Distance numbers for my Umbria 100 (well, now all my bikes)

This is probably going to be completely boring for anyone who isn't me. But I want to write it down somewhere, so it might as well be here.

• bought the bike in late April of 2006 (I have the exact date somewhere)
• put the bike computer on about May 28th 2006 (ditto for the date)
• as of May 28th 2007, I believe the odometer was about 5550 km (it was at least 5500 km, and I believe it was a bit more).
• at the end of my bike ride home from gaming on April 13th 2008, the odometer hit its 9999.9 km max distance. Some amount of distance was lost.
• Monday April 14th: +4.2 km on the commute to work, +some unknown distance commuting to dentist's and back (I think 4-6 km).

  Computer totally reset in the afternoon, before my commute home.

• May 28th 2008: during the day at work, the odometer read 723.46 km.

• Jan 4th 2009: before riding the bike in 2009, I reset the odometer. Pre-reset it read 4794.2 km. I carried over the April 14 2008 wheel size of 2170 mm.

• May 29th 2009: just at the departure from work, the odometer read 1867.5 km and I had biked 5.229 km that day. (I was just at the start of St George, so that's about right.)

• August 2nd 2009: the odometer read 4046.9 km, with some amount lost because the bike computer had been increasingly flaky. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when I transfered the odometer to a new bike computer, a dZ4L (versus the old dB4L).

• September 12th 2009: the odometer read 4528.6 km, with some amount lost on last Sunday's TBN ride because the old dB4L odometer was significantly flaky (~20km lost, I think). This time I really did switch bike computers (delayed due it turning out to require a new wiring harness).

• October 18th 2009: after possibly my last 'official' TBN ride of the year, the odometer read 5289.6 km. It had also showed signs of internal frost/moisture condensation on the display; hopefully this won't cause problems during winter.

• October 23rd 2009: problems. During my commute home in relatively strong rain, my dZ4L totally reset itself. Before the commute home I believe it read just over 5350 km (~40 km on the 19th, plus commuting on Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday). On inspection, it appears that the dZ4L cannot possibly be very water-resistant; the transparent plastic cover over the LCD is not sealed or anything, just sort of pressed down over the unit, and I can even see moisture wicking its way up and accumulating between the transparent plastic and the main body. Damnit.

  I reset the dZ4L to the last officially recorded distance number (5289.6 km) and a 2170 mm wheel size.

• November 2nd 2009: the dZ4L's LCD segments have faded, and it reset itself this morning just out of the blue (when being put back on the bike). Distance numbers at the time of the reset: 5413.5 km, then plus 4.745 km of commute. (Re-set to 5418.2 km, but it doesn't really matter because it's going back to MEC tonight for a swap.)
• November 3rd 2009: finally get a replacement dZ4L from MEC. Set to 2170 mm wheel size and 5418.2 km distance. Distance for Monday night and Tuesday was not recorded, as the old computer wasn't remounted.

• December 31st 2009: the end of year distance number is 5856.8 km. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when resetting it for 2010.

• April 8th 2010: the bike had its annual tuneup; the chain plus drivetrain was replaced. Current distance: 736.91 km, and I should check the chain every 1000km or so from now onwards so that next time I don't have to replace the entire drivetrain.

• April 28th 2010: while carrying the bike computer to record the current distance, it got reset (nngh). I know it was at least 1250 km, and I think it was 126x, for a relatively low x. Reset the distance to 1250 km in great aggravation. 2170 mm wheel size again.

• December 31st 2010: the end of the year distance number is 6769.0 km. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when resetting it for 2011.

• December 31st 2011: the end of year distance number is 8005.7 km. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when resetting it for 2012.

• December 31st 2012: the end of year distance number is 9660.9 km. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when resetting it for 2013.

• December 31st 2013: the end of the year distance number is 7449.7 km. I carried over the 2170 mm wheel size when resetting it for 2014.

