Geared vs Gearless cycles - Which one is for you?
With gear
A cycle with gear offers a variety of gear ratios to choose from. This makes cycling easy up or down a hill. For instance, if you are cycling uphill on a lower ratio (), your pedaling rate increases but your effort will decrease. Moreover, bicycles with gear allows you to adjust your cadence. This reduces the stress on your muscles and makes cycling enjoyable.
Without gear
A bicycle without gear comes in two varieties, fixed wheel and freewheel. A fixed gear bicycle comes with a fixed rear cassette, which keeps the pedals spinning any time the wheels are turning. On the other hand, a freewheel bicycle comes with a free rear cassette hub, which can coast freely when the bike is moving without the need to pedal constantly.
LEVEL OF COMFORT
With gear
The right frame size and the right bike fit play a vital role when it comes to comfort. However, while going uphill, cycling can be uncomfortable. With a geared bicycle, uphill cycling is not an issue.
Without gear
A cycle without gears does not offer any gear variation, hence, this could cause a lot of stress on your muscles. Not only that, it could also force you to get off the saddle and burn more energy.
Maintenance
This is an area where gearless cycles have a clear advantage over geared cycles. Gearless cycles have very few components that can fail or need service. It is essentially a big chainring (front) connected to a small ring (rear cassette) via a chain. Geared cycles on the other hand have a lot of parts
- Rear Gear shifter
- Front gear shifter – If it has more than 1 chainring in the front then we are talking about a front
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