Mike Murray

Beginning riders should be on an 82-86 inch gear and Cat 1/2 riders will go
to 92 or so at Alpenrose depending on the event. For those that have
difficulty with the arcane gear inch subject and/or those that have the most
common 46 or 48 chain ring that is 46/15 or 48 /16 for beginners and going
down to a 14 tooth for Cat 1/2. A 46/14 or 48/15 will be a good general
gear for just about everyone. Ideally you should get 3 sequential chain
rings and 3-4 sequential cogs. That way you can make gear changes in about
2 inch increments over a wide range without having to shorten or lengthen
the chain. If you get 46, 47 and 48 chain rings and 13, 14, 15, 16 cogs you
can get gears ranging from 78 to 100 on the same chain. This way you can
play with them and figure out what works best.

For what it is worth, the rental bikes have a 46 ring with a 14 and 15 tooth
on the double sided hub. This gives you an 82.8 (good for training
sessions, women and most beginning racers) on one side and an 88.7 (good for
stronger riders) on the other.

Mike Murray

-----Original Message-----
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of T B
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 13:52 PM
To: OBRA MAIL LIST
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Gear Ratios on Track.. Help!

HELP!!!!

I am looking to get into track racing but i dont know what gear ratio to
use. Riding the track is not my issue as i ride it many times a summer. I
simply do not know what gears to run. I am looking to do the Fast Twitch
Fridays, so what would be a good ratio for Match Sprints? Should i be
looking for max acceleration or full boar speed or a combination of both? I
dont want a gear that ill be maxed out on before the sprint is over do i?
And, what would be a good all around ratio for racing on the track?

Thanks for the help!

_____

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