Standard Track Bike Gearing

Despite various leg lengths for different heights track cyclists commonly stick to 165mm or 170mm crank lengths.

Standard track bike gearing. The highest or biggest gear on a bicycle is achieved by combining the largest front chainring size with the smallest rear cog or sprocket expressed as 53 11 for example. That translated to a 42t ring in the front with a 17 cog in the back. 3 is green 2 3 blue and below 2 red. The vast majority of chainrings sprockets are 1 8th in gauge thickness as this is the industry standard size for track cycling however it could still be the case that you have a 3 32.

The higher the number the farther your bike will travel on one revolution of the crank. As many track bikes are also ridden on the road for off season training it is important to look at this kind of gearing too. The shorter 165mm crank length encourages a greater pedaling efficiency as your pedaling cadence rpm revolutions per minute will be higher. When calculating your gear always refer to the standard gear table for tubulars and then make any adjustments.

A standard chainset is at the other end of the spectrum allowing for bigger gears which have the potential to let you generate more power or speed but you need to be able to turn those gears to. So say you have a 32 16 gearing with a rear wheel with an overall diameter of 26. Colors group similar values. It is the rider s responsibility to ensure their bike is within the restriction no matter what combination of tyres chainring and sprockets they have on the bike.