What gear range do you use.

[Tigerbiten]

I purposely went out of my way to get silly ultra low gears on my bent trike when I bought it.
My first bent trike ended up having a range of 12.5"->100" which wasn't big enough.
The aim was sub 10" to plus 100".
Using twin IHG and twin chainrings I've 24 gears with steps of roughly 13.6% between each gear.
Hence the +1800% range of 9.4" -> 176.2"
I've also another 32 gears that are duplicates that I tend not to use .........

[whoof]

If anyone wants to use a gear calculator please see below, I know there was one posted earlier but this one has a few more features; inches, ratio, development, speed at cadence and cadence at speed.

http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

[landsurfer]

84 HIGH / 34 LOW ... Gets me everywhere....

[Scunnered]

Two of my road bikes have 11 cog cassettes and i never ever use the 11 tooth or 12 tooth on either bike, and rarely use the 13's

Shimano Ultegra 11 speed - Available in the following Ratios:
- 11-23 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23
- 11-25 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25
- 11-28 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 / 28
- 11-32 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32 <- The cassette type i have
- 12-25 = 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25

The cassette ratios i would ideally love to have is:

13-32 = 13 / 14/ 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32

Front double chainset 34/50 on summer bike / 36/46 on winter [and wet weather] bike

My winter bike has had it's supplied Ultegra 34/50 chainset swopped out for the 'Ultegra' cyclocross 36/50 which is far better fun to use in winter

My cassette has the following sprockets:

- 14 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 / 28 / 32

so it has all the gears that you actually use but on a 9-speed cassette

[reohn2]

MTB 17" to 79"(top two ratios are useless to me)
VAYA 19" to 89"

Funny you should say that.
Two of my road bikes have 11 cog cassettes and i never ever use the 11 tooth or 12 tooth on either bike, and rarely use the 13's

Shimano Ultegra 11 speed - Available in the following Ratios:
- 11-23 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23
- 11-25 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25
- 11-28 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 / 28
- 11-32 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32 <- The cassette type i have
- 12-25 = 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25

The cassette ratios i would ideally love to have is:

13-32 = 13 / 14/ 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32

Front double chainset 34/50 on summer bike / 36/46 on winter [and wet weather] bike

My winter bike has had it's supplied Ultegra 34/50 chainset swopped out for the 'Ultegra' cyclocross 36/50 which is far better fun to use in winter

In your situation I'd ditch the 50t outer on the summer bike for a 46 or 48t one,doing that would lower the who outer ring set,help your chainline in the most used what I suspect is the most used 18,20,22t sprockets and bring the 11 and 12t highest gear ratios into use.

[squeaker]

MTB 18 - 100 GI (irrelevant top 2!)
'bent bike ~16 to 83 GI
'bent trikes ~17 to 100+ GI
shopper 32 to 86 GI (no big hills!)
folder 33 to 75 GI (top fractionally too low)

I generally work on the principle of having one higher gear than I can spin out on the flat, but it doesn't always work out that way...

[pwa]

For cycling around here, on Welsh hills, I like a bottom gear in the low twenty inches and a top gear just over 100. Gears much outside of that range would see little or no use. I once had a bike with a top gear of about 127 and on a long ride I might get to use it once or twice. Nowadays if I get some speed up on a fast descent I stop pedalling and instead go into a ski tuck and glide. More efficient than pedalling on a bit of road that requires no pedalling.

[Debs]

MTB 17" to 79"(top two ratios are useless to me)
VAYA 19" to 89"

Funny you should say that.
Two of my road bikes have 11 cog cassettes and i never ever use the 11 tooth or 12 tooth on either bike, and rarely use the 13's

Shimano Ultegra 11 speed - Available in the following Ratios:
- 11-23 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23
- 11-25 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25
- 11-28 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 / 28
- 11-32 = 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32 <- The cassette type i have
- 12-25 = 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25

The cassette ratios i would ideally love to have is:

13-32 = 13 / 14/ 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 20 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32

Front double chainset 34/50 on summer bike / 36/46 on winter [and wet weather] bike

My winter bike has had it's supplied Ultegra 34/50 chainset swopped out for the 'Ultegra' cyclocross 36/50 which is far better fun to use in winter

In your situation I'd ditch the 50t outer on the summer bike for a 46 or 48t one,doing that would lower the who outer ring set,help your chainline in the most used what I suspect is the most used 18,20,22t sprockets and bring the 11 and 12t highest gear ratios into use.

