring and in ...
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Why do front gears become harder when the cassette becomes larger but opposite for the rear ones?
I noticed on mine and other road bikes that the "big" front gear becomes "harder" (more distance per revolution) when it switches to the bigger cassette. That makes sense, larger ...
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8
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Shimano Revoshift twist grip unusably tight
Shimano twist grip shifter on Apollo Neo 6 girls bike. I bought this bike 6 months ago for my 7 year old.
After getting it serviced at 99 Bikes the shifter was so stiff my daughter couldn’t change ...
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Chain skipping on some gears
I have an old cruising bike with 21 gears. A few months ago I was pedalling back home when my chain broke, and I was only able to get the chain replaced this week. After having it replaced I noticed ...
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What liquid should I use in an ultrasonic cleaner?
I've ordered an ultrasonic cleaner, to clean up greasy, oily bike parts like chains and cassettes. I want to get them fully clean of contaminants and try a wax-based lubricant.
What kind of liquid ...
- 13k
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Can double chainrings be used with a clutch-type rear derailleur?
I've been reading up on Sram's CX1 1x11 cyclocross-specific group. It hinges on two technologies to minimize the potential for dropped-chains/chainslap. The CX1 clutch rear-derailleur keeps the chain ...
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Are single-speed bikes better equipped to handle cog/chain wear?
I need to decide between a single-speed and multiple-speed bike.
I usually ride multiple-speed mountain/city bikes in the highest gear anyway (around town). They're not intended for that, and doing ...
- 1,595
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Simultaneous clang, hesitation and drop when I pedal with any weight
Background: New chain, new bottom bracket, new front derailleur, new shifters, new brakes.
This is a cheap Walmart Mongoose that I'm trying to keep riding and upgraded some of the components recently, ...
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3
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What is the generic name for the gear shifter where you have one trigger for the up shift and another for down shift?
I recently bought a bike with new advanced gear shifters where you can shift easily as the shifter has a trigger for the up shift and downshift? I would like to replace the twist shifter in my old ...
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What range of sprockets is useful in a road bike cassette?
My road bike currently has a 27/39/53 crankset and a 13-26 cassette, both of which need to be replaced.
I occasionally find myself in both extremes—while heading up the very steep hills of the Bay ...
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For steep hills, should I train harder or get lower gears?
I’ve just done a 1500km ultra cycling event, the lowest gear setup are front 30t back 40t. Along the journey there are many very long climbs that have more than 10% gradient. To conserve power I ...
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Chain slipping on newish bike
I've looked at most of the answers for related questions and they all speak about replacing parts that are old.
I just bought a new bike from a friend who rode the bike for about a month before ...
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2
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Do I have Direct Mount or Hanger Mount?
I'm very very new to bicycles and obtained a little project for me to work on, hence the amount of rust on the parts currently but I'm not sure if I have a direct or hanger mount derailleur? I'm 100% ...
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Get a tougher gear on Shimano GRX, 11-34T, 2x11
I have a new 2021 Cube Nuroad Race gravel bike with Shimano GRX, 11-34T, 2x11.
I am used to riding a road bike, and find on the new one I don't need the easiest gears on the hills, but could use a ...
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Is there a difference between big chainring and big sprocket, and small chainring and small sprocket?
I am using a road bike as commuter its and old bike and have weird front gear selection 52 and 42.
So I took it to work this morning and thought that for a change I will ride it on big gears. While I ...
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Bike not changing correctly between two gears
I have only recently started riding to work and I've been given a bike by a friend which is in reasonably good shape.
For the way things are working out I keep the front gear in the same position and ...
- 1,509
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Cassette teeth design
I'm new to the bicycles scene and was trying to 3D draw a bicycle.
I'm currently trying to draw an 11 speed 11-30T cassette but I quickly noticed that the design of the teeth of the gears are quite ...
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