What is the lowest gear on a bike?



ignouproject

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SHIFTING 101: HOW AND WHEN TO USE YOUR GEARS
Along with your brakes, shifting your gears is one of the fundamental mechanical functions of your bike. Learning how to shift may seem basic, but gearing practice and shifting efficiently is something that even veteran riders can work on. Proper gearing will not only improve your speed, it will also make the ride more comfortable and increase your endurance on longer rides.

What Does it all Mean?
One of the most difficult things about learning how to shift is the terminology. Low/High, Big/Small, Easy/Hard, Fast/Slow, Front/Rear, One-by, Two-by, Three-by… if your head is spinning already, you may want to brush up on the following vocab words:

Low Gear = Easy = Good for Climbing: The “low” gear on your bike is the smallest chain ring in the front and the largest cog on your cassette (rear gears). In this position, the pedaling will be the easiest and you’ll be able to pedal uphill with the smallest amount of resistance. To get into this position, it is called “downshifting”.

High Gear = Hard = Good for Descending: The “highest” gear on your bike is the largest chain ring in the front and the smallest cog on your cassette (rear gears). In this position, the pedaling will be the hardest and you’ll be able to accelerate while traveling downhill. To get to this position, it is called “upshifting”.

___-Speed Bike: When you were a kid, you probably bragged about the number of “speeds” your bike had to your friends. Whether it was 7, 18, 21-speed, etc., what you were referring to is the number of gears you had on your bike. You could determine this number by multiplying the number of cogs in your cassette (rear gears) by the number of chain rings (front gears) your bike has. For example, if your bike has two chain rings and 11 cogs in the cassette, then you have a 21-speed bike. However, higher-end adult bikes are rarely referred to in this way in the modern bicycle industry because, basically, more doesn’t always mean better. More on that below!

One, Two, Three-by: The amount of chain rings (front gears) on your bike determines if your drivetrain (the system of gears) is referred to as a “one-by” “two-by” or “three-by”. The current trend in the bicycle industry is to strive to produce the same range of gears using less chain rings. The result is a larger cassette (rear gears) that has more cogs and often more teeth on the largest cog in the cassette. Why? Because, generally, having less chain rings makes the bike more efficient, lighter weight and easier to operate and adjust. This is the reason you will often see one-by drivetrains on high-end mountain bikes and two-by drivetrains on the high-end road bikes.
 
_. Whether it was 7, 18, 21-speed, etc., what you were referring to is the number of gears you had on your bike. You could determine this number by multiplying the number of cogs in your cassette (rear gears) by the number of chain rings (front gears) your bike has. For example, if your bike has two chain rings and 11 cogs in the cassette, then you have a 21-speed bike.

Was this calculated on a European bike because here in the United States, 2 X 11 = 22. :D:D:D

Yes, thank you, very intelligent information! ;)
 

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