This one is for Paul really, assuming he owns either an iPhone or an iPad. Well maybe not just Paul, but for anyone really who likes to spend time fretting over gear ratios.
iGear have just launched this nifty free app for calculating bicycle gear ratios. You enter your drivetrain spec and it tells you how many gear inches you’re pulling in each gear; or if you are a singlespeeder, or a 1x rider you can see what effect changing the front chainring has which could be useful, especially if you’re switching from 26 to 29 (or even 27.5) inch wheels and you want to achieve similar ratios.
Assuming you’re unable to do this with a bit of paper and a calculator, and are interested in discovering this sort of information, this looks to be just the thing for you!
paul901 says:
I read about them and the senior roadmoles just push them, lots of laughs! gears that is.
I must say it looks interesting Matt but having an aversion to anything Apple I will have to look and see if there is an Android equivalent.
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 12:40 am
Dave says:
There are a few “gear ratio” apps on Google Play already but maybe not as polished as this version. “Gear Ratio Calculator Free” is a good place to start but you need the paid version to allow you to add new cogs and cassettes.
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 8:52 am
Tony says:
Excellent. You have released my inner nerd! Will we have to drop MarkyMarks sweary hillclimb classification system and classify them by gear inches? That’s a lot less fun.
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 9:43 am
DaveW says:
This looks handy. I’ve always used this one, which is a good tip for people without the smarts (smartphones I mean)
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 11:16 am
Dandy says:
I was thinking, “So what?”. But having re-read the article, I now know why I went for the larger 36t cassette with my new 29er. I can know quote ‘gear inches’, except I’ve already forgotten
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Dazzler says:
Just ride & ride hard…… & fast
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Posted on January 25, 2013 at 10:05 pm
DaveW says:
Good point Darren – some of us get pretty geeky at times and really we all know that a bigger cog at the back or a smaller one at the front makes pedalling easier. When I did find this really useful though was when I wanted an easier climbing gear on my road bike and wanted to know how much difference a tooth off the front or on the back would make, so I could figure out whether it would be more economical/effective to buy a chainring or a cassette. Also, when choosing a chainring/sprocket combo for my singlespeed road bike. On the latter, it didn’t help much, as the array of little-used different sized sprockets in my workshop will testify! It does allow comparison with the gears others are running on road 700c fixies/singlespeeds though, as people run anything from 42 to 53 teeth on the front and different length cranks and tyre size, so to be able to say how many gear inches your ratio equates to can be quite illuminating. Is this kind of discussion really just a distraction from what we have to do when we would rather be riding hard and fast (e.g. working…).
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Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:01 am
tony says:
“some of us get pretty geeky at times” then your post goes on to show that
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Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:50 am
DaveW says:
Guilty as charged Tony!
)
You mentioned above “You have released my inner nerd” – so what is the difference between your inner and your outer nerd, pray tell???? ;o)
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Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:05 pm
tony says:
Inner nerd is the one I try to repress. Hence not quoting out loud gear inches in normal conversation or talking about compression vs rebound. Too many blank looks
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Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:18 pm
DaveW says:
Ah, so it is the nerd that is released when you are with the rest of us nerds at the weekend and the one I know and love.
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Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:47 am
tony says:
Steady on there old chap… “the one I know and love”?? I’ll be comparing you to Barry and Keith on our last road ride.
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Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:31 pm
Dandy says:
Dave has previous on these ‘manly’ feelings, as we all know
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Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:32 pm
DaveW says:
As you well know Dandy, those feelings only occur when you do your ‘man, woman, bulldog’ party trick.
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Posted on February 1, 2013 at 3:38 pm
Luis Prado says:
“iThings have just launched…. ”
iThings? Hey, I’m the developer of this app. I removed the free version from the iTunes store since the paid version (very cheap indeed) offers a lot more.
In a few days, the Android version will be available to download.
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Posted on April 4, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Matt says:
Luis, bit of a typo there – I meant iGear, now corrected. I you Lexus have the link when the Android and App Store versions are in place we’ll post them up…
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Posted on April 4, 2013 at 3:52 pm