Let’s go. Another thing I didn’t mention is the fact that the bigger gear setup offers more incremental movements in the ratio which can be really nice.
Awesome video! Gear ratios are definitely interesting. When I mess around with my gearing this season, I’ll be leaving the cog the same at all times. I want to keep things simple. I find the topic so interesting though and I loved seeing your chart. Really neat stuff. Have you ever messed around with bigger tire sizes like a 1.95? I wonder how that feels going around berms.
I haven’t raced anything bigger like that on the back. I have a 1.95 up front and the 1.75 in the back. These are still the stock tires that came with the bike so I’ve just stuck with them. I’ve ridden my trail bike around the track plenty and that has 2.1 front and back and it rides nice. You can get a little. Pre rollout with a larger tire and that can be a difference maker in how it feels as well. Good luck with the season.
Great info! Here is a question. I have a 5 year old son, Mongoose Title Micro, running 39/16 gears on 110mm cranks. He is always slow out of the gate aka almost last and trying to play catch up. I dropped him to 38/16, but never got to try it before winter. Being that he is a little guy, should I go lower than 38/16 to get him spinning easier and faster out of the gate?
It's an interesting topic for such a young rider. I run a 37/16 on my sons Expert (150mm cranks) and he is 10yrs old. His bike came stock with a 40/16 and he was struggling out of the gate. We have a small hill and he played catchup the rest of the track. When I made the switch he was able to get out of the gate quicker, but now he has to pedal more to maintain track speed. it's always a give-and-take, but at 5 I would say it is worth grabbing a used sprocket for a few dollars and trying a lower gear. I went drastic and dropped multiple teeth since my son typically has a lot of energy and tends to have a lot of leg speed when running and playing soccer. This made me feel comfortable changing so many teeth at once, but he is bigger now and I'm thinking of adding one tooth back in to see how he responds this spring. Biggest recommendation is to not tell him you are changing anything, but just make a change, ask him if he had fun and evaluate his riding from the stands... or the track if you are also racing.
Great question. The 20" feels really good and I have a bunch of drive coming out of turns... meaning I don't feel like I'm spun out. This was the goal and it is certainly working. My cruiser feels better than it did (for sure) going from a 41 to a 42.2, but it still spins pretty quick and I could potentially stand to make an adjustment up front to a 43. I don't have anyone in my actual cruiser class for the state so it's hard to justify continuing to make changes right now.
Good to hear! Was also going to ask about the decimal gear and how you're getting on with that. Like you (I think), I don't quite understand all of the science behind it but I'm curious to try one out.
Getting the gears at a discount made it worth me trying. My 20" really does feel nice with the 46.9/17. The way I understand it is the gear would spin like a 46/17, but have extra rollout similar to a 47. I get lost somewhere in the science, but what I feel is I'm pretty quick out of the gate and still have some drive out of the turns.