• December 31st 2014: the end of the year distance number on my commuter bike is 3184.2 km and on the Brodie is 2579.0 km (in 127 hrs 42 minutes); total distance 5763.2 km, or embarrassingly low. I carried over the 2170mm wheel size on the commuter and the 2205mm wheel size on the Brodie.

• December 31st 2015: the end of the year distance number on my commuter bike is 3679.7 km and on the Brodie is 2444.3 km (in 119 hrs 43 minutes); total distance 6124.0 km, better than last year. I carried over the 2170mm wheel size on the commuter and the 2205mm wheel size on the Brodie.

• April 18 2016: During servicing, Urbane Cyclist discovered that my Miele Umbria 100 had two frame cracks (one clearly serious). My first commuter bike is officially dead. Final distance for that bike this year is 909.65 km.

• April 26th 2016: New dZ4L3 on the new Urbanite Market commuter bike with 700x35C tires. Measured tire circumference comes out to about 2170 mm, which is what the old commuter bike was set to, so I'm carrying forward having the bike computer set at 2170 mm wheel size.

• July 24th 2016: Cross-checking against GPS numbers strongly suggests that the Brodie's 2205 mm wheel size is wrong (even if the Topeak Panoram V10x manual really does believe otherwise), so I changed it to 2170 mm. This year's distance before the shift is 1274.2 km. This shift is subject to change.

  (For future reference: a couple of manuals call 700x35c tires 2168 mm.)

NOTE: I have run 700x35 tires on the bike for some time, probably since at least 2010 (I know for sure 2013 and I'm sure for several years before then).

Two balacing factors:

• this includes some amount of distance from walking the bike, especially on daily commutes (where I walk it a few hundred meters inside the building).
• the tire size is set slightly low. I believe I set 2170 mm (700x30 in the manual) versus 2180 mm (theoretically correct for 700x38 according to here), but I may have set lower.

  (Did I set it to 2070, the listed 700x18 size? I may have.)

  Update, June 9th 2008: I found my gear calculator program, dating from May 20th 2007, and it uses a wheel size of 2155 mm.

At the April 14 2008 reset, I put the wheel size at 2170 mm. This appears to be roughly correct within a cm or less, based on rolling tests at work (where there is a set of 1-foot floor tiles nicely lined up).

Distance numbers on my 2013 Brodie Elan

The Brodie has a Topeak Panoram v10x wired bike computer, because MEC was out of stock on the latest dZ4L3 at the time. The Brodie has 700x35 Vittoria Randonneur Pro 35c tires, and the Panoram's manual lists these as 2205 mm so that's what I set. Since I like to keep track of this, I got the bike May 31st 2014.

bike computer functions

This is for my old(er) dB4L; the dZ4L is similar but slightly better documented and some bits actually are documented, eg the time reset.

• press left and right for 4 seconds on either display and you get to total reset. Doesn't seem to flip to anything else.
• press left for long enough on the clock/odometer (second screen) and you can reset the odometer.
• somehow I managed to get to set the time without totally resetting the unit, but I am not sure how any more.

  I've now reproduced this. Once the odometer is high enough, press and hold the left button on the second screen to change the clock; it may matter that this was shortly after a trip reset.
  (At least I assume it requires the odometer to be high enough.)

The Filzer product page is here. Also here.

Gearing information for my 2013 Brodie Elan

My other bike is a 2013 Brodie Elan. With the stock setup (per here for as long as it stays there) it has a 26/36/48 tooth front chainring and a 9-speed Shimano Deore 11-32 tooth rear cassette. Based on this Shimano page (again for as long as it lasts) this is 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32 (with a 34T variant available that runs 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34). The following numbers are generated from the assumption that this matches reality.

(For discussion about the formulas, see Umbria100Gearing.)

