Bicycle Gears Basics: A Beginner's Guide

Essential Gear Terms

Chainrings: The front gears attached to your pedal cranks. A 50/34T chainring setup means the large ring has 50 teeth and the small ring has 34 teeth.

Cassette: The set of gears on your rear wheel. An 11-32T cassette has 11 teeth on its smallest cog and 32 teeth on its largest.

Gear Ratio: The relationship between chainring and cassette sizes. A 2:1 ratio means the chainring has twice as many teeth as the cassette cog. Lower ratios (closer to 1:1) make pedaling easier.

Cadence: Pedaling speed in revolutions per minute (rpm). Most cyclists target 70-90 rpm for efficient riding.

Compact: A modern 50/34T chainring setup suitable for most riders.

Wide-Range Cassette: A cassette like 11-32T or 11-34T that offers easier climbing gears while maintaining high-speed capability.

Bike Gears 101: What You Need to Know

Your bike's gearing setup boils down to two main components that control how hard it is to pedal:

• Front Gears (Chainrings): These are the big gears by your pedals - usually one, two, or three of them. For road bikes, a compact double chainring setup (50/34 teeth) is ideal for most riders, offering a good balance of high and low gears.
• Back Gears (Cassette): This stack of gears on your rear wheel fine-tunes your effort. The bigger cogs make pedaling easier. For new riders, we recommend an 11-32T or even 11-34T cassette to provide easier climbing gears.

When we talk about gear ratios, we're really talking about the relationship between these two components. Smaller chainrings or larger cassette cogs create easier gears perfect for climbing, while bigger chainrings or smaller cogs provide harder gears ideal for speed. For example, using your small 34T chainring with a 32T cassette cog gives you a very manageable 1.06:1 ratio for climbing.

Why a Larger Cassette is Your Best Friend

A larger cassette (think 11-32T or 11-34T) will transform your climbing experience. This setup gives you lower gears to help you spin your pedals more easily as you climb. With a compact 34T front chainring and a 32T largest cassette cog, you'll have comfortable climbing gears that most recreational riders need.

• Instead of grinding and mashing at a lower cadence, you'll maintain a steady, manageable pace on hills
• Your knees will thank you as they won't have to work as hard
• You'll feel like you're "levitating" up mountains rather than grinding out your knee caps
• Hills become an enjoyable part of your ride rather than something to dread

Recommended Gear Ratios for New Riders

For most new road cyclists, we recommend the following setup:

• Front Chainrings: A compact 50/34T combination. This modern standard offers plenty of range for both climbing and fast riding.
• Rear Cassette: An 11-32T or 11-34T cassette. This gives you a lowest gear ratio around 1:1, perfect for climbing, and a highest gear that's more than adequate for recreational riding.
• Gear Ratio Range: This setup provides ratios from approximately 4.5:1 (50x11 for descending) down to 1:1 (34x32 for climbing), giving you all the range you need.

While professional riders might use more challenging setups like 53/39T chainrings with an 11-28T cassette, these combinations are unnecessarily difficult for most recreational cyclists.

Spin to Win: The Art of Easy Climbing

With the right gearing setup, climbing becomes an art of spinning smoothly rather than a test of strength. Using a gear ratio close to 1:1 (like a 34T chainring with a 32T cassette cog) allows you to maintain a comfortable cadence of 70-90 rpm even on steep climbs. Here's what proper gearing allows you to do:

• Maintain a comfortable spinning rhythm instead of grinding
• Keep your energy levels steady throughout long climbs
• Focus on smooth pedaling technique rather than raw power
• Enjoy the climb rather than dreading every pedal stroke

Making Cycling More Enjoyable

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