The gears in your best mountain bikes just keep getting more and more complicated. The bikes of today have as many as 29 gear ratios. A mountain bicycle will use a mix of three different sized sprockets in front and nine in the back to supply gear ratios.
The idea behind all of these gears is to permit the rider to crank the pedals at a unceasing pace no matter what sort of slope the bike is on. You can understand this better by picturing a bike with simply a single gear. Whenever you revolve the pedals one turn, the rear wheel would rotate one turn as well (1:1 gear ratio).
If the rear wheel is 26 inches across, then with 1:1 gearing, one full twist on the pedals would end in the wheel covering 83.2 inches of ground. If you're pedaling at a speed of 50 R.p.m, this means that the bike can cover over 340 feet of ground per minute. This is only 3.8 Mph, which is the equivalence of walking speed. This is ideal for climbing a steep hill, though bad for ground or slipping downhill.
To go faster you'll need a different proportion. To ride downhill at 25 MPH with a 50 REVS PER MINUTE cadence at the pedals, you'll need a 5.6:1 gear proportion. A bike with a lot of gears will give you a large number of increments between a 1:1 gear ratio and a 6.5:1 gear proportion so you can always pedal at 50 REVS PER MINUTE, irrespective of how fast you are actually going.
On an ordinary 27 speed off-road bike, six of the gear proportions are so close to one another that you can't notice any difference between them. With exact use, bike riders have a tendency to select a front sprocket suitable for the slope they're riding on and keep it going, although the front sprocket can be hard to shift under heavy load. It's much easier to shit between the gears on the rear.
If you are cranking up a hill, it is often best to select the tiniest sprocket on the front then shift between the nine gears available on the rear. The more speeds you have on the back sprocket, th e bigger advantage you will have.
In the final analysis, gears are very important to mountain bikes as they dictate your general speed. Without gears you would not be well placed to build speed nor would you be able to pound pedals. The gears will move the pedals and help you build up speed.
There are all types of gears available in mountain bikes, all of which will assist you in building up a lot of momentum if you use them the proper way.
The idea behind all of these gears is to permit the rider to crank the pedals at a unceasing pace no matter what sort of slope the bike is on. You can understand this better by picturing a bike with simply a single gear. Whenever you revolve the pedals one turn, the rear wheel would rotate one turn as well (1:1 gear ratio).
If the rear wheel is 26 inches across, then with 1:1 gearing, one full twist on the pedals would end in the wheel covering 83.2 inches of ground. If you're pedaling at a speed of 50 R.p.m, this means that the bike can cover over 340 feet of ground per minute. This is only 3.8 Mph, which is the equivalence of walking speed. This is ideal for climbing a steep hill, though bad for ground or slipping downhill.
To go faster you'll need a different proportion. To ride downhill at 25 MPH with a 50 REVS PER MINUTE cadence at the pedals, you'll need a 5.6:1 gear proportion. A bike with a lot of gears will give you a large number of increments between a 1:1 gear ratio and a 6.5:1 gear proportion so you can always pedal at 50 REVS PER MINUTE, irrespective of how fast you are actually going.
On an ordinary 27 speed off-road bike, six of the gear proportions are so close to one another that you can't notice any difference between them. With exact use, bike riders have a tendency to select a front sprocket suitable for the slope they're riding on and keep it going, although the front sprocket can be hard to shift under heavy load. It's much easier to shit between the gears on the rear.
If you are cranking up a hill, it is often best to select the tiniest sprocket on the front then shift between the nine gears available on the rear. The more speeds you have on the back sprocket, th e bigger advantage you will have.
In the final analysis, gears are very important to mountain bikes as they dictate your general speed. Without gears you would not be well placed to build speed nor would you be able to pound pedals. The gears will move the pedals and help you build up speed.
There are all types of gears available in mountain bikes, all of which will assist you in building up a lot of momentum if you use them the proper way.
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Want to find out more about mongoose sector mountain bicycles and the way in which the gears work? Come and visit http://www.bestmountainbikesreview.org/to read complete review about mongoose mountain bikes.
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