Getting Higher Gearing

[Witterings]

BTW
If your friend can't ride faster than 17 mph on the road on the flat the problem is probably more to do with having 2.25 " knobbly tyres than gearing.

I probably didn't make that clear, it's not that he can't ride faster but it's at that speed he feels he wants to have at least another gear available.

We've been going out regularly for over a year now so I can't see that his pedaling will change much from what it is at the moment and he doesn't seem slow ... I'd say he's about the same cadence as I am but I've another 2 / 3 rings on the cassette I can drop down to at that speed.

Not sure what difference it makes but it's a 29er rather than 27.5.

Cheers for everyone's help .... I don't think I want to be the one to tell him it's an expensive mistake though .... I may just suggest he takes it to a bike shop and see what they say and let them break the news rather than me!

[reohn2]

.......Not sure what difference it makes but it's a 29er rather than 27.5.....

Apologies to you and Whoof,after looking properly at the specs you are both correct it is a 29er which make the 36x11 gear higher than I posted above,it is a 96inch gear which is 26mph @ 90rpm cadence.

[tatanab]

it is a 96inch gear which is 26mph @ 90rpm cadence.

Which is higher than I had in my racing days (time trial and track) and higher than on any of my current machines which I will pedal to about 30mph, above that I am happy to freewheel. HOWEVER - as said before, I am a pedaller. Back to my original comment - leave it alone until more experience is gained. Some people are natural gear churners, i.e low rate. I loaned a machine to an experienced friend. He was churning along at 17mph on the 90" top gear while riding behind him, I could not be bothered changing up from my normal 63" gear. He "needed" larger gears to go faster because he simply could not pedal quicker - I still had lots in reserve.

[slowster]

I probably didn't make that clear, it's not that he can't ride faster but it's at that speed he feels he wants to have at least another gear available.

We've been going out regularly for over a year now so I can't see that his pedaling will change much from what it is at the moment and he doesn't seem slow

What pedals, clothes and footwear is he using?

If he is using flat pedals, then that is likely to encourage a lower cadence, because the feet are not sufficiently held in place to make spinning the pedals feel OK. If so, I would recommend going clipless: I expect he would then find that he was pedalling at a higher cadence without consciously trying to do so, and the top gear on the bike would feel fine at much higher speeds.

To a lesser extent, the 'wrong' clothes can also have an impact. Lycra shorts are not just more comfortable because of the padding: the close fitting material also does not bunch up and get in the way or chafe when pedalling at a high cadence. Even baggy MTB shorts will be better than most ordinary clothing.

[Xilter]

Find out what the max pressure is printed on the side of the tyre... and tell your friend to peddal faster

[reohn2]

Find out what the max pressure is printed on the side of the tyre...

High yre pressures don't automatically = faster,better to have the correct TP's for wheel load for efficiency

[Xilter]

Find out what the max pressure is printed on the side of the tyre...

High yre pressures don't automatically = faster,better to have the correct TP's for wheel load for efficiency

Ok your right not always. But having correctly inflated tyres is a better place to start than rebuilding the bike

[reohn2]

Find out what the max pressure is printed on the side of the tyre...

High yre pressures don't automatically = faster,better to have the correct TP's for wheel load for efficiency

Ok your right not always.

No one is always right all the time

But having correctly inflated tyres is a better place to start than rebuilding the bike

Agreed.

[Witterings]

He's running about 45 psi which can't be that far removed from where he should be I wouldn't have thought.

I can totally get where he's at, it's "OK" but not ideal for where he's at and the cycling we're doing (but possibly not ideal if he feels he needs and extra gear) .... what when we hit a marginal downhill ... that feeling of pedaling at a crazy rate and you can't keep up so it's totally pointless and the fact he's on the cusp of that on the flat it's really not going to take the slightest hill before that feeling kicks in ... I'll still be pedaling hard and strong and taking the advantage of downhill as chances are you're going to meet an uphill the other side of it!

[tatanab]

We have established that he is a slow pedaller who is unlikely to be able to increase pedalling rate.
We have established that 36 is the largest chainring supplied for that chainset.
We have established that it may be difficult fitting a larger chainring because the front mech is on a fixed bracket. A bike shop can check this.
We know that11 teeth is the smallest available sprocket.

Conclusion - changing the gearing by much if at all is likely to be quite impractical. Hence the machine he has bought is unsuitable for his riding style and purpose. Harsh words I know.

[thirdcrank]

... Conclusion - changing the gearing by much if at all is likely to be quite impractical. Hence the machine he has bought is unsuitable for his riding style and purpose. Harsh words I know.

Sadly, it's the reverse of the more usual query about reducing the gearing on a road bike to be able to go touring.

[tatanab]

having done the negatives 2 posts up, I had a thought.
He is a slow pedaller and most riding is flat (in your first post). Therefore he almost certainly has no use for the extremely low gears offered by the small chainring. Solution - take off the double chainset and front mech etc, fit a single chainwheel of size to suit. With the enormous rear sprockets bottom gear is likely to still be low enough for his purposes. Costs - a single chainset, a bottom bracket and mechanics time unless he does it himself.

[Witterings]

having done the negatives 2 posts up, I had a thought.
He is a slow pedaller and most riding is flat (in your first post). Therefore he almost certainly has no use for the extremely low gears offered by the small chainring. Solution - take off the double chainset and front mech etc, fit a single chainwheel of size to suit. With the enormous rear sprockets bottom gear is likely to still be low enough for his purposes. Costs - a single chainset, a bottom bracket and mechanics time unless he does it himself.

In other words convert it to a 1 X ????

Any idea what may be a good size to go for but that would still be OK for some hills that weren't too steep? ....as this may offer an "affordable" solution.

[the_twin]

Just put the data into an online gear calculator. Sheldon Brown’s site has one that enables you to find out how fast you will go at various cadences.

[Witterings]

Just put the data into an online gear calculator. Sheldon Brown’s site has one that enables you to find out how fast you will go at various cadences.

But it's not just about this ... it's about how comfortable he finds the bike for the rides he's doing .... I think next time we're out on one of the parts he wishes he has higher gears maybe I'll swap bikes with him and see how I find it in comparison ... as I've said he doesn't seem to be pedaling slowly but probably around the same cadence as I am but my gearing is maybe just better suited to the terrain.

I keep meaning to have a proper look at his chain rings and see what sizes / teeth they are and compare them but at the end of a ride when arrive at the pub you're more interested in getting a beer in and then you always forget when you leave and want to get home for dinner