Need some help with a mountain bike.

[Phoenix15]

I'm ready to get in shape. My Aunt gave me a mountain bike recently. It is a Raleigh M50 (
This one.) IT is not this years modell though, but I dont know how to tell what year it is. If anyone can help me with that I would be very greatful.

SO, basicly, I need to know everything about riding a multispeed mountain bike. THe only bike I have ridden is a BMX style when I was a kid. I dont even know what gears to use in what situations I'll just ask a few questions and see what you guys can help me with.

1. Gear Usage. I assume it is similiar to a car? Low gear= more torque? When I'm riding up a steep hill what gear should I use? RIding down a steep hill? The Raleigh has 21 speeds (3 groups of seven)

2. Bike size. I believe the bike fits me well, but I dont know for sure. Is there a rule of thumb that will tell me? When I'm stradling the bike should the seat be touching?

3. Maintence. I think the chain needs cleaning/ oiling. When I'm riding and I shift from one group to another, sometimes it will sorta hang for a sec. For example, if I shift from the second group to the third, it will kind be in between gears almost. I can still pedal and everything, but it is not actng right. If I shift back int 2nd then back into third, it will work. It only does this occasionally, so I think it may just need cleaning and maybe a little oil.

4. Any good beginer forums I can read up on?


Thanks for reading my big a$$ post.

 

[Analog]

Nice bike, I've got an M40. Check google, there should be a lot about what you are seeking.

 

[B00ne]

21 gears - sounds either extremely cheap or quite old. Bikes used to have 24 gears for about 10 years now ( the cheap ones shifting group below STX, only 21) nowadays bikes have 27 gears (below LX or deore they only have 24 I think)

but the number of gears doesnt matter - more gears doesnt necessarily give u more gears for real (since many ratios are either double or so close to each other that they basically are double) It is mostly for shifting comfort/better operation of the shifting process, and for your comfort - the more gears u have the more will u find a ratio that fits your speeds and personal most comfortable pedeling frequency.

Which gears to use: is totally up to you, totally depends on your level of exercise and your style of pedeling basically: ride the gear you find most comfortable for a given situation. but generally yes: small cog in front big in rear for hills and the other way around for downhill. But if u have monsterlegs u might find it comfortable to use high gears for uphill.....

Frequent oiling and changing of the chain is necessary so do it. best is to cycle chains every 1000-2000 km to prolong the life of your drivetrain. (explaination: the chain gets longer over time when u ride, the teeth on your cogs adjust to that (it is only aluminum in the front) , when u ride your chain very long, a new chain will not fit (or fit and shift very bad) on the old cogs anymore and u will have to replace your hole drivetrain. by cycling a few chains u will avoid that - well extend teh life, eventually u will have to change your hole drivetrain anyway)

in your case it sounds like the front derailleur is not adjusted right - read a book, search the web to fix it or bring it to a mechanic - but it is quite easy to do....

 

[Eli]

As for the gearing, you'll figure it out pretty fast.

 

[Phoenix15]

Originally posted by: yellowfiero
Nice bike, I've got an M40. Check google, there should be a lot about what you are seeking.

THe best part about it was it was free. My aunt owns on of the small rental unit places. She had a guy that told her he wasn't going to pay the rent, and she could just have whatever was inside. The Raleigh and one other bike was inside. I believe the other bike was a Raleigh too, but it was a ladies bike. It looks to be in great shape, I just wish I knew more about the bike. I cant even find it on Raleigh's website.

 

[vegetation]

Small chainring = uphill, tough off-roading
Middle ring = Small hills, headwinds, flats
Big ring = Flats, downhill

When you become a stronger rider, you'll probably never need the small chainring anymore, and will do all your flats in the big ring.

 

[Snapster]

Torque, as you thought the lower the gear (towards 21) the more torque there is. For climbing hills or going over areas that require more traction you want to select the higher gears.

Below is a rough guide on the torque ranges you might expect, as you can see 8th gear provides less torque than 6 or 7 due to the gear ratio's. This is by no means accurate, but more of an educated guess on your typical gears. Climbing hills you might want to use 1,2 or 3, maybe even 8 if it's not as steep, it'll allow you to get a bit of speed on the not so steep climbs (basically big cog on the back, small on the front). Flats you obviously use the lower gears, the faster you are wanting to go, the lower. I suggest you just ride around and practise the gears yourself, you?ll soon understand the different gears.

<less torque------------------more torque>

1-2-3-4-5-6-7
--------8-9-10-11-12-13-14
------------------15-16-17-18-19-20-21

Adjust your seat so that you are able to get a good extension in your leg to where your pedal is at it's lowest point. Long as you are able to comfortably touch the ground when you lean the bike to the side to get on/off you should be ok.

