My wife has shown interest in some road biking while she decides if she wants to invest she is borrowing my bike and I am trying to keep up on my Mountain Bike. I am fitting slicks and rigid forks – what can I do cheaply / quickly with the gears so I don’t end up under geared ? Any other suggestions?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLeBHI3LYAo[/video]

If you can’t keep up with a newbie girlie… then you’re doing something wrong anyway.

11-23 cassette and the biggest chainring you can fit (within reason obvioulsy)?

How would an 11-23 block help? That just gives you closer gaps, which isn’t really the issue.

To be honest though you’ll be fine with the standard gearing, she’s not going to be doing 30mph+ so 44/11 will be plenty! It’s quite possible she’s got a compact and a 12-up cassette too, so she’s only got a very slightly higher top gear.

Well it doesn’t have to be 11-23 but if he’s running something with some dinner plate top sprocket then it’ll make things a bit smoother. Why is everyone presuming his wife is unfit?

Don’t worry about it should be fine – it’ll boost her riding to smoke you every now and again
I take vastly inappropriate bikes out when I ride with my Lady, coz a) I get to work harder – keeping my fitness up and b) it’s lots of fun
But then I have been riding for 20 odd years and she’s been riding bikes seriously for 8 months tops

Well it doesn’t have to be 11-23 but if he’s running something with some dinner plate top sprocket then it’ll make things a bit smoother.

Fair enough, I wouldn’t bother personally.

Well it’s not an unreasonable assumption that she’s not fitter than him, purely on the basis that, like it or not, women aren’t as strong as men. She doesn’t have to be ‘unfit’ but if they’re both in the 50th percentile for men and women she’ll still be slower!

bicycle bungee looks fantastic – would love to see it in action on a tricky descent. 😆

Wow some of assumptions and generalisation on here are disturbing and will be ignored – she is riding my road bike and typically is as quick as me on the mountain bike.

If we are going to ride for a few hours I expect the difference in the bike to start to count towards the end.

I am no expert but with the same gears she still has the advantage of bigger wheels being turned by the same ratio ?

Think left field – instead of playing with the gears think about your frontal area to reduce the drag and therefore increase your endurance potential. Think about maybe a longer low (or flipped) stem, pop any spacers above the stem rather than under it to reduce stack and an xc style flat bar to get you more stretched, low and narrow if you are not that way inclined already.

After that, man up and spin – it’s the winter and this time of year is meant to be about souplesse and high cadence!

http://jeffsbike.blogspot.com/2011/10/karate-monkey-landspeed-record-attempt.html
that should do it.
some cheap tri bars fitted to the middle ,or some long bar ends as inboard as you can.slicks.some cheap/spare 560bars,long stems are cheap in 25.4.it’ll look brilliant.

having said that..I went considerably faster on a hardtail,with pads and a full face helmet than the roadie who was racing me.up a tarmac climb.was about a 2.5km.the look on his face…gave him at least 2mins.
after a few’I’ll let you catch up and then sprint away/I’m a tosser’.
wanted to stop at the top and make a joke about el aguila de toledo..(bahamontes),but had to meet a girl.
ah well.don’t think it’ll ever happen again.

having said that,what’s wrong with her waiting for you?

Wow some of assumptions and generalisation on here are disturbing and will be ignored

how on earth would we know your wife can keep up with you on mtb until you tell us? if we generalised it was because you gave us rubbish information

Keep her tyres really soft and maybe make her brakes drag a bit. Also, suggest she doesn’t shave her legs.

+1 weeksy

Your initial information was a bit sparse.
You made no reference to the fact your OH was a regular cyclist and that she can keep up with you.

Most posts on here about ‘riding with my OH’ tend to be of the ‘she’s just getting started’ variety.

I was gonna give some ideas, but you can work it out yourself…

Thought that looked familier its the port hills around Christchurch NZ

I tried something similar with my 4 yr old and a length on inner tube, went well until she lost the front wheel on a root and i dragged her along…
its also good for training if you tow a youngster on a bike who is inturn towning another bike especially when you pass someone on a hill.

How about a 9-26 cassette for your bike if you’re keen to change yours around. I have a wheel built up with one on in my cellar you could have for postage. Non disc though.

Wouldn’t worry too much about being under geared. If she’s as quick as you are then just sit on her wheel on the flat sections. You’ll have to spin a bit, but other than that you should be fine. Worst case she’ll have to slow down a bit.

I’d put some flat bars on (if you don’t have any on already) and maybe flip your stem as others have suggested.

Or just put the road bike in the smaller chainring and disconnect the front mech…

;o)

Wow some of assumptions and generalisation on here are disturbing and will be ignored – she is riding my road bike and typically is as quick as me on the mountain bike.

Your OH may be one of the exceptions, but when I see couples out on their bikes together in the vast majority of cases the girl is lagging behind the bloke. It’s not disturbing to observe that is it?

I commute on an MTB – fitted narrow slick tyres, cassette with 11T cog and fitted a 48T chainring

Ultimately, you’ll never keep up with a road bike with a reasonably fit rider for long … without killing yourself trying

Drafting will help a lot though.

I commute on a 32:16 dirt jump bike, i catch up with everyone who overtakes me at the lights anyway so don’t think I miss too much 🙂

I went considerably faster on a hardtail,with pads and a full face helmet than the roadie who was racing me.up a tarmac climb.was about a 2.5km.the look on his face…gave him at least 2mins.
after a few’I’ll let you catch up and then sprint away/I’m a tosser’.
wanted to stop at the top and make a joke about el aguila de toledo..(bahamontes),but had to meet a girl.

Ah, one of the STW classic scenarios.

Not all slicks are equal. 26″ gatorskins, grand prix or spesh all condition pro are the most roadie like MTB slicks, then fit a 26-48t chainset like this
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/9316/Shimano-Alivio-M411-MTB-Chainset.html

I found if you use the 11/12t cogs frequently they wear out really quick, especially when commuting.

I found if you use the 11/12t cogs frequently they wear out really quick, especially when commuting

Yep.

I go through a cassette/chain roughly every 3 months on my commuter, it’s only ever the smallest 2/3 cogs that have actually worn.

My route is pretty flat so I spend the whole time in the lowest two or three gears.

I maintain the drivetrain as clean as possible so wear due to grit etc is as minimal as it’s possible to get.

I guess the only alternative is to go Alfine, unless someone makes hardened steel MTB cassette’s 🙂

I usually buy Sram cassettes – do Shimano XT cassettes last any longer?

how on earth would we know your wife can keep up with you on mtb until you tell us? if we generalised it was because you gave us rubbish information

I thought you might have guessed that I wouldn’t have asked the question if I didn’t think she was going to keep up because she was a “newbie girl” – thanks for the tips going with slicks and rigid forks and gears as they are for tomorrow. Will see how it goes.

As the route here is super flat I might singlespeed it and avoid the expense of a new cassette if we start going every week.

Huh? Why would you do that, that really does limit you, what you have currently doesn’t. There’s no need at all to change the cassette, all you can do is get closer gaps, which isn’t a big issue.

Unless she really is slow she will destroy you if you’re on SS.

Slicks helped and did ok in stop start traffic but once the road cleared I didn’t stand a chance – may just have to invest in a second road bike 😉

Belgian mix

Pretty certain that would mean deportation here in Singapore. Might try the reverse and over spice her curry the night before.

That Bike Bungee is $300NZ. 😯