Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

25 and Disappointed: Can’t we choose simple life?

 There’s something strange about the way we live now. It’s not enough to do your job. You have to grow. Climb. Upskill. Network. Earn more. Spend more. Repeat. People areound you - even the ones who seem tired - still say, “Keep pushing.” The ones ahead keep reaching higher. The ones behind are told to catch up. And if you stand still for even a moment, they say you’re wasting time. But no one explains why. Why is a peace a problem? Why is being satisfied with what you have seen as a failure? This idea of “simple life” - it used to be normal. Work. Come home. Cook. Be with the people you love. Rest. Now it’s rare. Or romanticized. Or quietly looked down on. We’re told that success means constant movement. That we need to hustle, or we’ll be left behind.  But behind what, really? We’ve normalized the rat race, without asking who started it. And the truth is - only a few can actuallly win it. Most people burn out trying.  Others fake their way through it, smiling through st...

Bye-bye strict timetables...! - The Bloggers League 2022

     Author: Rama Subrahmanyam (ramasubrahmanyam.m@gmail.com) When we are planning for multi-tasking, we divide our time and allocate it for each task. That is a great thing, as it gives a chance for incremental growth, eventually getting compounded...      Scheduling makes us punctual; sometimes forces us to be punctual if someone is counting on us, say an examination, office meeting, so on...      Besides strict things, some activities should happen at planned times, like sports, gym, etc. But, we still have things, that can be done in our free time - say reading books, solving puzzles, or learning something of our passion. Should we also maintain the timetable in those cases...? Well, may not be that necessary... We get used to a task at the same time if we have a strict timetable; In a way, can also affect our peace... Suppose due to urgent work, we missed a task      -  We may develop a bad feeling,    ...

25 and Disappointed: Survival should not mean Struggling

There are days I wish I could just leave my job. But I don’t do it. Because I need to pay my rent. I need to eat. I don’t have any other income. I am afraid that I am not alone in this. I see people who are smart and talented - doing things they don’t love. They settle. Not out of choice, but out of fear. The fear of being homeless, being hungry. They live in a world that demands payment of bills more than anything. That brings a simple, maybe naive thought: What if food and shelter were guaranteed for everyone? What if one need not be working just to survive? Is it wild to wish for these? Are these not the basic human rights… If the basic needs were covered, what could we become? Artists, teachers, thinkers, healers - they are made out of passion. People can volunteer more, care for the elderly, innovate better, or take time and get a chance to do things slower… The working class would not have to burn themselves to keep the lights on. The poor wouldn’t have to beg.  What if peopl...