The gear ratios, with combos I probably want to stick to bolded:

	front 1	front 2	front 3
rear 1	0.81	1.12	1.50
rear 2	0.93	1.29	1.71
rear 3	1.08	1.50	2.00
rear 4	1.24	1.71	2.29
rear 5	1.44	2.00	2.67
rear 6	1.62	2.25	3.00
rear 7	1.86	2.57	3.43
rear 8	2.17	3.00	4.00
rear 9	2.36	3.27	4.36

Km/h for cadences in various gears, based on a wheel size of 2205 mm:

rpm:	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120
1-1	3.2	4.3	5.4	6.4	7.5	8.6	9.7	10.7	11.8	12.9
1-2	3.7	4.9	6.1	7.4	8.6	9.8	11.1	12.3	13.5	14.7
1-3	4.3	5.7	7.2	8.6	10.0	11.5	12.9	14.3	15.8	17.2
1-4	4.9	6.6	8.2	9.8	11.5	13.1	14.7	16.4	18.0	19.7
1-5	5.7	7.6	9.6	11.5	13.4	15.3	17.2	19.1	21.0	22.9
1-6	6.4	8.6	10.7	12.9	15.0	17.2	19.3	21.5	23.6	25.8
2-1	4.5	6.0	7.4	8.9	10.4	11.9	13.4	14.9	16.4	17.9
2-2	5.1	6.8	8.5	10.2	11.9	13.6	15.3	17.0	18.7	20.4
2-3	6.0	7.9	9.9	11.9	13.9	15.9	17.9	19.8	21.8	23.8
2-4	6.8	9.1	11.3	13.6	15.9	18.1	20.4	22.7	24.9	27.2
2-5	7.9	10.6	13.2	15.9	18.5	21.2	23.8	26.5	29.1	31.8
2-6	8.9	11.9	14.9	17.9	20.8	23.8	26.8	29.8	32.7	35.7
2-7	10.2	13.6	17.0	20.4	23.8	27.2	30.6	34.0	37.4	40.8
2-8	11.9	15.9	19.8	23.8	27.8	31.8	35.7	39.7	43.7	47.6
2-9	13.0	17.3	21.6	26.0	30.3	34.6	39.0	43.3	47.6	52.0
3-4	9.1	12.1	15.1	18.1	21.2	24.2	27.2	30.2	33.3	36.3
3-5	10.6	14.1	17.6	21.2	24.7	28.2	31.8	35.3	38.8	42.3
3-6	11.9	15.9	19.8	23.8	27.8	31.8	35.7	39.7	43.7	47.6
3-7	13.6	18.1	22.7	27.2	31.8	36.3	40.8	45.4	49.9	54.4
3-8	15.9	21.2	26.5	31.8	37.0	42.3	47.6	52.9	58.2	63.5
3-9	17.3	23.1	28.9	34.6	40.4	46.2	52.0	57.7	63.5	69.3

Now, for my own use, the useful bits of the same information, namely the speed bands for each gear and my target speed in the gear. All of this is somewhat theoretical:

speed range chart

1-1:	8.6 to 12.9	9.7
1-2:	9.8 to 14.7	11.1
1-3:	11.5 to 17.2	12.9
1-4:	13.1 to 19.7	14.7
1-5:	15.3 to 22.9	17.2
1-6:	17.2 to 25.8	19.3
2-1:	11.9 to 17.9	13.4
2-2:	13.6 to 20.4	15.3
2-3:	15.9 to 23.8	17.9
2-4:	18.1 to 27.2	20.4
2-5:	21.2 to 31.8	23.8
2-6:	23.8 to 35.7	26.8
2-7:	27.2 to 40.8	30.6
2-8:	31.8 to 47.6	35.7
2-9:	34.6 to 52.0	39.0
3-4:	24.2 to 36.3	27.2
3-5:	28.2 to 42.3	31.8
3-6:	31.8 to 47.6	35.7
3-7:	36.3 to 54.4	40.8
3-8:	42.3 to 63.5	47.6
3-9:	46.2 to 69.3	52.0

Realistically, with bar end shifters I barely know what gear I'm in so I'm just going to go at whatever feels right. This chart does feel more or less on from what I've observed.

