Ignorant New Guy questions

Excuse the ignorance of a new guy, but I just got back into bicycling
--- My last bike was a 1950's Schwinn with fat tires, a good knee-action
spring arrangement in the front fork, and a tank with a horn in it.

My new bike is a Marin "Redwood", which I bought without much education
but which luckily I like a lot. After reading posts here, it's evident
to me that there a lot of basic things of which I am totally ignorant.

Marin calls this a "comfort" bike. How is that different from a "road"
bike, or an "urban" bike, or a "trail" bike?

My bike has 24 gears (3 level front sprocket and 8 level rear sprocket).
Seems like I normally travel with the front sprocket in the highest gear
and the rear in 6 or 7. When shifting to go up a grade does it make
more sense to drop 1 gear on the front sprocket, or 2 or 3 gears on the
rear sprocket?

How often/what sort of lubricants should I use on crank bearings and
wheel bearings? I'm reasonably mechanical, but are there special tricks
to setting up bearing tighness, etc.?

Be gentle --- I know some of this stuff is pretty basic.

Thanks,

Hans



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"Hans K0HB" wrote:

My new bike is a Marin "Redwood", which I bought
without much education but which luckily I like a lot.

Marin calls this a "comfort" bike. How is that different
from a "road" bike, or an "urban" bike, or a "trail" bike?

"Road bike" generally means a road racing bike, with close-ratio gears,
narrow tyres, and drop handlebars. The other categories are somewhat
nebulous, and one manufacturer's "trail bike" may be another's "hybrid" or
"comfort bike".

"Comfort bike" is a description adopted by a number of bike companies
looking for a new marketing category. It generally means an upright riding
position, soft saddle, and usually some form of suspension - either a
sprung seatpost, or fork, or both. It has a lot in common with a typical
"hybrid", but most hybrids come with 700c wheels, while most comfort bikes
use the 26" mountain bike format. Marin now sells its hybrids as "city
bikes".

An "urban bike" could be anything from a dutch-style roadster with a
chaincase, dynamo lighting and enclosed gears and brakes, to the
road-modified rigid mountain bikes sold by Marin and Scott. A "trail bike"
could be a comfort bike or a hybrid (for leisure rides on bike trails), or
it could refer to a cross-country mountain bike. The definitions aren't
fixed.

My bike has 24 gears (3 level front sprocket and 8 level
rear sprocket). Seems like I normally travel with the front
sprocket in the highest gear and the rear in 6 or 7. When
shifting to go up a grade does it make more sense to drop
1 gear on the front sprocket, or 2 or 3 gears on the rear
sprocket?

It's a good idea to avoid extreme chain angles caused by using the largest
chainrings with the largest sprockets (and the smallest with the smallest).
If by "6 or 7" you're talking about the larger sprockets, it would make
more sense to change to the middle chainring, unless cresting a short,
steep rise. Plan ahead, and choose your chainring accordingly.

How often/what sort of lubricants should I use on crank
bearings and wheel bearings?

Most crank (bottom bracket) bearings are sealed for the life of the unit
these days, and aren't designed to be lubricated by the user. Any
general-purpose grease will do for the hubs. Maintenance intervals will
depend on mileage and weather, but once a year should be adequate for
reasonably sealed hubs.

I'm reasonably mechanical, but are there special tricks to
setting up bearing tighness, etc.?

Sheldon Brown's site is the most comprehensive cycling resource on the web.
The index to his repair section is here, hub adjustment being the first
entry:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/repair/index.html

HTH

James Thomson

On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 03:10:53 +0000 (UTC), "Hans K0HB"
wrote:

Excuse the ignorance of a new guy, but I just got back into bicycling
--- My last bike was a 1950's Schwinn with fat tires, a good knee-action
spring arrangement in the front fork, and a tank with a horn in it.

My new bike is a Marin "Redwood", which I bought without much education
but which luckily I like a lot. After reading posts here, it's evident
to me that there a lot of basic things of which I am totally ignorant.

Marin calls this a "comfort" bike. How is that different from a "road"
bike, or an "urban" bike, or a "trail" bike?


You can look through the Marin web site to see what they mean by each
term. Basically, the terms refer to what they consider the optimum use
of the design, based on components, geometry, materials, etc. Also
what they think will sell.

My bike has 24 gears (3 level front sprocket and 8 level rear sprocket).
Seems like I normally travel with the front sprocket in the highest gear
and the rear in 6 or 7. When shifting to go up a grade does it make
more sense to drop 1 gear on the front sprocket, or 2 or 3 gears on the
rear sprocket?


If the largest rear cog is '1' and the smallest is '8' then I'd drop
the front to the middle after 6 or 5. Look at the angle of the chain
as you move up the rear cogs. The straighter the chain, the less wear
on it.