But that is exactly what i have done by replacing the compact Ultegra 34/50 chainset for the 'cyclocross' geared 36/46 chainset, and this actually a big improvement in practice, highly recommended - but i'm finding it doesn't bring the 11t or 12t into play, makes no difference at all in that respect.
The big problem is the restricted choice with Shimano cassette block ratios.
It would be handy having a useful spread of 11 speed cassette to get the low gears at bottom end, and close steps changes in the middle and up the higher end.

I would of thought this day of age we could simply pick our own cog size group to be built up [or changed] on order, but this service seems non existent, or very hard to find... and probably be very expensive too

[Cyril Haearn]

Why should one make it simple, when it can be complicated?

[Mick F]

41 seems a bit high, is Cornwall less hilly than home?

No, there's loads of hills many of them pretty steep, although nothing very long as the highest point in the county is only 420m high. I bought a compact chainset and a longer cage rear mech about 5 years ago so I could put on a wider cassette but have never got around to fitting them. I'll probably leave it until I start to find the current gearing hard going.

Back in 1985 when we moved here, I fitted a bottom gear of 35" or thereabouts. I rode it everywhere, and even did JOGLE with it fully loaded with four panniers.

As I got older, and I fitted a triple, I was went to a bottom of 30" and later to 26", and now to 24".

As for hills in Cornwall not being "very long", it depends on what you mean. It's a dozen miles of uphill from Stratton to Davidstow on the A39. 50ft to 1000ft. One heck of a grind and parts of it tougher than others. 41" bottom gear and I'd be standing on the pedals for most of the dozen miles.

[whoof]

I would of thought this day of age we could simply pick our own cog size group to be built up [or changed] on order, but this service seems non existent, or very hard to find... and probably be very expensive too

When Campag started to do cassettes I worked in a shop that had a sprocket board. If you wanted to build a cassette you simply picked which ones you wanted, spacers and a locking ring. A quick search and it seems that such a thing still exists. These are Miche sprockets for a Campag compatible cassette, so there may be a similar Shimano one.

[whoof]

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collection ... -sprockets

Shimano ones.

[roubaixtuesday]

My commuter/winter/light tourer has 105 11 speed 11-36 with 34/50 yielding 25"-120".

In practice I've only ever used the lowest gear when touring on the most extreme welsh hills. I very much like the 50x11 120" gear for downhills when I fancy a blast.

My summer nice bike has 105 10 speed 11-28 with 34/50, yielding 32"-120". Unladen, I've never found a hill that can't get me up. I used to have I think 12-27 on the cassette, but changed to get the 11 tooth, again just to enjoy descents more.

Our tandem has a seven speed triple 14-30 cassette and I think 24/36/48 yielding 21" - 92". The 92" gear on that can be useful even on the flat, but I've never felt the need to pedal downhill on it - quite the opposite - so higher gears would be pointless. An upgrade to dropped bars and 9 speed Sora may be on the cards.

[whoof]

A made up 16-30 cassette.

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Miche-Light-Pr ... gJFpfD_BwE

[Debs]

I would of thought this day of age we could simply pick our own cog size group to be built up [or changed] on order, but this service seems non existent, or very hard to find... and probably be very expensive too

When Campag started to do cassettes I worked in a shop that had a sprocket board. If you wanted to build a cassette you simply picked which ones you wanted, spacers and a locking ring. A quick search and it seems that such a thing still exists. These are Miche sprockets for a Campag compatible cassette, so there may be a similar Shimano one.
sprocket.jpg

Thanks for providing the links Whoof

The Cycle Clinic seem to have it well sussed, my chosen 11 speeds using the Miche [Shimano type] come to £88.00 which includes VAT & postage

13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 22 / 25 / 28 / 32

The first two rings 'Pole position' & '2nd position' are £8 each
All the mid position are £7 each
The 'last position' ring is the 32 tooth [made of alloy] £16 each

£88 is a little dear but still very tempting - haven't purchased yet, but thinking about it.
I guess the index linking will function with Miche will cope just as well as genuine Shimano?

What tools would i need to do it myself?
I have a chain whip tool, various cassette lock ring tools [that may or may not fit]
My Park Tool torque wrench is too small 3 - 15 Nm so i guess a bigger one will be needed.
Could buy the sprockets and take them into my LBS -
may be just as well to pay them to do it, i'm on very good terms with them there, and this is not a job to be done very often.
I have lots of little gears going around in my brain now

Debs