revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Is there one for the road.?

I ask the question whilst sat outside a cycling cafe. £3 for a cup of tea BTW, home now, I was thinking about this the other day whilst out and it's came to me again today. 2° but dry. Feet, hands and ears warm all good.

Now, I've found doing the same route that basically, if I use a higher gear, my legs get tired, if I use a lower gear they don't so much. So I'm reckoning, keep them pedals spinning.

Higher cadence is less strain on your knees,on the road bike or trainer I try not to drop bow 70 RPM,80 RPM seems to work for me.
Mountain bike it's all over the place..

Bustaspoke wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:30 pm Higher cadence is less strain on your knees,on the road bike or trainer I try not to drop bow 70 RPM,80 RPM seems to work for me.
Mountain bike it's all over the place..

What he said….

My mate would always say to me 'spin easy, grind hard' and try to get me to spin at about 80.

As Busta said, on the turbo I'm at 80-90, out on the MTB I struggle to spin that quickly and it's all over the place

It's highly personal... Watch any historical footage of Lance Armstrong vs Marco Pantani for a stark contrast. I'm not saying Armstrong didn't get out of the saddle and crank a big gear, and I'm not saying Pantani never sat in the saddle and span, but most of the time Armstrong is sat spinning a 90+ cadence and Pantani is stood cranking closer to 70-75rpm cadence...

One thing I will say, if you can't sit and spin 90+ cadence, then learn to do it... The ability to do it is highly beneficial, as it's more efficient and easier on your knees and other joints to spin a higher cadence like this. It promotes a good pedalling technique too... Obviously I'm not saying sit on the saddle and spin at all times, there will absolutely be times you should get out of the saddle and push a higher gear. But if you can't spin, you will always be at a disadvantage...

I can sit at 90-95 for hours on a road bike, as long as the gradient dictates... On an MTB typically cadence is a bit lower overall, but then you spend a lot more time not pedalling so...