Preparation to switch from normal to geared bicycle...

There is no need to say what a cycle is. When you are asked to picture a cycle (or) bicycle, here is your typical photo.

We refer to the above pic as a 'normal' cycle. You would have also known about the 'gear' cycle, where the chain can sit on various levels, like this.

If you are a person who wants to switch from a normal cycle to geared cycle (like us), we think our experience might help you regarding that. 

NOTE: This post is not about how the gear cycle works.

1. Is a gear cycle faster than a normal cycle?

    No, a gear cycle is NOT equal to a bike. The maximum speed achieved by the gear cycle and a similar normal cycle is the same. You will not get any speed advantage because of the gears.

2. Then why use gear cycles?

    Gear cycles are used mainly to provide comfort during cycling. You need less effort by the legs to keep the cycle moving when compared to the normal cycle.

3. What is the trade-off for comfort?

    Yeah, as you may know/guess, we are sacrificing speed for comfort. So, as you change the gears, your legs feel good, but not the speed.

4. Let us explain a bit more...

    So, while your legs are good, means your effort for pedalling reduces. This means the distance travelled is reduced.

In order to cover more distance, you have to pedal more..!

5. What is the consequence?

   You can get frustrated initially if you cannot accept the 'comfort-speed' tradeoff,  especially if you used the normal cycle for a long time.

In a normal cycle, the effort of pedalling is always visible in the speed. It is simple. If you just pedal more, you get higher speeds.

But it is different in gear cycles. Even if you pedal more, you feel like a nearby walking person is faster than you (alas, the mind can do anything!)

Try to accept and then decide what you want. If you want speed, you have to hurt your legs a bit (similar to a normal cycle). If you want comfort, you would go a bit slow(unless you are ready to pedal a lot quicker, which is also a kind of hurting for your legs).

6. Where can we use Gear cycles?

    If you want to go through a route with uphill terrain, or if you want to exercise out of pedalling activity for shorter distances, gear cycles have an advantage over normal cycles. 

7. What does the number of gears mean?

    It represents the degree of ease you can have while riding. The more gears the cycle has, the more ease you can get while pedalling.

8. So, just we can buy a gear cycle and start riding, huh?

    Some things are learnt easily in life, and riding a gear cycle is NOT one of them. 

While learning how to ride, you can feel excited that you are learning a new thing. Or, you just want to throw the cycle far away.

Whatever your response is, hold it for a few days. After that, you will understand your gear cycle and riding it becomes normal.

So, yeah, that's it from our side.

Hope you understand your gear cycle and maintain good relation with it ;)

Thank you for reading..!

P. S. If you want to share your thoughts and suggestions on this post, please feel free and let us know in the comments section!