Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012 edited May 2012 in MTB general
for general trail/xc riding with a fair bit of road thrown in, do 44tooth chainrings offer a significant advantage/disadvantage over 42tooth? A mate of mine has recently installed a FSA 44/32/22 (I think) chainset to his bike and reckons that the 44t big ring will give him a massive speed advantage over my 42/32/24 setup. Im wondering, if thats the case, why it seems most mtb's of this type come with a 42t outer ring.
Obviously the proof of the pudding will be when the two of us get out there! But Im still keen to learn some of the science behind the subject and also opinions. Also, how easy is it to convert existing chainsets - should the need arise! 
-
supersonic Posts: 82,708
May 2012
A 44toother is a harder gear by 4.76%. Shimano dropped to 42t so the gear change to the 32t wasn't as steep.
GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM
VOODOO CANZO
Come and see me at https://www.facebook.com/biketyke/
-
Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
May 2012
Your mate's talking none sense . It's less than 5pc difference. It'll make no top speed difference unless you're in the smallest rear cog.
-
Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012
supersonic wrote:
A 44toother is a harder gear by 4.76%. Shimano dropped to 42t so the gear change to the 32t wasn't as steep.
Steep in terms of being noticeable to the rider, or in terms of some shifting aspect mechanically?
-
Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
May 2012
The latter.
-
vanamees Posts: 75
May 2012
Power makes you faster not gears.
-
Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012
vanamees wrote:
Power makes you faster not gears.
Ok then. So two people, equal fitness, equal power. Same bike - except one has the 42 ring and one has the 44 ring...
-
MountainMonster Posts: 7,423
May 2012
Cubist wrote:
vanamees wrote:
Power makes you faster not gears.
Ok then. So two people, equal fitness, equal power. Same bike - except one has the 42 ring and one has the 44 ring...
At full whack, you may notice a difference, but it will be very marginal. Although the rider is must more important than any component on the bike for power and speed!
My London Road
-
vanamees Posts: 75
May 2012
Cubist wrote:
vanamees wrote:
Power makes you faster not gears.
Ok then. So two people, equal fitness, equal power. Same bike - except one has the 42 ring and one has the 44 ring...
At 90rpm both chain rings give ca 30 mph - you hardly can ride so fast off road, even on road. Advantage is theoretical.
-
Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012
vanamees wrote:
Cubist wrote:
vanamees wrote:
Power makes you faster not gears.
Ok then. So two people, equal fitness, equal power. Same bike - except one has the 42 ring and one has the 44 ring...
At 90rpm both chain rings give ca 30 mph - you hardly can ride so fast off road, even on road.
Top speed on the flat rarely proves advantageous on variable terrain, but what about acceleration? With a greater circumference ring acting upon the same rear cog, applying more teeth (however marginally so) upon it via the chain per revolution? Physics alone seems to favour the 44t.
-
Twelly Posts: 1,437
May 2012
Cubist wrote:
vanamees wrote:
Cubist wrote:
vanamees wrote:
Power makes you faster not gears.
Ok then. So two people, equal fitness, equal power. Same bike - except one has the 42 ring and one has the 44 ring...
At 90rpm both chain rings give ca 30 mph - you hardly can ride so fast off road, even on road.
Top speed on the flat rarely proves advantageous on variable terrain, but what about acceleration? With a greater circumference ring acting upon the same rear cog, applying more teeth (however marginally so) upon it via the chain per revolution? Physics alone seems to favour the 44t.
Smaller chainring = better acceleration
You wouldn't accelerate from a stand still in your largest gear would you?
Epic Threads
-
vanamees Posts: 75
May 2012
" With a greater circumference ring acting upon the same rear cog, applying more teeth (however marginally so) upon it via the chain per revolution? Physics alone seems to favour the 44t." - only if you are powerful unlimited.
