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Bike lingo question
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 2009-08-05 9:57 AM |
Regular  72 |  Subject: Bike lingo questionHi All, I've been reading a lot here recently about cassettes, ratios, cranks and chain rings and it's all Greek to me. Can someone give me a basic explanation of how these things relate to each other or maybe pass along a good link to read up on this? To give some background, I have a very short & steep hill near my house that I tried to tackle the other day. I felt I had the strength in my legs to make it but could not move the pedals around, even on the easiest gear. I have 2 chain rings in the front and 6 (whatever you call them) in the back. I use an older second hand bike but it has good components and I've made some upgrades as well. At this point I'd rather change some parts vs. look at a new bike. Thanks! |
| 2009-08-05 10:01 AM in reply to: #2329355 |
Resident Curmudgeon 25290   The Road Back Gold member | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question www.sheldonbrown.com is a good site to poke around on, lots of good information. Most widely used is his gear calculator. Not sure how you can say you "had the strength in my legs" yet you didn't have enough strength to "move the pedals around, even on the easiest gear." |
| 2009-08-05 10:07 AM in reply to: #2329355 |
Regular 72 | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question I don't know, it seemed to make sense at the time. I guess what I was saying was my legs didn't feel super fatigued. Maybe the bottom line is I'm just not strong enough but I had the energy... If I had more gears I would have had the energy to spin the pedals. Does that make sense? |
| 2009-08-05 2:14 PM in reply to: #2329384 |
Master 2380 Beijing | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question andykiss - 2009-08-04 11:07 AM I don't know, it seemed to make sense at the time. I guess what I was saying was my legs didn't feel super fatigued. Maybe the bottom line is I'm just not strong enough but I had the energy... If I had more gears I would have had the energy to spin the pedals. Does that make sense? Yes. You felt like you could have spun FASTER, just not HARDER. (FASTER is supposedly better for your knees anyway.) SO, you would either need a cog in your rear cassette with MORE teeth, or a ring on your front crank with FEWER teeth. You MAY be able to find a 6 speed cassette that has a "low" gear with MORE teeth, and swap it onto your wheel. This takes special tools (a cassette lockring adapter, and preferably a chain-whip) Your "LBS" (Local Bike Shop) will be happy to help you through all of this... .for a small fee, of course. If you're even a little handy with tools, you can probably get through it yourself... IF you can find a replacement 6speed cassette. YOu'll have to know what kind of hub you have (shimano, or campangolo ("campy") in order to find a replacement. there are other, more expensive options, like switching your wheels (and rear derailleur and cassette) to support more rear gears (7,8,9 or 10 speeds) but swapping your cassette can be done for about $50, including tools and parts, if you do it yourself. Good luck! |
| 2009-08-05 3:04 PM in reply to: #2329355 |
Regular 72 | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question Thanks for the info! Luckily there's an LBS in my office building so I'll be checking in with them as well. |
| 2009-08-05 3:11 PM in reply to: #2329355 |
Veteran 298 Des Moines, IA | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question a little advice that i read here that always saves my butt on long rides is that spinning faster in an easier gear works your cardio which is pretty easy to recover from in a few minutes, but working hard in a high gear works your leg muscles, which is not as easy to recover from. cassettes, ratios, cranks and chain rings your cassette is the group of gears on your rear tire, it typically refers to the whole contraption of gears, it can range from bike to bike how many gears are on it. your ratio will be the comparison of the gear in front to the gear in back, it's typically numbered by the amount of teeth on the gear so the bigger the number the more number of teeth (which to elaborate means a harder gear in front, and an easier gear in back), your crank is what attaches your pedal to your front gear/bottom bracket, your chainring is what your crank attaches to on the right side which is pretty much the front equivalent to your rear cassette. I highly reccomend sheldon brown's website listed above because he was and still is a wealth of information when it comes to cycling. No matter what you should bookmark his site and read everything it says  |
| 2009-08-05 3:19 PM in reply to: #2329355 |
Master 2327 North Alabama | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question Just out of curiosity, do you remember where your chain was on the bike? Was it close to the bike? Away from the bike? Midway? The closer the chain is to the bike, the easier it is to pedal and more than likely, the higher the cadence. This will help in some of the answers too. |
| 2009-08-05 8:45 PM in reply to: #2329355 |
Regular 72 | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question Sorry, I don't remember where the chain was. |
| 2009-08-05 11:14 PM in reply to: #2329355 |
Veteran 314 SoCal | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Complete-Bicycle-Maintenance-Repair... /> i used this book a lot when first learning a bit about bikes. (i still use it to help me with basic maintenance that i'd like to do at home instead of needing a LBS tech each time a cable is loose or something.) Edited by novas 2009-08-05 11:22 PM |
| 2009-08-06 5:15 AM in reply to: #2330178 |
Veteran 154 Virginia Beach | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question andykiss - 2009-08-05 4:04 PM Luckily there's an LBS in my office building ........ How do you get any work done? I'd never be at my desk..........  Edited by Bone Head 2009-08-06 5:16 AM |
| 2009-08-06 7:48 AM in reply to: #2329355 |
Champion 7558 Albuquerque, New Mexico | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question The Sheldon Brown link Bear put in is a great place to start. For going up hills, you want the smaller/smallest ring on your crank (chainring) and the larger/largest cog on your wheel (cassette, but based on your description, freewheel). In the early/mid 90's the wheel/axle designs changed from a cluster of gears with a ratcheting mechanism (freewheel) that thread onto the wheel hub to a ratcheting hub (freehub) and a cluster of gears that slides onto the hub (cassette) with a lockring or the smallest cog threading on to hold it in place. The cassette/freewheel is usually denoted by the size of the smallest and largest cogs, so a 12-21 has cogs from 12 teeth to 21 teeth. The good news is you can buy a new 6-speed freewheel with very large cogs (31 or even 34 teeth) for not very much money. It isn't always as simple as removing one freewheel and installing another because the derailleur has to keep the chain in the right spot for each gear, and it takes more chain to wrap around a big rear cog. It may take a new derailleur at which point I'd point you towards a bike shop mechanic. |
| 2009-08-06 10:15 AM in reply to: #2329355 |
Regular 72 | Subject: RE: Bike lingo question Thanks, this continues to be helpful. |
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