new bike - new style

Hiya--

just wondered if y'all could give me some input?

I had a cannondale synapse alloy/105 bike and always rode with a relatively slow cadence 65-75 on the biggest gears - it was a triple--

new specialized bike - i have only just got and only put 100 miles on so far, but I seem to be riding it entirely differently, although the geometry is pretty much the same as my Synapse-- it is a compact double and covers pretty much the same range as the triple did = but seem to be riding with a cadence of 90-100 on it which is not my style usually at all-- I try changing to tougher gears but still seem to try and do this overfast cadence on it which poops me out no end...

my question is: has anyone else had this issue when they change bikes that they take time to find a new 'rhythm' on the bike?

the geometry IS pretty identical and the compact double does a similar range to my old triple, although the gears are obviously further apart with being 20 gears for the same range instead of the 27 gears... I am just wondering if I will find my rhythm on this new expensive purchase or whether it is just somehow 'wrong; for me? i hope not!!!

any input please!!

batsheva

I think it's better for your knees to ride a faster cadence at easier gears rather than a slower cadence at harder gears.

Does your new bike have shorter cranks, perhaps? I found that when I moved from 170's to 165's that it was much more natural to 'spin'.

And I think that in general - spinning is better for you (your knees). The more you do it, the better at it you will be.

I've found that granny-gearing up mountains for me hurts my knees. I have to have some push, or my knee (right one) really starts hurting. This, mind you, is on very long climbs like Skyline Drive in Virginia--it's like a 50-mile climb.

But for normal rides, yes, spinning is good, but not empty spinning. I've evolved over the years and I find myself in my big ring more often than I used to be. But I still don't mash.

batsheva, I had similar experience when switching the bikes (and my bikes have different wheel sizes and different gear ranges). I suggest you to look at its "gain ration", proposed by Sheldon Brown, which takes wheel & crank sizes into account. As GLC1968 said, the crank size also matters.

Gain ratio = the wheel radius / crank length * (front teeth / rear teeth)

Don't worry about the math. Sheldon has put up an online calculator for that. ;)

Create two tables of gain ratio for your two bikes and compare them side by side.

In my experience, assuming the tire resistance coefficient is the same*, I tend to choose the "gears" which give me the same gain ratio on the different bikes for similar cadence. Simply, that's my output power I can produce without straining myself. :)

Hope this can answer your question.

*PS: For road-bike tires, this is a fair assumption. But when comparing bikes with very different kinds of tires, this would affect on your choice of gears. Gain ratio is purely mechanical and doesn't take the resistance into account.

I also went from a triple Sp Dolce to a Ruby with a compact. I pretty much keep the same cadence as I did with the Dolce which is between 78-82 cadence. Riding regular flat rodes with the Ruby I in the 15th gear on average. To be honest I do not know what gear I kept on the Dolce as my Ruby has a little gage thingy on the cable.

I hope this makes some kind of sense to you.

~ JoAnn