When should you ride in high gear?
A high gear, sometimes referred to by cyclists as a ‘big gear’, is optimal when descending or riding at high speeds. The highest, or biggest gear on a bicycle is achieved by combining the largest front chainring size with the smallest rear cog or sprocket — expressed as ’53×11′, for example.
Why is it harder to pedal in higher gear?
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.
What is freewheel riding?
Freewheel is what most riders are familiar with. If you pedal forward, you will move the bike forward. If you stop actively pedaling, but the rear wheel is still turning, the pedals will continue to turn. This means there is no coasting, if that back wheel is spinning, so are the pedals.
What happens when you switch to a higher gear on a bike?
People understand it in different ways, but shifting to a higher gear (or higher number) makes the bike harder to pedal (or tightens the pedals) and you go faster. Conversely, shifting to a lower gear (or lower number) loosens the pedals to make the bike easier to pedal up hills, but you go slower.
Why do high end freewheels have More pawls?
High end freewheels have more pawls and engagement points than lower end freewheels, so there are more ridges in the engagement surface and more pawls hitting the splines on the engagement surface. The reason this is desirable is that more pawls and engagement points means faster engagement when you start pedaling.
Why is there so much noise between freewheels?
Some reasons for the noise between freewheels? High end freewheels have more pawls and engagement points than lower end freewheels, so there are more ridges in the engagement surface and more pawls hitting the splines on the engagement surface.
Why does my bike chain sag when freewheeling?
The chain and gears work fine when cycling on the flat or uphill but when freewheeling downhill or when I lift the right pedal in preparation to start off the chain sags down towards the floor like it is not being picked up properly by the rear gears. Does anyone know what’s going on and if I can fix it and how?
Which is louder a freewheel or a rattle?
You’ll notice not only the freewheel is louder, other rattling noises the bike makes (like on bad pavement) are louder as well. Here is one example of high-end noise.
What happens if you don’t have a freewheel on a bike?
If you didn’t have a freewheel on your bicycle, a simple ride could be exhausting, because you could never stop pumping the pedals. And going downhill would be downright dangerous, because the pedals would turn on their own, faster than you could keep up with them.
High end freewheels have more pawls and engagement points than lower end freewheels, so there are more ridges in the engagement surface and more pawls hitting the splines on the engagement surface. The reason this is desirable is that more pawls and engagement points means faster engagement when you start pedaling.
What did free wheeling do to a car?
In effect the free wheeling prevented “engine braking” and the engine was allowed to run at idle speed while the car coasted along on its own momentum with the transmission still in gear. When the driver wished to speed up all he had to do was step on the throttle.
What to do if your chain sags while freewheeling?
Try moving the rear mech at the bent point. If could be a little stiff. Oil will sort that out. Also take a tape measure and measure 6 links. greater than 6 1/4″ needs possibly changing along with chainset*. *Due to the age of the bike the chainset may be steel rather than aluminium the former lasts far longer.