What do you recommend for chain ring size?
I have a 38 tooth now but this is a turd down hills. I don’t want to go too big I still want to be able to ride up hills. Picture of my Yt szepter
by Miataplant9099
What do you recommend for chain ring size?
I have a 38 tooth now but this is a turd down hills. I don’t want to go too big I still want to be able to ride up hills. Picture of my Yt szepter
by Miataplant9099
7 Comments
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Pretty personal question that’s affected heavily by geography and a riding style. But you should still be fine with a 2 tooth increment jump
I know the way how to stop guess and just find it out. You need 2 sites
[https://www.gear-calculator.com/](https://www.gear-calculator.com/)
and
[https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/cycling-wattage](https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/cycling-wattage) (or any other with same calc)
Now!
Create your setup, put your cadence, and check what is your MINIMAL speed you can keep. Go to the second calc, put your weights, tires etc and calc the wattage you need to climb for different % slope. Play with % of gradient and think about your routes – what gradients do you have, how long they are, how long you can continuously keep the required power. If you can’t return to first link and put the lower chainring.
Or, backward way – first play with wattage and %, find the speed you need on the climbs and then find the chainring which will give you this speed on lowest gear with appropriate cadence.
Both ways work, you need not to guess, but calculate your setup according to your fitness lever and ride conditions.
My 42 tooth is still a turd down hills and on flats. But I keep the 38 because where I ride most of the time 15% feels like a respite and sustained 20% is the norm. I can deal with spinning out on flats and downhills. I can’t deal with 300 watts at 40rpm seated cadence very long.
Can’t wait to go back to 2x
Can you even go much bigger on that frame? Looks tight.
Personally I like having >4 for speed (so at least 44-11) and close to 1 at the low end. So a 44T and 11-42 cassette works great for me on my gravel bike.
2x, no one chain ring can work for uphills and downhills. I rather have to coast downhills than get a large chain ring I can’t climb with
I ride in a hilly area- north west Montana and run a 42 on the front and a 11 speed 10-42’on the back, 1:1 seems to work pretty well.