It’s highly personal, but I advise single-speed bike riders to start with a gear ratio of: 1.8:1–2:1 on mountain bikes 2.2:1–2.4:1 on city & cruiser bikes 2.5:1–2.7:1 on road & hybrid hybrid bikes (with a freewheel) 2.7:1–2.8:1 on fixed-gear road bikes

Typical road bike gearing Traditional Road – 53x39t with 11-23t = 44 to 126″ Semi-Compact – 52x36t with 12-25t = 38 to 114″ Compact – 50x34t with 12-25t = 33 to 110″ Compact w/ Long Cage – 50x34t with 11-32t = 28 to 119″ Road Triple – 50x39x30t with 12-27t = 29 to 110″ Traditional road, compact road and a road triple cranksets.

A “standard” chainset for a road bike is typically 53/39, and a standard cassette might be 11/28. This means that your hardest gear is 53/11 (gear ratio of 4.8), and your easiest is 39/28 (gear ratio of 1.4).

To calculate the gear ratio, divide the number of teeth on the front chainring by the number of teeth in a rear sprocket: gear ratio = (number of teeth in front chainring) / (number of teeth in rear sprocket) For example, if the number of teeth is even, the gear ratio equals 1. For 50 teeth in front and 25 in the back, the gear ratio is 2.

A gear ratio is how many times the rear wheel turns in one rotation of the cranks. The chainrings and cassette are connected with a bike chain. The combination of chainring and sprocket gives its ratio using this formula: Number of teeth on the chainring divided by number of teeth on the rear cog