How often/what sort of lubricants should I use on crank bearings and
wheel bearings? I'm reasonably mechanical, but are there special tricks
to setting up bearing tighness, etc.?


The bottom bracket bearings are sealed and will need no maintenance.
The wheel bearing use grease (which type is open to tons of debate,
but realize that with one bike and repacking the wheels twice a year,
even an overpirced bike shop tube of grease will last many years).
Good to replace the actual ball bearings every now and then.

The basic concept for cup and cone bearings is - as loose as possible
without any play.

You might want to check the hubs right away. I bought a Marin bike at
about the same price a few months ago (the Muirwoods), and both hubs
were very poorly adjusted. Adjusting hubs can be annoying until you
get the knack of how much the nuts move as you counter-tighten them.
This could be a good thing to have someone at the bike shop show you.
Go at a slow time, buy the tools (cone wrenches), ask them to show you
a bit, and offer to pay.


Be gentle --- I know some of this stuff is pretty basic.

Thanks,

Hans

Along with the Sheldon Brown site mentioned, this is a helpful site-

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQindex.shtml

But they aren't the only tool company out there.

Welcome back to bicycling.

"Hans K0HB" wrote in message news:335fda6d73037fe8e52ee682faadcbf7.128005@myga te.mailgate.org...

My bike has 24 gears (3 level front sprocket and 8 level rear sprocket).
Seems like I normally travel with the front sprocket in the highest gear
and the rear in 6 or 7. When shifting to go up a grade does it make
more sense to drop 1 gear on the front sprocket, or 2 or 3 gears on the
rear sprocket?

Generally speaking, derailleur gearing these days is on a 'crossover'
setup.

The three chainrings (sprockets) in front select general ranges. The
smallest one is for climbing long hills under load. The middle one is
for general use. The largest one is for going fast--descending, long
fast stretches. These differ from each other by about 10 teeth, so a
shift from one chainring to another means a significant change in
pedaling cadence for the rider.

The cogs out back--8 of them, in your case--on the other hand are
usually spaced much closer together: usually a 2-tooth difference. A
shift on each of these doesn't change pedaling cadence much. Shifting
several times, over the whole block of them, will.

The entire idea of gearing is to enable your legs to turn at the
optimum cadence, maximizing the speed and distance you can get out of
the bicycle. You will go farther if you avoid large changes in
cadence and keep plugging away with a nice, steady output; this means
shifting often. When the going is too hard, shift down. Too easy,
shift up. "Optimum" cadence varies according to each individual
rider, but it will usually end up being close to 80 revolutions per
minute. (Although some spin at 100 or more).

Advice: you're geared too high. Don't worry about front shifting,
for now--set the front derailleur to the middle chainring and forget
about shifting it for a while. Shift the rear one, only. Turn your
legs faster, and keep that rate steady by shifting on the rear. You
will soon feel your way around the gears. Once you get to long hills
and you run out of gears, shift the front chainring DOWN while
shifting the rear one UP several rings (to minimize the suddenness of
the jump).

Also: NEVER run extreme chain-lines: large front/large rear; small
front/small rear. As a rule, you can use all 8 rear cogs when in the
middle front chainring; the largest 4 rear cogs when in the small
chainring; and the smallest 4 when in the large chainring. Running
extreme chain angles is a very bad idea: it will wear down your
drivetrain very quickly, and the amount of stress you'll put on the
chain may cause you to break it (not much fun).

for further reference:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears.html

-Luigi

"Hans K0HB" wrote


Be gentle --- I know some of this stuff is pretty basic.

Thanks,

Hans

Wow, thanks guys. Lot's of stuff I didn't know. Since I'm more into
"casual" easy-going biking, the "80-rpm cadence" is counter-intuitive to
me, but I'm sure it'll make sense as I go.

Thanks again,

Hans



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"Luigi de Guzman" wrote:

[snip]

Also: NEVER run extreme chain-lines: large front/large rear;
small front/small rear. As a rule, you can use all 8 rear cogs
when in the middle front chainring; the largest 4 rear cogs
when in the small chainring; and the smallest 4 when in the
large chainring. Running extreme chain angles is a very bad
idea: it will wear down your drivetrain very quickly, and the
amount of stress you'll put on the chain may cause you to
break it (not much fun).

I think that advice is a little conservative. If you're content to use the
entire cassette with the middle chainring, the outer ring (only about 6mm
outboard of the middle) should be good for all but the two largest
sprockets. The smallest chainring is a little different because chain
tension increases as chainring size decreases.

My ideal triple biases the chainline slightly inward. With a 9-speed
cassette, I get eight usable gears in each of the larger two rings and five
on the granny. Middle-small is ruled out by chain chatter against the big
ring, but I do occasionally succumb to the temptation of big-big, and I'm
still here to write about it.

James Thomson