Muddymoles mountain biking in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley

iGear calculator for iPhone and iPad

Posted by Matt | January 25, 2013 | 16 comments so far

iGear calculator for iPhone

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!

Filed under 2013, News in January 2013

Matt

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.

There are 16 comments on ‘iGear calculator for iPhone and iPad’

We love to get comments from our readers - if you've spent a few moments to comment, thank-you.

If you haven't had a chance yet, jump to our comments form if you have something to say.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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/

  5. 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 🙁

  6. Dazzler says:

    Just ride & ride hard…… & fast

  7. 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…).

  8. tony says:

    “some of us get pretty geeky at times” then your post goes on to show that 🙂

  9. DaveW says:

    Guilty as charged Tony! :o)

    You mentioned above “You have released my inner nerd” – so what is the difference between your inner and your outer nerd, pray tell???? ;o)

  10. 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 🙂

  11. 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. 🙂

  12. DaveW says:

    As you well know Dandy, those feelings only occur when you do your ‘man, woman, bulldog’ party trick.

  13. 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.

Leave a comment…

Have your say – we'd love to hear what you think.

If you have something to add, just complete this comment form (we will not publish your email address).

*Required information.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.