What gear do you leave your bike in?

[mikesbytes]

Does that mean you DON'T take the frame tubes apart as well?!
How lax is that?

Not necessary if you store your bike in an oxygen free environment

 

[Pottsie]

Right on !!!!!!!

To relieve tension, I take it a step further and simply remove the chain altogether after each ride. Then I disengage the brake cables, flip the QR skewers, deflate the tires, and loosen each spoke.

Seriously though, being on the receiving end of a quality BJ relieves much more tension than any of methods listed above.

 

[Powerful Pete]

Not necessary if you store your bike in an oxygen free environment

Whoa! What brand of de-oxygenifier do you use?

 

[TheDarkLord]

Whoa! What brand of de-oxygenifier do you use?

You can just have a room where you pump in some inert gas (maybe just nitrogen) after you've stored your bike and that will reduce the oxygen concentration to very low levels after a while.

I'm really beginning to like this thread now.

 

[Farmguy]

Cmon..........I leave mine in "Park"

 

[mikesbytes]

Whoa! What brand of de-oxygenifier do you use?

I just fill the frame with helium. Helps with weight reduction too.

 

[Crankyfeet]

I don't clothe my bike in storage but the gear I choose for myself usually is a 32x34 pair of jeans.

 

[BikeyGuy]

The reason you leave your bike in a 39x12, is to reduce the "stretch" on the derailleur springs.
On bikes that have been sitting for years in a 53X 26, for example, the rear derailleur spring does not want to pull it down to the next gear....14 to 13 for example.

Forget about some kind of cable stretch.

 

[alpha2k]

I always leave it at 39*12 to save my RD. I began to do it some years ago after I read an article on it.

 

[sopas]

I dont think this matters at all.

I always leave my bike in 53 x 19, becasue That is what I use more in the flats.

 

[alienator]

After every ride, I remove my derailleurs and put them on an aerogel support in a vacuum chamber, and I orient them so that I can minimize undo gravitational force on the springs in the derailleurs. I then pump the chamber down to 10^(-9) torr. While in the chamber, I monitor changes in spring surfaces with an STM and use xray crystalography to monitor for break down of the crystalline structure in the springs.

Better safe than sorry I say.

 

[mitosis]

I read an interview with Cofidis rider Maxime Monfort who said that he always leaves his bike in 39x25 when not using it because this gear produces the least tension on the rear derailleur.

But in my LBS the other day I noticed that all the road bikes were in 39x12 and the guy told me he always leaves bikes in this extreme gear ratio because it creates the least tension on the cables?!?!

Who's right then?

Well look at the derailleur. At which extreme is there least tension on the springs?

I think you'll find that it is when the derailleur is over the smallest rear sprocket. 39/12.

And then decide that it doesn't really matter.

 

[artemidorus]

Steel springs and cables do not stretch when idle and within their operating limits. You do not need to select any particular gear to save springs or cables. This is a fallacy that has been handed down over decades, as some of our more facetious colleagues have been hinting all thread.