Compared to my Umbria (although that info is now out of date again) I can stay in the middle front chainring much longer when I speed up. That's handy since shifting front chainrings is more of a pain with bar end shifters (my front chainring shifter is pure friction, not indexed).

Bike photos of me

I go on group bike rides. People take pictures. Sometimes I appear in these pictures. For various reasons, I have decided to save links to such pictures, so now you can see the lesser Toronto bike geek in his native plumage and habitat.

To make things slightly more challenging for the reader, these are mostly group photos; it's up to you to figure out which person is me.

(Note that some of these URLs may rot over time.)

July 2006 ravine/brickworks ride

one two three
one two three four

July 2006 Critical Mass

one
one two three

August 2006 BikeFriday

one two three four (source)

August 2006 Critical Mass

one two three four five six and an action picture (source)
(It was not actually raining during the ride, but it was kind of cool and we were riding slowly, and I got cold.)

Sept 25 2006 TBN Alan Gordon Metric Century ride

one two three four five six seven eight nine ten

Sept 2006 BikeFriday

one two three (from here)
one (from here)

June 27th 2008 Critical Mass ride

one (from the BikingToronto pool)

New gearing information for my bicycle

During my bike's tuneup on June 6th 2008 (I note these things down to keep track of them somewhere), not having the bike chain changed for over two years and 10,000 km finally caught up to me and I got a completely new drivetrain, including a new crank set and cog set. Which changes the gear ratios, for the obvious reason.

(For discussion and formulas, see Umbria100Gearing.)

The crank set (front gears) is a 22/32/42 Shimano Alivio, and the cog set (rear gears) is a Shimano 11-34T MegaRange. Sheldon Brown's gear calculator says that the freewheel version of the 11-34 MegaRange is 11-13-15-18-21-24-34, and I am pretty sure that I have a freewheel based rear wheel (the bike is not that expensive, and besides I once saw the bike shop people working quite hard to get the rear gears off the wheel).

So, handy chart time, using the same notation as Umbria100Gearing. The gear ratios (front to rear), with my guess at okay combos bolded:

	front 1	front 2	front 3
rear 1	0.65	0.94	1.24
rear 2	0.92	1.33	1.75
rear 3	1.05	1.52	2.00
rear 4	1.22	1.78	2.33
rear 5	1.47	2.13	2.80
rear 6	1.69	2.46	3.23
rear 7	2.00	2.91	3.82

(Good combos are only a guess now, since the gearing changed. I extended it by one on what it used to be out of general principles, plus I wanted the numbers for other things.)

It's clear why Shimano calls this a MegaRange set; the high to low ratio is 5.88, compared to the old gearing's 3.43.

A by hand chart mapping the gears I actually used from the old gearing to the closest gear on the new gearing:

(old)	(new)
1-2	1-4
1-3	2-2
2-2	2-3 (a bit lower)
2-3	2-4 (technically 3-2 is closer)
2-4	3-3
2-5	2-5
2-6	3-4 (low)
3-4	2-6 (high)

(I almost never used 1-4, choosing to upshift to 2-2 instead.)

There is no even vaguely good mapping after 3-4. I spent most of my time in the middle gear of the front chainring, and in the new gearing this has significantly wider range, going from 1.33 (2-2) to 2.46 (2-6) instead of 1.58 to 2.38; I'll call this a win.

km/h for cadences in various gears, based on a wheel size of 2170 mm:

