Gear restrictions?

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Ive heard about gear restrictions for junior racers, but I cant find what they actually are. Can anybody help me out on this?

Ive heard about gear restrictions for junior racers, but I cant find what they actually are. Can anybody help me out on this?

26 foot rollout...how far your bike goes in one pedal stroke. the best ratio is 52tooth big chainring, 14-25rear cassette.

Its how far your bike moves in 1 (full) pedal revolution. Mine is 42x14 which gives me a roll out of 6.3 meters.
you can calulate you gears here http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

52x14 for juniors, 52x16 for u17, 52x18 for u15..

for u17 and 15 it depends on your country. Aus is 6metres for u15 (43x15 is good), 6.5 for u17 (blue if comfortable with 20c tyres you can go 43x14, will put you right on the limit. 40x13 is also just right with 20c and 39x13 will give you more ratios if youve got a normal cassette) and u19 is universal at 7.930 metres. As verinque says 52x14 is the general one for this. Have been thinking about a 44 on the front so Ican have more range without buying a new cassette. Dunno though.

Supid question really, but where are you from, IE England?

What`s so stupid?:confused:

I didn't think tyre width did much to your roll out? I got 23mm wide tyres (GP 3000...they're great!). Once i get some money im gonna get a new cassette, something like a 14 - 25.

I'm restricted :D i got 42 on the front and 13 on the back......spin out at about 34mph When doin 4th cat races sit in da middle of the pack and dont have to move out your last sprocket ;)........get sucked along by all the big people :rolleyes:

I know they limit gears in most junior races to protect the knees of us young riders.
They can also "block out" gears before a race to restrict your ratio. Most races allow this but races such as nationals require that you have a junior cassette. I think it is legal to use standard gears if you are racing with adult categorties insetad of with other juniors. A way I get around training without using junior gears is by keeping a standard adult cassete on my training wheels and keeping a junior cassette on my race wheels.

In aAus we can use any cassette we weant as long as it's blocked off. People have been known over time (not me!) to put an 11 or 12 on the inside of the 13 when in u17. When they roll it out they ask you to put it down the bottom of the cassette, just so happens that thats not the biggest gear...

What age group are you blue? If u17 you'll find that using 40x13 with 23's you'll roll over by about a couple of cm. 39x13 rolls you in by heaps. By using a 20 on the back you can just roll in with 40x13. Personally I never bothered because I like my 23's but if you're compfortable with 20s it's a good option. From memory you get about 20cm per turn more than the blokes on the 39x13.

GP3000 are a good wet weather tyre but jusst be careful that they don't square off too much, makes the bike feel awful. If you want to try a tyre that basically feels like a single, vittoria have got a line called open corsa which roll a bit better. Bit more expensive her though but you might find something cheep on the internet.

In aAus we can use any cassette we weant as long as it's blocked off. People have been known over time (not me!) to put an 11 or 12 on the inside of the 13 when in u17. When they roll it out they ask you to put it down the bottom of the cassette, just so happens that thats not the biggest gear...

haha, nothin suss!

yeh im u17. 42x14 is my restriction. At the last junior race i went in the guy checked my roll out and said it was fine. I might try gettin 20s for my next set of tyres. I only use the gp 3000s for races. I use my trusty Vittoria Ruhbino Pros for training (Cheap tyres and havn't had a punture since i got them) and then my shitty megamium2s (Gave me tons of puntures) on the wind trainer.

Yeh i got my Vittorias and Conti tyres from Probikekit. Open Corsa are only $52 on Probikekit. Thats the price of a megamium in the bike shops

Personally I reckon the the best racing tyres are, Michelin Pro Race 2's.

They are great for grip and take a long while to wear out!

I agree..Pro Race are cool! They seem reliable!:)

haha, nothin suss!

yeh im u17. 42x14 is my restriction. At the last junior race i went in the guy checked my roll out and said it was fine. I might try gettin 20s for my next set of tyres. I only use the gp 3000s for races. I use my trusty Vittoria Ruhbino Pros for training (Cheap tyres and havn't had a punture since i got them) and then my shitty megamium2s (Gave me tons of puntures) on the wind trainer.

Yeh i got my Vittorias and Conti tyres from Probikekit. Open Corsa are only $52 on Probikekit. Thats the price of a megamium in the bike shopsWhat race was that? I've only had my gears checked once and only because it was my first race. I know a few kids who race they never restrict gears.:rolleyes:

What race was that? I've only had my gears checked once and only because it was my first race. I know a few kids who race they never restrict gears.:rolleyes:

Gear Restrictions are mandated by the UCI. Some national (or state/provincial) federations may not choose to enforce them or may enforce them selectively.

That's what we have in Canada. Quebec enforces UCI restrictions while Ontario enforces gear restrictions which aren't as severe. They are restrictions though ... and any officially sanctioned event would have them.

Here's an online gear calculator (http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=197&road=true) you might want to try. It's a little more complicated than some, but it has these advantages:


Gears which meet junior restrictions (in the USA only) are highlighted automatically. If you are somewhere else, you'll have to read the numbers :)
You can set it up to use exactly the cogs you have, to get a custom chart for your bike.
You can trim down the list of cogs and rings to just a few if you only want to look at your top gears for rollout purposes.
You can choose the actual tire diameter, so if you want to know your actual development with 20mm tires you can do it.
By the way, track gear restrictions are different. If you are curious, try the gear chart in track mode (http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=197).

Just one warning: never trust a gear chart or what someone tells you about ring/cog combinations for an important race. Tires vary, so check the actual rollout if you can't afford to be DQ'd.

Assuming US based query

For full details log on to http://www.usacycling.org/forms/USCF_Rulebook.pdf Rule IJ6 p.29

To see if your highest gear is too high:

1. Put bike in that gear

2. Place crank in vertical position over mark on floor

3. Wheel bike backwards until crank vertical again (i.e. one complete revolution of that crank)

4. Mark floor and measure. If the distance is greater than allowed in rules, change down to next gear and repeat until distance is same, or less, than allowed. Make very sure that your measurement is accurate.

5. Block off by screwing "high" derailleur adjustment screw down to point where it stops you changing up to the sporcket above the legal one

You are now riding race-legal bike as far as gear restrictions are concerned

Good luck.

By the way, ignore questions about whether or not you are stupid when you post on a forum. The question was not stupid - not asking questions is stupid.

An update to the gear calculator (http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=409) mentioned above:
1) It now supports highlighting based on USA and Australian rules for both track and road.
2) It's much faster and even more customizable.

The new location is: http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=409

By the way, beatupoldvet gives an excellent description of what you need to do, but there's one catch. At National Championships blocked gears are not allowed - I believe this is true at the international level as well.

An update to the gear calculator (http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=409) mentioned above:
1) It now supports highlighting based on USA and Australian rules for both track and road.
2) It's much faster and even more customizable.

The new location is: http://www.juniorvelo.com/?p=409

By the way, beatupoldvet gives an excellent description of what you need to do, but there's one catch. At National Championships blocked gears are not allowed - I believe this is true at the international level as well.

Which just goes to show - always check for local rulings. In UK you can block off, but your bike is checked after the race if you finish in the points. And organisers get to know the, "But it was ok at last week's race!" excuse.