Three speed gears?

Question

My bike has the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on the left side. On the right it has 1-7. Is my bike considered 'three speed'? And if I buy a bike that says three speed is that the same as my bike considering gears.

Answer 1

Like everyone else said, it's a 21 speed. What they are referring to as "really only being a 19 speed" is that you should not set the gears so that the chain is on the big gear in the front AND the big gear in the back, or the small gear in the front AND the small gear in the back. This creates what is called 'cross chaining', where the chain has to bend from the inner/outer extremes of the gears at the front and back. So it _is_ a 21 speed, but you shouldn't use two of the combinations so you have 19 usable combinations.

The other question you asked, which was not aswered, is that a three speed bike will only have three gear combinations. You will have one gear in the front, so no front shifter, and the three gears will be inside the rear hub so you won't see them. The chain itself will not shift from gear to gear, the different ratios are accomplished by a cable that pushes/pulls a rod in and out of the hub.

If you set your current bike up so that the chain is on the middle gear in the back, and shift using _only_ the front gears, you can simulate what a 3 speed bike might feel like.

ok, not really, on a real three speed, the ratios will not be nearly as wide, so the easiest gear will not be as easy on the three speed and the hardest gear will not be as hard as on the three speed, but it's the same concept.

Answer 2

Your bike has a total of 21 possible gear combinations (3 x 7). So it's commonly known in the cycling world as a "21-speed" bike.

Basically it's just a shorthand of saying how many gears are in the front and back. For instance, a "10-speed" would be 2 x 5. A "12-speed" would be 2 x 6. A "28-speed" would be 3 x 8, etc.

EDIT: As the below poster says, just because it's a "21-speed" doesn't mean you should use all 21 combinations. You should avoid gear combinations that kinks the chain excessively.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Your bike is a 21 speed bike. 3 x 7 = 21(3 gears up front times the 7 gears at the back).

But as mentioned above you really just have 19 speeds because you have to refrain from the 1-7 & 3-1 gear combinations to avoid crosschain (your chain will be slanting too much).

Answer 4

3 x 7 = 21.

Yours is possibly a mountain bike. You have seven gears at the back and three at the front. If you consider the front as the main gears, while the back is used for fine tuneing.

If you have a three speed bike, you only have three gears, usually at the front, with a fixed rear. Hard work for off road, but doable.

Luck

Answer 5

But really, you shouldn't crosschain (1-7 or 3-1), so it's more like a 19 speed.

I suppose they make some 3 speeds today, but generally they refer to vintage "roadsters" or "English racers" with internally geared 3 speed hubs on the back wheel. Sturmey-Archer was a popular model on those type bicycles, and they are very reliable. A good option if you are riding relatively flat terrain, especially in cities, as you can shift while stopped.