rpm:	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120
1-1	2.5	3.4	4.2	5.1	5.9	6.7	7.6	8.4	9.3	10.1
1-2	3.6	4.8	6.0	7.2	8.4	9.5	10.7	11.9	13.1	14.3
1-3	4.1	5.5	6.8	8.2	9.5	10.9	12.3	13.6	15.0	16.4
1-4	4.8	6.4	8.0	9.5	11.1	12.7	14.3	15.9	17.5	19.1
1-5	5.7	7.6	9.5	11.5	13.4	15.3	17.2	19.1	21.0	22.9
2-1	3.7	4.9	6.1	7.4	8.6	9.8	11.0	12.3	13.5	14.7
2-2	5.2	6.9	8.7	10.4	12.2	13.9	15.6	17.4	19.1	20.8
2-3	6.0	7.9	9.9	11.9	13.9	15.9	17.9	19.8	21.8	23.8
2-4	6.9	9.3	11.6	13.9	16.2	18.5	20.8	23.1	25.5	27.8
2-5	8.3	11.1	13.9	16.7	19.4	22.2	25.0	27.8	30.6	33.3
2-6	9.6	12.8	16.0	19.2	22.4	25.6	28.8	32.0	35.3	38.5
2-7	11.4	15.2	18.9	22.7	26.5	30.3	34.1	37.9	41.7	45.5
3-3	7.8	10.4	13.0	15.6	18.2	20.8	23.4	26.0	28.6	31.2
3-4	9.1	12.2	15.2	18.2	21.3	24.3	27.3	30.4	33.4	36.5
3-5	10.9	14.6	18.2	21.9	25.5	29.2	32.8	36.5	40.1	43.7
3-6	12.6	16.8	21.0	25.2	29.4	33.7	37.9	42.1	46.3	50.5
3-7	14.9	19.9	24.9	29.8	34.8	39.8	44.7	49.7	54.7	59.7

Now, for my own use, the useful bits of the same information, namely the speed bands for each gear and my target speed in the gear:

(gear)	(80-120)	(90)
1-1:	6.7 to 10.1	7.6
1-2:	9.5 to 14.3	10.7
1-3:	10.9 to 16.4	12.3
1-4:	12.7 to 19.1	14.3
1-5:	15.3 to 22.9	17.2
2-1:	9.8 to 14.7	11.0
2-2:	13.9 to 20.8	15.6
2-3:	15.9 to 23.8	17.9
2-4:	18.5 to 27.8	20.8
2-5:	22.2 to 33.3	25.0
2-6:	25.6 to 38.5	28.8
2-7:	30.3 to 45.5	34.1
3-3:	20.8 to 31.2	23.4
3-4:	24.3 to 36.5	27.3
3-5:	29.2 to 43.7	32.8
3-6:	33.7 to 50.5	37.9
3-7:	39.8 to 59.7	44.7

Some experimentation suggests that 1-1 and probably 1-2 are too low for anything except the most exceptional circumstances, as I wind up tired from frantically spinning at many RPM.

Gearing information for a Miele Umbria 100 bicycle

My bike is a Miele Umbria 100, either the 2005 or 2006 model (probably 2005 since I bought it early in 2006 and it was discounted). This is a 21-speed bike; 3 front gears, 7 rear gears. Because I am interested in such things, I have tried to work out the gear ratios and other interesting information for it.

Miele's website for the current 2007 model Umbria 100 says that it has a 28/38/48 crank set (the front gears) and a '14-28T' cog set (the rear gears). The only 7-speed rear gear set that goes from 14 to 28 on Sheldon Brown's gear calculator is 14-16-18-20-22-24-28. Since I have no desire to count gear teeth myself, I am going to assume that both are accurate for my bike. I did check my lowest gear, which is predicted to be 1:1 by this, and it is 1:1 or very close (one wheel revolution in reverse forces one pedal revolution).

So, handy chart time. All of these use the gear notation that the bike's shifters use, as opposed to the various confusing notations that bike people like, and something like '1-2' has the front gear written first, so it is the lowest front gear with the second lowest rear gear.

(When mapping between this and gear teeth, remember that the low gear on the front chainring has the lowest number of teeth, but the low gear on the rear chainring has the highest number of teeth. So my lowest gear is 28 teeth to 28 teeth, for a 1:1 front to rear ratio.)

The gear ratios (front to rear); the gear combinations that the manual says are okay to use are bolded.

	front 1	front 2	front 3
rear 1	1.00	1.36	1.71
rear 2	1.17	1.58	2.00
rear 3	1.27	1.73	2.18
rear 4	1.40	1.90	2.40
rear 5	1.56	2.11	2.67
rear 6	1.75	2.38	3.00
rear 7	2.00	2.71	3.43

(Certain combinations of front and rear gears are to be avoided because the chain runs at too much of an angle. This is how you turn a 21 speed bike into a 13 speed one.)

