CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Road Bike, fed up with gears

(19 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by Kenny
  • Latest reply from Claggy Cog
  • This topic is resolved

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  1. Kenny
    Member

    I've got a Specialized road bike which came with gears in terms of 8 rings on the cassette, 3 on the cranks. They repeatedly fail to go in the large ring on the crank when I try to change into it, and I never need to go in the smallest ring on the crank (I never do mentally tough hills, tbh). To that end, I'm thinking I should resolve both problems by replacing the gears with something like a 2x10.

    Is there a "right" answer in terms of what gears I should get? I'm thinking 2 on the cranks is enough since I don't do massive hill climbs (note this may be a flawed theory), but 10 on the cassette would give me more useable gears. There's no way, for example, that all 24 (3x8) are really accessible in the current set, even when my bike occasionally decides that it will go in the big ring on the crank for a rare but nice change.

    Fear not about offending me due to my lack of bike knowledge; I am no expert at the maintenance side of things.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. Puzzle
    Member

    I'm certainly not an expert,(Have specialized Tricross) had similar issues. Bike relatively new (as am I) I found the gear cable had stretched, once tightened it resolved my problems about getting into gears. Maybe yours need tweaked too?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. crowriver
    Member

    Maybe your front derailleur needs adjusting. I have a similar issue in that my small chain ring occasionally does not engage properly: a real problem on climbs, as I was reminded this morning! It sometimes depends which back cog you are using. I find shifting gears at the back sometimes helps the chain to engage on the small chainring.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Kenny
    Member

    @Puzzle - hmm, you could be right. Alas, I'm a n00b when it comes to maintenance and I would probably end up making things worse if I tried to tighten it. That said, I shall hit Google with some searches and YouTube too to see whether I can find an idiot's guide.

    @crowriver - yes, sometimes if I change both gears at the same time, I can get it to jump in, but it rarely works. I think the whole "front derailleur needs adjusting" thing is right on the money, just not sure how to do it. Might just need to take it to EBC and get them to do it for me. My pride can take the hit.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    "There's no way, for example, that all 24 (3x8) are really accessible in the current set"

    Well conventional wisdom is that you should never use largest with largest or smallest with smallest - so that's two you 'can't' use.

    You never really have 10,12,15,18,21,24 etc. as there will always be gear combinations that are (or virtually) the same.

    Some superkeen tourists and possibly racers used to know exactly which combination of front and rear produced the 'next' highest/lowest gear.

    Most people are happy to think/operate as having 2 (or 3) sets of gears - with one having the lowest and another having the lowest (and maybe also a middle set).

    "I should resolve both problems by replacing the gears with something like a 2x10"

    Before you even think about that, try and get what you have working better - have you taken the bike back to where you bought it?

    If you want to change things crucial thing to work out is what you need in terms of highest and lowest gears.

    Then think about how much it's important to have gears that have ratios close to each to suit your optimum riding style.

    That is one reason why multi-gear setups have been developed - so that the jump from one gear to the next can be small - e.g. just one tooth or maybe two for lower gears.

    I have one bike that has 2x9 gearing - which is actually much less convenient for town use than the 7 speed I have which also has a wider range of gears!

    Of course you'll need to play with -

    http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/index.html

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @mkns it sounds to me like one of three things;

    1 - most likely is the limit screws need adjusted. There should be 2 screws next to eachother, usually with H and L on or near them. These screws control how far left (low gear) and right (high gear) the front derailleur can move. They stop the derailleur moving too far either way and dumping the chain off the chainrings. You should set these screws with the gear cable released and pushing the derailleur arm by hand. If the High screw is too far in, you will never be able to move the arm far enough to the right to get the chain on the big ring.

    2 - there's too much tension in the gear cable. Indexing needs a small amount of slack to work, as the cable has to momentarily go tighter than its resting position to get past the index.

    3 - front derailleur (if it's the clamp-on type) may have spun around slightly, so isn't at the correct angle to lift the chain onto the big ring. The derailleur arm needs to be parallel to the rings.

    As Chdot says, depending on the number of teeth front and rear, you will never get exactly 3x8 = 24 gears etc. I have a 2 x 8 on one bike, but it only has 14 unique ratios. You can increase or lower the range of gearing by choosing different cassettes. I recently replaced worn chainrings with slightly smaller ones and put in a cassette with an extra tooth on the biggest sprocket to make the gearing more favourable to going up hills with loaded panniers.

