As founder of EndlessBikeCo., and designer of the KickAss(single speed)Cog, I’ve not only been asked “what gear should I run” numerous times, but I’ve also asked myself that very question many times as well. In the past, my best answer has been “one that gives your desired average speed with a cadence of about 85 or so”, and recommended the use of “FixMeUp!” software to figure it out.
The new insanely engineered super duper duty newly revised KickAssCog
with teeth designed to work and wear better with worn out chains!
I might still continue to suggest that method, too. However if you have a geared bike, and some kind of downloadable info giving device (Powertap) which records both speed and cadence; I have a new method that is guaranteed to increase your confidence and reduce your lap times.
1. Ride the trail with your nerded out geared bike. If it’s a race course: hit a lap or two like you are racing it. If its your local trails, just go ride them..
2. Download your data to TrainingPeaks WKO+, or by similar means that will enable the next step.
3. Create graphs without “zero” info of cadence and speed (but do include values from 1rpm/mph and up). They’ll look like this:
Notice: these aren’t quite the same shapes. As such, there just won’t be an “ideal” gear.
4. With photoshop or similar software, overlay them, with the top being 50% opacity. It’ll look like this:
5. With the origin of each layer fixed, stretch the speed layer from it’s upper right corner until there is a “best fit” as seen by the greatest union of the two functions. It might look like this:
As you can see, even with a good gear, there are speeds both high and low that will challenge pedaling skills.
6. At the bottom, find a speed and a cadence that line up well. For better precision, choose a higher speed/cadence:
7. This suggests that between 10-11mph, I’m looking for a gear that I will pedal at between 78-81rpm. For simplicity sake, I’ll say 11mph, 80rpm. So I’ll open FixMeUp! and enter in my wheel diameter (29″, duh), my chainring sizes, and my cog sizes. The resulting chart looks like this:
8. If 32×20 weren’t already the exact gear I presently have on my Superfly SS, I would call (aka: holler to the other room) EndlessBikeCo. and get me the right size cog.
There you have it. The most complex way to approach the simplest thing…and all to figure out what you already knew.
-Marshall Hance
Asheville, NC
