Cyclists Cadence Calculator

The cadence calculator has been a feature of GearCalc bicycle gear calculator ever since the first release. It calculates cadence from speed for riders who have bought a cycle computer that does not feature a cadence meter. It can be used in several ways.

Without the link box checked, as illustrated above it is a simple calculator. Chainring and freewheel sizes increment in steps of one tooth when the spin buttons are clicked. Cadence is automatically recalculated when ever a spin button is clicked, the carriage return key is pressed, or the Calculate button is clicked. With the link checked as below the form changes its appearance slightly:

Cadence calculator with link option checked

The Chain ring and freewheel boxes are now cyan coloured. The Chain ring and freewheel spin buttons no longer increment one tooth at a time. Instead the increments depend on the values in the current gear set. The value for cadence appears in red above because it is outside the range defined for the table and graph. When you click the Suggest button (in the cadence calculator) the best gear for the speed is selected for you. I.e. the one that produces the nearest value to your target rpm (95rpm in the examples above). The Auto Select check box saves the hassle of clicking Suggest every time you change the speed.

Cadence calculator with link and auto select options checked (full auto mode)

With Auto Select checked as illustrated above, the chain ring and freewheel values can not be changed directly by the user. Instead when you change the speed values the optimum gear is selected for you from the cog tooth values availiable in GearCalc's main window. The 'gear change' is reflected in gearcalcs main window by updating the gearing dagram, and the highlights. Also the position of highlight bar in Gearcalc Pro's Assessmant table(s) is updatedalong with the cog values etc in the cadence calculator so your attention is immediately drawn to the appropriate gear combination in each window. If nothing else this is a fun way to show your kid sister the correct way to use derailleur gears. If you have got PowerCalc v1.2 or later running; Values for current front and rear cog teeth and speed are transferred into PowerCalc, and PowerCalc will automatically re-calculate in synchronisation with the cadence calculator. Most people will tell you to avoid stretching your chain sideways excessively by not using your biggest chain ring and freewheel, or your smallest chainring and freewheels together. Change the values in the Gear usage table to reflect your preferred usage. The Assessment button also uses the values in the gear usage table to automatically assess the suitability of your groupset.

Gear Calculator For Single Speed Fixed Wheel Bicycles
Cadence Optimisation
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