The Gears In Mountain Bikes Just Keep Getting Moreand More Intricate. The Bikes Of Today Have As Manyas 27 Gear Ratios. A Mountain Bike Will Use A Combination Of Three Different Sized Sprockets Infront And Nine In The Back To Produce Gear Ratios.The Idea Behind All These Gears Is To Allow Therider To Crank The Pedals At A Constant Pace Nomatter What Kind Of Slope The Bike Is On. You Canunderstand This Better By Picturing A Bike With Just A Single Gear. Each Time You Rotate The Pedalsone Turn, The Rear Wheel Would Rotate One Turnas Well (1:1 Gear Ratio).If The Rear Wheel Is 26 Inches In Diameter, Then With 1:1 Gearing, One Full Twist On The Pedals Would Result In The Wheel Covering 81.6 Inches Ofground. If You Are Pedaling At A Speed Of 50 RPM,this Means That The Bike Can Cover Over 340 Feet Ofground Per Minute. This Is Only 3.8 MPH, Which Is The Equivalence Of Walking Speed. This Is Idealfor Climbing A Steep Hill, Although Bad For Groundor Going Downhill.To Go Faster You'll Need A Different Ratio. To Ride Downhill At 25 MPH With A 50 RPM Cadence At Thepedals, You'll Need A 5.6:1 Gear Ratio. A Bike With A Lot Of Gears Will Give You A Large Numberof Increments Between A 1:1 Gear Ratio And A 6.5:1gear Ratio So That You Can Always Pedal At 50 RPM,no Matter How Fast You Are Actually Going.On A Normal 27 Speed Mountain Bike, Six Of The Gearratios Are So Close To Each Other That You Can'tnotice Any Difference Between Them. With Actual Use, Bike Riders Tend To Choose A Frontsprocket Suitable For The Slope They Are Riding Onand Stick With It, Although The Front Sprocket Canbe Difficult To Shift Under Heavy Load. It's Mucheasier To Shit Between The Gears On The Rear.If You Are Cranking Up A Hill, It's Best To Choosethe Smallest Sprocket On The Front Then Shift Between The Nine Gears Available On The Rear. Themore Speeds You Have On The Back Sprocket, Thebigger Advantage You'll Have.All In All, Gears Are Very Important To Mountainbikes As They Dictate Your Overall Speed. Withoutgears You Wouldn't Be Able To Build Speed Nor Wouldyou Be Able To Pound Pedals. The Gears Will Move The Pedals And Help You Build Up Speed. There Are All Types Of Gears Available In Mountainbikes, All Of Which Will Help You Build Up A Lotof Momentum If You Use Them The Right Way.(word Count 446)PPPPP
