The gearing system includes the crankset (chainrings) and the rear sprocket assembly system, which respectively controls the switching of the front and rear gears (sprockets). The crankset typically has two to three chainrings. In contrast, the rear sprocket assembly typically has six to twelve gears so that through a combination of gears with different numbers, the rider can obtain different targeted gear ratios.
The essence of a bicycle gearing system is to adjust the gear ratio to adapt to different cycling conditions and speed requirements. Gear ratio is the ratio between the front and rear gears, which determines how many rounds the rear wheel rotates when the pedal rotates 1 round. By adjusting the size of the front chainring and rear sprocket, larger front chairing with more teeth and smaller rear cassette sprocket with less teeth increase ride resistance but provide more incredible speed, while smaller front chainring and bigger rear sprockets doesn’t need that much output power but reduce speed. This change allows riders to cope easily on different terrain and slopes, both climbing and maintaining high speed. Then how to use bike gears so that your cycling could be more efficient?
Use Gear Ratio to Control Your Cadence & Heartbeat Rate
The point of speed change is to let you always ride in a comfortable cadence. Suppose your target cadence to keep is 90 times per minute. If you find that maintaining a cadence at 90 times per minute is too easy, then you should consider lowering the gear to increase the gear ratio. If you see in another ride that you are not able to maintain the cadence at 90 times per minute, you should raise the gear to lower the gear ratio.
Remember, your goal is to complete the whole stage, and your best strategy is not to do anything at any point in time beyond your body’s limit or stop you from completing the rest of the stage. So, don’t use the too-high gear ratio many times in a short period in order to keep up with the cycling team. Overall, decisions about gear shifting are speed-independent. It is only related to whether you can easily maintain the cadence set by your goal. When you go up yo, you ride quickly under the target cadence and down if you get tired under the target cadence. It’s just that simple. More specifically, how to use this system, how to use bike gears anyway?
How to use bike gears
Suppose you’re using a 3-disc chainring system and a 12-disc rear sprocket assembly system. In the 3-disc chainring system, we named it chainring # 1 to chainring # 3 from left to right (from chairing with fewer teeth to chainring with more teeth). Similarly, in the 12 disc rear sprocket assembly system, we named 12 sprockets from left to right (from sprocket with more teeth to sprocket with fewer teeth) as sprocket # 1 to sprocket # 12.
How to use bike gears – Low speed
SUMLON suggests that you select the 5 rear sprockets, which are sprockets # 1-5 with the highest number of teeth when you are using chainring # 1 (chainring with the least number of teeth). In this case, you can use sprocket # 6-8, but we don’t recommend this. Meanwhile, the use of sprocket # 9-12 in this case is prohibited because the combination of chainring # 1 and rear sprocket # 9-12 has a very high risk of chain shedding. And you can always find other combinations of chainring and rear sprocket that have the same gear ratio.
How to use bike gears – Cruising
SUMLON Suggests that when you are using chainring # 2, choose sprocket # 4-9. In this case, you can use sprocket # 1-3 and sprocket # 10-12, but we don’t recommend this as well, likewise, because you can always find other combinations of chainring and rear sprocket that have the same gear ratio.
How to use bike gears – High speed
SUMLON suggests that you select the 5 rear sprockets, which are sprockets # 8-12 with the minor teeth when you are using chainring # 3 (chainring with the most teeth). In this case, you can use sprocket # 5-7, but we do not recommend this. Meanwhile, the use of sprocket # 1-4 in this case is prohibited because the combination of chainring # 3 and rear sprocket # 1-4 has a very high risk of chain shedding. And you can always find other combinations of chainring and rear sprocket that have the same gear ratio.
Things that you should never do
1. Before entering an uphill section, the rider must observe the size of the slope early and shift the gear to the appropriate gear early. When you are climbing, if the speed is less than 10 kilometers per hour, please do not change to a larger gear ratio. Doing so will break your chain.
2. Don’t switch to a lower gear when your bike is parked. This will also increase the risk of your chain breaking. Make sure the gear shifts every time during cycling.
3. Remember to leave your bike in high gear when you are about to enter a short downhill. This might increase the risk of falling out.
4. If you are a novice, do not use a chainring with teeth over 40 during your first few rides. Doing this can reduce your risk of a meniscus injury. FYI, meniscal injury is permanent and incurable.
BTW, SUMLON have been manufacturing bicycle parts for over 15 years. Contact us if you are looking for a bike parts factory or a one-stop wholesaler. Peace.