    If you were to change your triple to a double, make sure you do your research, you may (or may not) need a new crankset and derailleur. It may be possible to bodge a triple front shifter to work a double chainring setup, but that may have comprimises and lead to some annoyances.

    Properly set-up, you shouldn't have any issues getting your current triple to work how you want it.

    If you aren't using the small ring that often, it just means that you won't need to replace it very often. No harm leaving it there. It doesn't weight more than a few hundred grams.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. Kenny
    Member

    Cheers, chdot, some good food for thought there. I've been to Sheldon's site many times, but not seen that gears page, so I'll have a play around with that.

    Ultimately, I think I need less gears on the lower/slower end, and more on the higher end; when I do occasionally get the chain in the large crank ring, I still top out at the highest gear and could do with more. I can generally only get to about 34mph with a cadence of 100+, hence one of the reasons for thinking about a change.

    But aye, you're right about trying to fix what I have first. I'll do that, and/or head back to the shop to see what they make of it.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @mkns next time you replace cassette, see if you can get a small sprocket with a lower tooth count. Or a chainring with a higher count, although normally they would have 53.

    The other option is to get used to pedalling faster! 34 isn't a bad speed to top out at! I've a compact on my "best bike" and have to really start spinning it beyond about 28mph. I did time trials on it last year and had to keep it at about 110 on the cadence count to get the most out of it.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. Kenny
    Member

    @kaputnik - cheers for the tips. Alas, some of that is greek to me. Although I have a book on bike maintenance, it's of little help in describing how to maintain a reasonably modern road bike. Do you happen to know of any good resources (web, book, anything really) that I could/should go read rather than ask people stupid questions? For example, I'm not entirely sure what "with the gear cable released" really means and therefore how to do it, hence it would be good to do some background reading before I reduce my bike to a pile of metals fit for recycling.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. recombodna
    Member

    Check out sheldon. http://sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @Mkns the Zinn book of road bike maintenance is very good. Has lots of helpful illustrations and he talks you though things.

    Youtube videos on the subject also very helpful, particularly as you can stop / start / pause to your hearts content, and actually SEE what they're doing.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. gembo
    Member

    I am a fan of the granny gear being of an ancient age. Got me through the north downs en route back to London last weekend. Indeed my wee granny allowed me to peg back a few younger dudes with 2 x 10 set ups. This may be psychological given aforementioned overlap in gears but I vote Keep The Granny.

    Curiously I am also a big fan of the granny atop my chimney cowl

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. SRD
    Moderator

    @mkns - especially with tweaks and getting stuff 'just right', I'd encourage to try the bike works on argyle place rather than EBC. They're pretty busy right now (but open early in the morning, which I find particularly convenient).

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. earthowned
    Member

    If you're not confident about messing around with the gears take it in for a repair. When I had a similar problem with my bike the nice man at Leith Cycle Co serviced my front derailleur for £5.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. lionfish
    Member

    Why has no one mentioned the Bike Station? That way, you'll have someone help you sort it out, but you'll learn about it for next time too!

    I've learnt quite a bit by fixing my bike there.

    They give you a stand, tools, advice and parts. It'll probably cost £3 or something for an hour of 'stand hire'.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. Kenny
    Member

    @kaputnik - Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance has been duly ordered. Thanks.

    #gembo - I have no idea what a granny gear is...

    srd/earthowned/lionfish - thanks for the suggestions about places to get a service, I think I shall head into one of those options in the short term and maybe the Zinn will help me in the medium to longer term.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. gembo
    Member

    Your granny is the small chain ring at the front if you have three chain rings. So named as it is the favoured ring of grannies and gembos

    Posted 11 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_g.html

    Posted 11 years ago #

  19. Claggy Cog
    Member

    Personally I have never found Sheldon particularly helpful, although he seems to be held in very high esteem by many, even considered a semi deity by some. For maintenance/instructions I purchased the Haynes bike book, which I have found extremely helpful. I know a little about bike maintenance and this knowledge has increased over time with practice and also the help of the above mentioned tome. Mr Brown is far too geeky for me, and I do not find his web site or descriptions very helpful...just saying. Perhaps I should add also my bike maintenance knowledge has improved with the help of a very kind and knowledgeable friend.

    Posted 11 years ago #

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