Surprises: 2-6 and 3-4 are almost identical, but 1-4 and 2-2 are not.

The Umbria 100 gearing counts up straightforwardly for the gears you are supposed to use, although it's not linear outside them; 2-1 is between 1-3 and 1-4, 2-7 is between 3-5 and 3-6, and 3-3 is between 2-5 and 2-6. (All of these gears are usable for at least short periods of time.)

My bike computer doesn't have a cadence counter, but one can use its km/h display to reverse engineer a brute force one. This chart maps various pedal cadences in specific gears to the displayed km/h (using the fact that I know what wheel size the bike computer is set to):

rpm:	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120
1-1	3.9	5.2	6.5	7.8	9.1	10.3	11.6	12.9	14.2	15.5
1-2	4.5	6.0	7.5	9.1	10.6	12.1	13.6	15.1	16.6	18.1
1-3	4.9	6.6	8.2	9.9	11.5	13.2	14.8	16.5	18.1	19.7
1-4	5.4	7.2	9.1	10.9	12.7	14.5	16.3	18.1	19.9	21.7
2-2	6.1	8.2	10.2	12.3	14.3	16.4	18.4	20.5	22.5	24.6
2-3	6.7	8.9	11.2	13.4	15.6	17.9	20.1	22.3	24.6	26.8
2-4	7.4	9.8	12.3	14.7	17.2	19.7	22.1	24.6	27.0	29.5
2-5	8.2	10.9	13.6	16.4	19.1	21.8	24.6	27.3	30.0	32.8
2-6	9.2	12.3	15.4	18.4	21.5	24.6	27.6	30.7	33.8	36.9
3-4	9.3	12.4	15.5	18.6	21.7	24.8	27.9	31.0	34.1	37.2
3-5	10.3	13.8	17.2	20.7	24.1	27.6	31.0	34.5	37.9	41.4
3-6	11.6	15.5	19.4	23.3	27.2	31.0	34.9	38.8	42.7	46.5
3-7	13.3	17.7	22.2	26.6	31.0	35.5	39.9	44.3	48.8	53.2

(I am only bothering to list the gears I am supposed to use.)

Now, for my own use, the useful bits of the same information, namely the speed bands for each gear and my target speed in the gear:

(gear)	(80 - 120)	(90)
1-1:	10.3 to 15.5	11.6
1-2:	12.1 to 18.1	13.6
1-3:	13.2 to 19.7	14.8
1-4:	14.5 to 21.7	16.3
2-2:	16.4 to 24.6	18.4
2-3:	17.9 to 26.8	20.1
2-4:	19.7 to 29.5	22.1
2-5:	21.8 to 32.8	24.6
2-6:	24.6 to 36.9	27.6
3-4:	24.8 to 37.2	27.9
3-5:	27.6 to 41.4	31.0
3-6:	31.0 to 46.5	34.9
3-7:	35.5 to 53.2	39.9

(Disclaimer: I may change my mind about my target cadences someday.)

Formulas

For my own reference if nothing else, here's how to calculate these.

Let:

fgt	be the number of teeth on the current front gear
rgt	be the number of teeth on the current rear gear
cad	be your pedaling cadence in RPM
circ	be the circumference of your wheel in millimeters (as programmed into your bike computer)

Giving:

gr	fgt / rgt	the gear ratio, how many times the rear wheel goes around when you pedal through a complete circle.
mmm	gr * cad * circ	(the speed in millimeters per minute)
kmh	(mmm * 60) / (1000 * 1000)	the speed in km/h

Or, in fully worked out form:

kmh = (fgt * cad * circ * 60) / (rgt * 1000 * 1000)

I find it more convenient to do the km/h calculation in three steps, because it makes it clearer where all the numbers are coming from.