Regularly oil the cogs and chain, sometimes the chain does slip when making a transition from one group to another. If it does it too much the gear cable might need to be tweaked a little so that it makes a smoother transition.

As for forums, there are probably loads, depending on how serious you want to get, try google it

 

[wedi42]

re: sizing
you should be able to straddle the frame and still have some room for the boys. you should be able to pull the front wheel off the ground 3-4 inches.
the seat height is correct when you can bend your knee slightly when the ball of your foot is centered on the pedal.
and you leg should be straight with your just your heal on the pedal

 

[klod]

For some good maintanence info, you might look over at Webmountainbike

 

[Armitage]

Some more on gears...
Just because you have 21 gear combinations doesn't mean they are all usable. Avoid extreme cross-gearing ... ie. you shouldn't try to run it with the small chainring (granny gear) and the smallest cog or biggest chainring and biggest cog. Chainrings are the gears in the front, cogs are the gears in the back. Often your derailer won't succesfully make this shift anyway, but if it does, it's very hard on your drivetrain.

Out of 21 possible combinations, it's likely you will have about 15 usable gears.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: ergeorge
Some more on gears...
Just because you have 21 gear combinations doesn't mean they are all usable. Avoid extreme cross-gearing ... ie. you shouldn't try to run it with the small chainring (granny gear) and the smallest cog or biggest chainring and biggest cog. Chainrings are the gears in the front, cogs are the gears in the back. Often your derailer won't succesfully make this shift anyway, but if it does, it's very hard on your drivetrain.

Out of 21 possible combinations, it's likely you will have about 15 usable gears.

IMO, they wouldn't put them there if they weren't "usable". Chains and sprockets are pretty durable. I've never had a chain break on me due to side force stresses. There's generally enough length between the two sprockets that the chain makes the diagonal cross just fine.

Although I will agree that it's going to wear on your drive train components slightly more, it isn't going to be a big deal unless you use those gears exclusivly and never maintain your drivetrain.

 

[Fausto]

1. Gear Usage: You'll find that you'll use the middle front ring about 80% of the time and then shift the rear to get the gear you need. Switch to the small (granny) front ring to get up really steep hills and the big ring for long, fast sections.

2. Size: Seat height should be such that you have a slight bend in your knee at the very bottom of the pedal stroke. Quick way to get this is to set the seat height such that you can just barely touch the top of the pedal (at it's lowest point) with your heel without rocking your hips to "reach" for the pedal. You also have a bit or fore/aft adjustment with your saddle.

3. Sound like your shifter cables are dirty. If they don't slide smoothly, your bike won't shift right. Might be worth it to have a shop slap a new set of cables on there for you. Alternatively, you can pull the cables out of the housing yourself, grease them and reinstall them if you feel comfortable doing this. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the cable tension right when reinstalling, but it's not rocket science.

4. Pick up a copy of Bicycling Magazine. They lean more toward road bikes, but a lot of the tips are applicable to any bike and they cater more to new riders.

 

[Phoenix15]

Could someone define the chainring a little better? (The difference between the small and large, etc..)

WHat is the difference between the left had shifter and the right hand?

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: ergeorge
Some more on gears...
Just because you have 21 gear combinations doesn't mean they are all usable. Avoid extreme cross-gearing ... ie. you shouldn't try to run it with the small chainring (granny gear) and the smallest cog or biggest chainring and biggest cog. Chainrings are the gears in the front, cogs are the gears in the back. Often your derailer won't succesfully make this shift anyway, but if it does, it's very hard on your drivetrain.

Out of 21 possible combinations, it's likely you will have about 15 usable gears.

IMO, they wouldn't put them there if they weren't "usable". Chains and sprockets are pretty durable. I've never had a chain break on me due to side force stresses. There's generally enough length between the two sprockets that the chain makes the diagonal cross just fine.

Although I will agree that it's going to wear on your drive train components slightly more, it isn't going to be a big deal unless you use those gears exclusivly and never maintain your drivetrain.

They are usable in the right combinations ... but, depending on the sizes of the gears, etc., if you go extremely across gears, you risk damaging chains & chainrings, and not just through wear. Those combinations are ussually nearly duplicate of some other combination anyway.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Phoenix15
Could someone define the chainring a little better? (The difference between the small and large, etc..)

WHat is the difference between the left had shifter and the right hand?

Left hand shifter controls the front derailleur which allows you to select the three chainrings.