Even pro XC riders often use 38-40 T chain rings. -
Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012
Im getting a lot of good feedback here. Obviously when I said acceleration I wasnt referring to largest front ring and smallest rear cog from standstill - thatd be a daft way to measure things! I meant moving up the gears as you do when you ride a bike. Im no road cyclist, but bloody hell, they dont half give mountainbikes a good leathering when you try to climb against them on one - and look at the size of their chainrings.
That said, straight line speed isnt going to count for everything on my local trail, so Im very interested to see how my mates new setup works next weekend. -
chez_m356 Posts: 1,893
May 2012
Cubist wrote:
Im no road cyclist, but bloody hell, they dont half give mountainbikes a good leathering when you try to climb against them on one
let them ride up a muddy hill in a field and see how good they are
Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc 10- CANYON Nerve AM 6 2011
-
Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
May 2012
Of course a road bike will beat an MTB up hill for lots and lots of reasons none of which is their top gear.
-
Twelly Posts: 1,437
May 2012
Chunkers1980 wrote:
Of course a road bike will beat an MTB up hill for lots and lots of reasons none of which is their top gear.
Exactly, the fact a road bike will dick all over you up a paved hill is nothing to do with the size of the cogs.
Low weight, slick skinny tyres, stiff frame, no suspension, different riding position/geometry
These are the reasons why.
There are a lot of threads recently about people pissed off their mountain bike won't do 400mph on the road and what they can buy to make it into a better bike for them to get to work on...
You bought a mountain bike, if you are riding to work on roads and pavements and you want to go fast, you should have bought a road bike.
Really, it's like saying "What air freshener can I put in my Land Rover to stop all these Ferrari's overtaking me on the A34??"
/rant
Epic Threads
-
snotty badger Posts: 1,593
May 2012
You must be riding very tame trails to be using your top gears! Is it just fire roads?
I run a 36t chainring and only ever use the bottom two cassette sprockets on road sections..
08 Pitch Pro
14 Kona Unit
Kona Kula SS
Trailstar SS
94 Univega Alpina 5.3 -
Cubist Posts: 73
May 2012
TwellySmat wrote:
Chunkers1980 wrote:
Of course a road bike will beat an MTB up hill for lots and lots of reasons none of which is their top gear.
Exactly, the fact a road bike will dick all over you up a paved hill is nothing to do with the size of the cogs.
Low weight, slick skinny tyres, stiff frame, no suspension, different riding position/geometry
These are the reasons why.
There are a lot of threads recently about people pissed off their mountain bike won't do 400mph on the road and what they can buy to make it into a better bike for them to get to work on...
You bought a mountain bike, if you are riding to work on roads and pavements and you want to go fast, you should have bought a road bike.
Really, it's like saying "What air freshener can I put in my Land Rover to stop all these Ferrari's overtaking me on the A34??"
/rant
Haha! Good point! My original post was just a matter of my being curious. I mean 44t setups must have some applications or nobody would make them! Im not unhappy with my 42/32/24 by any means - was just wondering out loud whether my mate was going to get the advantage he expects from his larger ring. (Hee hee - I just said "his larger ring!")
-
stubs Posts: 5,001
May 2012
I have gone from a 3 ring 44/32/22 set up to a 2 ring 36/24 and I can tell you
off roadyour mate will definitely go 0.0000000000000000001% faster than you with his extra 2 teeth. Unless of course you are a fat wheezy custard and he is a member of the GB team. On road going down hill with a hurricane behind him he might get as much as a couple of mile an hour faster than you for about 1 second.
Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
-
Dr Avinuon Posts: 26
May 2012
I have recently gone from a setup with a 48x12 to 42x11 and it has made little difference to my top speed even on the tarmac hill out the back of my house. As for off road top speed I fine it’s the size of your testacies thats limiting factor and not the gears you have.
Categories
- All Categories
- 18.2K BikeRadar team
- 183.8K Road cycling forum
- 137.2K Mountain biking forum
- 28K Commuter cycling forum
