Completed:Any cycling gurus out there?

[SRD]

Had this bike in the lovely summer of 76 - I was working at Securicor in Smethwick at the time, so used to cycle to work in shorts and sun top and take more suitable clothes in my bag. I kept it in the garage where they unloaded the cash from the CIT vans. One day when I walked in with my bike, one of the drivers was backing his van up to the loading bay, was too busy watching me and backed his van into a wall. I was told not to go into the garage again unless I was suitably dressed

Typical, blame the girl for looking good not the man for not concentrating on the job in hand - or maybe he was

[SRD]

Gardener: somewhere on the net you'll find information about the optimum rate that you should pedal at to achieve comfortable progress, you will then have to work out which combinations of gears allows you to keep the thing moving whilst achieving that optimum pedal rate. Technically this could be done mathematically but your best bet is trial and error. You'll also find that it will change as you get fitter and your legs strengthen.

[snoopysue]

I remember bein confused whenI went from three gears to 5 on my Dragster bicycle in the late 70's....

Of the 21 gears on my mountain bike I only ever use four or five.

I had a mountain bike once (strange as I was living in Denmark), don't think I ever used all the gears! I do on my nice shinny 7 gear bike!

[Rob]

I've got 5 gears on the bike i got from my gay mate's deceased father in law.I go to work on that one.
3 gears on my tandem and none on the one i use in the village when i frequent the cafes.
21 gears ? A bit over the top? Or not?

[gardener]

Gardener: somewhere on the net you'll find information about the optimum rate that you should pedal at to achieve comfortable progress, you will then have to work out which combinations of gears allows you to keep the thing moving whilst achieving that optimum pedal rate. Technically this could be done mathematically but your best bet is trial and error. You'll also find that it will change as you get fitter and your legs strengthen.

Scuse me, but I am perfectly fit already

I think that I am quite capable of deciding what is a comfortable peddling rate. And I am normally quite happy going from 1 to 7 in combination with no.2 gear. I just want to know at what combination I should be changing to one of the other front cogs? And no doubt I could go out and learn-by-doing but I don't want to risk the chain coming off

Rob - I am surprised to hear that you have any gears at all on your bike. 7 is really enough but I do use them all so I thought knowing how to extend at either end might come in handy. I doubt if I want to go any faster but a lower gear could be good in howling head-wind.

[peterd]

rob riding on the flat very little hills so needs no gears

[gardener]

OK Well, I bet everyone is very interested to read this answer which I found here:

http://bicycletutor.com/gear-shifting/

"If you"™re climbing a really tough hill and your left 2 and right 1 combination aren"™t easy enough, you can shift your front derailleur to number 1 which drops the chain down to the smallest front chainring. While you"™re in the smallest front gear you can shift the rear gears between 1 and 3 for a finer range adjustment, but you should always shift the front back to 2, or the middle chainring before using gears 4-7 on the rear.

If you"™re going really fast and need a harder gear, and your left 2 and right 7 combination isn"™t fast enough, you can shift your front derailleur to number 3 which pulls the chain up to the largest front chainring. While you"™re in the largest front chainring you can shift the rear gears between 5 and 7 for a finer range adjustment, but always shift the front back to 2, or the middle chainring before using gears 1-4 on the rear."

If the weather improves then I may get out there and give it a go.