Which ring is for better cadence?

[shootingstar]

I've never cycled in my biggest ring --what for? I get enough of a workout and especially with a prairie headwind, you really don't need to be in a biggest ring or 2nd biggest ring, there's already a significant workout by pushing into the wind.

Watch your knees for pushing yourself too hard and especially too long on a much bigger ring. That's how beginners hurt themselves.

[lph]

I've never cycled in my biggest ring --what for?

.. for pedalling efficiently on flats, especially with a headwind, or on downhills. With the gear set-up on my bike, if I didn't use my biggest ring I'd have to stop pedalling and coast regularly, which gets me wherever I'm going slower. It's not necessarily for getting a better workout, or wrecking ones knees

[Bethany1]

My understanding is the larger chain ring is for going downhill, middle was basic and the smallest was for wind/going uphill. Sometimes I just feel like you are spinning and going nowhere on the 2nd chainring at a set speed and if you go into the highest and keep the same cadence and speed you feel so much faster. But then are you working too hard on your knees and legs?

I find myself in the largest gear a lot of the time as the middle seems like I'm spinning and going nowhere. Just wondered if in reality I'm mashing w/o realizing it on the 3rd ring even if I'm keeping cadence.

Are you able to customize the front rings to accommodate for your needs?

[OakLeaf]

The definition of mashing is pedaling at too low a cadence. If you know your cadence (and 90 is plenty high), then there's no way you could be mashing without realizing it.

The purpose of gearing is to keep your RPM in a defined range while varying your speed. That's all. If you have two cog combinations that give you the same or similar gear ratio (and it's very normal to have some overlap at the upper and lower ends of each ring), then they're identical to your body. The only difference is the wear on your drivetrain.

[lph]

If you shift to a bigger ring in front without shifting in back and keep the same cadence, ie. turn the pedals as fast as before, you will experience more effort and go faster. Handy whenever downhills, a tailwind (sorry, said headwind in the last post, that must have been confusing) or whatever makes you feel that you're expending too little effort and could expend more. It's like taking longer strides when you're running.

Vice versa if you shift to a smaller ring without shifting in back, and keep the same cadence, you will experience less effort and go slower. Good for uphills, a headwind or any time you feel that you need to go easy. It's like taking shorter strides when you're running.

Expending too much effort at a low cadence can be hard on your knees, expending too little at a high cadence can cause you to bounce around and not really get anywhere. You just have to try and see what feels comfortable. And yes, you can customize the rings to a certain extent, and get a larger largest ring if you feel you're constantly "running out of gears" downhill and have to coast a lot.

[goldfinch]

I've never cycled in my biggest ring --what for? I get enough of a workout and especially with a prairie headwind, you really don't need to be in a biggest ring or 2nd biggest ring, there's already a significant workout by pushing into the wind.

Watch your knees for pushing yourself too hard and especially too long on a much bigger ring. That's how beginners hurt themselves.

Only on the downhill do I use the biggest ring on the bike with the triple. And often even then I use the middle ring. I can go for weeks without using the big ring.

On my double I use the big ring more often, for some downhills or big tailwinds. Otherwise, I can spin up to around 19mph in the small ring. So, even with the double I don't use the big ring a lot.

[shootingstar]

Have only geared up to 2nd biggest ring when sweeping downhill. Or less. Biggest ring works best when you know there is no traffic light stop /busy intersection at the bottom of a steep hill or it's a really long mountain descent.

I don't go into my biggest ring with a stiff headwind in my face for the next hr. or so. You mean, a tailwind, lph?

Sorry, I was only thinking about pros and cons of big ring on flats or going uphill.

Going downhill doesn't require much effort which obviously didn't stick in my memory.

[lph]

Yes, sorry, I meant tailwind.

[malkin]

Yes, sorry, I meant tailwind.

I knew what'cha meant!

[Catrin]

Only on the downhill do I use the biggest ring on the bike with the triple. And often even then I use the middle ring. I can go for weeks without using the big ring...

I will use the big ring on my triple on flat ground if there isn't much of a headwind. I've been working on becoming more efficient and I've learned that if I am in the big ring, and drop the rear to 6 or 7 (with 9 being the highest) I go faster than if I were in the middle ring and in gear 8 or 9. Of course this is all relative to how my body feels that day and so forth. I have learned that just because a particular gear combination works on x stretch of road the other day doesn't mean that I will like it the next day, just too many variables.

I've a goal of becoming more efficient at shifting, and I suspect this is a goal with an ever-moving target. For some reason I don't even think about shifting the front going downhill, though I will shift the rear...