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Is there any way to change the gears so a bike has more resistance? |
i just bought a new trek bike yesterday, i feel like i cant go as fast as i could because the gears are "too loose." even when i have it in the highest power gear, my legs just keep spinning when im trying to go as fast as i can. when i have it in the lowest its practically unuseable because there is so little resistance. i asked the bike store guy when i test rode it if there was an easy way to add resistance and he said yeah they'd make some adjustments. when i took it home, it was the same way. any way to fix that? im guessing you need to get a totally new gear for the drive train that is smaller in diameter? So you say you're in the "highest" gear but don't know what the gears mean? Something tells me that you are NOT in top gear! The 48/38/28 and 13-34 refer to your chainrings and rear cogs, and from that I can tell that you have a 21-speed hybrid. The numbers refer to the number of teeth on each chainring or cog, so you have three front gears; one with 28 teeth, one with 38, and the big one with 48 teeth. Likewise in the rear, your smallest cog is 13 teeth, and your largest cog is 34 teeth. Your "slowest" gear will be the small ring in front coupled with the biggest cog in the back, while your "highest" gear will be the big 48T ring up front and the 13T cog in the back. Think of it this way: looking down, the farther your chain is from the center of the bicycle, the harder it will be to pedal and the faster you can go. If you are spinning out in a 48/13 high gear (probably around 33-35 mph), then that's as fast as the bike is meant to go. If you want pure speed, then a road bike should be your next purchase. Get a bigger crank, one with more teeth. I have an old mountain bike that I put slicks on to train on asphalt. I needed more resistance, so I got a bigger crank, a road crank. I had to put some washers inside it so that the teeth wouldn't hit the frame, but now I get a ton of resistance and my legs are a lot stronger. You guessed it, you need a different set of cogs. I have no idea what type of bike you ride but you will have to buy another cassette (or freewheel). If you are spinning out on 52/11 then join a professional team. EDIT: as the above poster said if you on a MTB a bigger chainset may be better. EDIT2: The numbers refer to the amount of teeth on the cogs, it sounds like you would be better suited to a different chainset/crank, take it back to the shop and ask if they can do it for you(It'll cost you though) a different cassette wont make a great deal of difference in this case. you've got it. The cassette/freewheel (rear gears) will have more resistance if they have fewer teeth - smaller in diameter. The two standard sizes for a mountain bike are 12-34T and 11-32T. If you have the first, try one that has an 11 tooth outer ring. If you are only biking on the road, you could always put on a road cassette. The front chainrings will be harder to pedal with larger rings. Again, you could get larger rings installed, and if that is not enough for you, you could put on a road crank. Hope this helps work in a bike shop |
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