Gearing, back in the day
Mon, September 7, 2020 
Wathcing the Tour de France recently, and thinking about the range of gears available to todays riders, had me remembering the equipment and of gearing back the early 1950s when I started racing. My first lightweight bike had a single chainwheel and a four-speed freewheel with 1/8-inch-wide chain and sprockets.
Then I upgraded to a five-speed freewheel with a double chainwheel, or “Double-Clanger” as we called them. Chain shifting was by a lever operated changer, pictured above. Some people refer to these front changers as “Suicide shifters,” but there was nothing dangerous about using them, no different than reaching down for a water bottle.
The 1/8-inch-wide chain had been pretty much standard from very early on in the development of the chain driven bicycle. The five-speed freewheel used a 3/32-inch-wide chain and sprockets, This would remain the standard width chain up until the late 1980s when rear gears went beyond six-speed.
I’m not sure when the 3/32 chain came into being, but I have the impression that it was fairly new in the early 1950s, because there were a number of people still using three and four speed 1/8” freewheels.
Typically, the number of sprocket teeth on a five speed were 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, the chainwheels where 47/50, there was also a 49/52 chainwheel available, that top amateurs and professional riders used..
The three teeth difference between the two chainwheels is about the same difference a one tooth on the rear freewheel. (See gear table left.)
The rear sprockets were usually at least two teeth difference, so the small one step gap on the chainrings gave the in-between gears.
I’m not sure what the thinking was behind this set up, I am guessing it just took a while for manufacturers and riders to experiment with a wider gap on the front chainrings.
Three and four speed freewheel with one tooth difference were popular in the UK for Time-Trialing, which is probably why some riders stayed with them.
The above ten-speed set up was more in line with what the European Pros were using. I'm sure for the Grand Tours the pros used even lower gears on the mountain stages, 14, 16, 18, 21, 25 would more likely be used.
However, there was a much smaller range of gears than is available today, 52 x 14 was the highest gear possible. (13 teeth top sprockets came much later.) Everyone from the pros on down trained and raced on much lower gears than people ride today. I usually raced on 79 to 84 inches and trained as low as 63 to 67 inches.
The lowest gear I ever used was around 50 inches. (47 x 25) and that enabled me to ride any hill I came across in England. The European pros in the Tour de France used about the same ratio and went over the same mountains they ride over today, plus back then many of these mountain roads were not paved.
When one realizes that Tour de France riders in the 1930s and before rode over these same mountains on a single fixed sprocket, people manage with what is available at the time. Greater strength was needed to climb, and one had to pedal faster or freewheel, downhill or on the flat.
Of course, no one rode at today’s speed, uphill or down, but I have seen many changes since the 1950s. Bikes and gears were less complicated back then, but then so too was life. Fond memories.
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Reader Comments (9)
My first serious bike wasn't until the early 70's so 10 speed was the standard by then. Bought a Millard kit for a 6sp free wheel so that I could build it as I wanted, and change it.
In College I lived where it was very flat and bought a 56 chainring. Later installed it on a tandem, two strong riders with a 56-13 was a lot of fun.
That was an interesting read. Thanks Dave.
So true, how gearing has changed.
When I started riding as a teenager in the '70's, the common gearing on a bike was 40-52 chainrings and a 14x28 freewheel.
About 5 years later when I started racing, 42-52 was standard and a 13x21 was the norm, all with a short cage rear derailleur. If you saw a long cage derailleur on a bike, you immediately thought it was a "dorky" touring bike! Small "corn cob" freewheels were what racers used and it was common to see a "straight block" (one tooth jumps from cog go cog) on road bikes, especially criterium bikes. It looked badass and if you rode one you were deemed serious indeed.
As I enter geezerhood I am in the process of converting my drivetrain to a compact crank (34-50) and 11x28 cassette. To do so, I need a long cage rear derailleur.
Yet what I'm seeing watching the Tour de France now is LONG CAGE DERAILLEURS ON RACING BIKES and 11-28 cassettes! The horror...
Having come into cycling in the mid-70's, I would have enjoyed it more had lower gearing been available.
Likewise, my first bike in the 1970’s had a lowest gear of 42x21. Now it’s 34x34. How on earth I managed to get up the hills in those days is anyone’s guess. Ignorance is bliss.
I remember those 13-18 "straight blocks" everybody used for criteriums in the 1980s. They hurt your legs just looking at them.
I love that close-spaced chainrings style of gearing! (half-step gearing) All my bikes are set up that way. It gives me more different ratios for a given rear cluster than modern gearing does, and I never have to think about whether I've reached that point where I have to shift up in front and down 4 (or whatever) in back. The trade-off is range. Generally, I've chosen to lose range off the high end, as I'm not that strong a cyclist, and I'd rather have to coast down a hill than walk up one! But I can change that if I know what kind of terrain I'll be facing, and install my "climbing rings" or my "flatland rings".
I'm pretty much a pack rat, and never throw anything away. I still have a 13-18 six speed freewheel, along with seven speed 12-18, and 12-19 freewheels. I even have one of those 12-21 8 speed freewheels and the Sachs special hub to go with it.
I live in a very flat State, so big gears with a 53x39 used to be easy to push.
Age has finally caught up with me, so no more 11-21, 9 speed and 12-23 10 speed cassettes....This year, I finally started using a 12-25.
Measuring the inside of the chains I have, on the link most narrow, I get:
5 or 6-speed chain, Wippermann: .093" (3/32")
10-speed chain: .093" (3/32")
11-speed chain: .093" (3/32")
So all derailleur chains have remained the same inside width, from 5-speed to modern 11-speed. It is the outside width that has gotten narrower, not the inside.
It gets weird when the industry standard of 3/32" does not tell you which freewheel or cassette your chain will work with.
And now 12-speed chains come along and for the first time are narrower than 3/32", inside measurement. There goes that standard measurement of derailleur chains, 3/32"!
Maybe time to change the chain standards.