Right hand shifter controls the rear derailleur which allows you to select the seven rear cogs (collectively known as the "cassette")

Make sense?

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Your problem with the delay in the shift may not be an adjustment issue. If the shifters work (albeit slowly) so that your chain moves from all possible combinations then it probably ISN"T related to adjustments. Dirt inside the sleeve that the cables run through can create enough friction to slow down the shifting process.

You should be able to simply remove the cable housing from the eyelets (they just set in their, pull them out). Once you unseat the housing from the eyelets, you can slide the housing up and down the cable, allowing you to wipe down the cable. Apply a small amount of pledge to cable and reseat the housing into the eyelets.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS
Your problem with the delay in the shift may not be an adjustment issue. If the shifters work (albeit slowly) so that your chain moves from all possible combinations then it probably ISN"T related to adjustments. Dirt inside the sleeve that the cables run through can create enough friction to slow down the shifting process.

You should be able to simply remove the cable housing from the eyelets (they just set in their, pull them out). Once you unseat the housing from the eyelets, you can slide the housing up and down the cable, allowing you to wipe down the cable. Apply a small amount of pledge to cable and reseat the housing into the eyelets.

Good idea. That's a lot easier than pulling the cable out completely.

 

[Armitage]

On using gears ... what works well for me is to use the gears to maintain a constant cadence (ie. pedaling rpm) across various terrain & wind conditions. I typically will maintain between 80 - 90 RPM, and shift accordingly to maintain that. Unless you're accelerating hard or grunting up a hill, you really shouldn't be pushing hard on the pedals ... it's more of a smooth continuous spinning then pushing. If you ride alot you'll get to where you can shift instictively to accomodate changes in terrain.

 

[Stark]

First thing you should do is take it to your local bike shop for a tuneup. It should cost less than $50 (unless the chain really is trashed and you need a new one).

Second thing is saddle height. Measure your inseam length (you can use your pants size, ie 36x34) and multiply by .883. For example, 34 x 0.883 = 30.022, so you want the top of the saddle to be about 30 inches from the center of the crankarm. You can vary this by a few inches depending on personal preference.

Third thing is RIDE!! just get out and ride! It's a blast and keeps you healthy and young in the head! No excuses! (another benefit of spending some money on the tune up is it will motivate you to get your $$ worth and kick start your riding).

Oh, and have fun!

 

[Phoenix15]

so does anyone have any idea on how I can find out what year it is?


THanks all. I am already ready to ride.

 

[Eli]

I need to get my bike up and running.. Just need a new front tire and presta-valve style tube..

Actually, I need to get my girlfriend a bike.. or I'll never ride mine anyway, lol.

 

[B00ne]

Well if u know something about the components (usually Shimano) U could get a range just by looking at type and design.
Best is probobly to ask Reileigh - the bike has a number, the manufacturer should know his number system and be able to check when it was built

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Snapster
Torque, as you thought the lower the gear (towards 21) the more torque there is. For climbing hills or going over areas that require more traction you want to select the higher gears.

Below is a rough guide on the torque ranges you might expect, as you can see 8th gear provides less torque than 6 or 7 due to the gear ratio's. This is by no means accurate, but more of an educated guess on your typical gears. Climbing hills you might want to use 1,2 or 3, maybe even 8 if it's not as steep, it'll allow you to get a bit of speed on the not so steep climbs (basically big cog on the back, small on the front). Flats you obviously use the lower gears, the faster you are wanting to go, the lower. I suggest you just ride around and practise the gears yourself, you?ll soon understand the different gears.

<less torque------------------more torque>

1-2-3-4-5-6-7
--------8-9-10-11-12-13-14
------------------15-16-17-18-19-20-21

Adjust your seat so that you are able to get a good extension in your leg to where your pedal is at it's lowest point. Long as you are able to comfortably touch the ground when you lean the bike to the side to get on/off you should be ok.

Regularly oil the cogs and chain, sometimes the chain does slip when making a transition from one group to another. If it does it too much the gear cable might need to be tweaked a little so that it makes a smoother transition.

As for forums, there are probably loads, depending on how serious you want to get, try google it

Don't lower gears have more torque? Isn't 21 a high gear (higher number)? So how could you get more torque as you reach gear 21?

 

[Scarpozzi]

Look under the bottom bracket and there should be a serial number there. Call up Raleigh and find out when it was made. I have an M80....good bike. It came with all LX components and was about $600 when I bought it. (2001)

 

[CFster]

These guys know a lot. Sheldon Brown has some interesting articles - he also tends to be a little...eccentric.