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Why is it called the granny Gear?

43326 Views 29 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  Sickmak90
Hi Guys

I have wondered why do they call the smallest cog the granny gear? is it a gear that only olde ladies use :p

Jeremy
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Question asked and answered.. :thumbsup:
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From what I gather its a use of the gears that allow you to pedal faster without exerting much power?
Because it makes riding up hills so easy a granny could do it:D
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It's the gear with the fewest teeth. Like Granny.
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It's the gear with the fewest teeth. Like Granny.
:yikes:
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Because it makes riding up hills so slow a granny can walk faster

:p

edit:
I hope any grandmothers who frequent the forums do not get offended. I know there are some.
When I go with my small chain ring and my large 34 tooth gear in the cassette I call it "Super Granny". Why? Because it will climb up almost anything, but only goes 3.5 mph. I can walk that fast. ;)
Because grannies creep up to things very slowly.
Thanks guys :). I had a laugh at a few of those. All in good fun though.
Granny has less than 11 teeth lol!
It's the gear with the fewest teeth. Like Granny.
lol::lol::lol::lol:
It's the gear with the fewest teeth. Like Granny.
Funny, but, not true. Extreme granny gear might be 22x32 (54t). If fewer teeth was correct then 22x11 (33t) would be easier. Even 32x11 (43t) has less teeth and much harder to pedal.

Still, made me chuckle regardless :thumbsup:.
It's really just the small chainring that's a granny, the rear cogs don't count. Maybe the big rear cog is the grampa gear.
Funny, but, not true. Extreme granny gear might be 22x32 (54t). If fewer teeth was correct then 22x11 (33t) would be easier. Even 32x11 (43t) has less teeth and much harder to pedal.

Still, made me chuckle regardless :thumbsup:.
I always throught granny gear refered to the front sprocket.
I always throught granny gear refered to the front sprocket.
tiny front and bigger in the back are both grannie's.. just the big one in the back is her dentures!!! :p
They force grandmothers to carve them out by hand.
This is an originaly an automotive term..... manual transmission trucks used to come with a super low first gear (and some still do). They were for getting heavy loads moving, as the older trucks were seriously underpowered....no 400hp V8's like today, we're talking 100hp straight sixes.

So, you'd use granny to get the truck moving, then almost immediatly shift into second, as you couldn't get any speed in granny low (driving as fast as your granny walked, probably IS pretty much where the term came from).

The big GMC Topkick box truck we have at work has a six speed stick with granny low. When the truck is empty, we always start it out in second. In first, almost as soon as you've let the clutch out it's already time to shift into second...that diesel redlines at 2.5krpm!

Jeep guys LOVE these transmissions...leave it in first gear, low range, you can literally get out and walk faster than the Jeep is moving. And all the torque from that gearing lets them creep over damn near anything.
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With a 94/58 crankset and the new 11-36 cassettes, you can have a 20/36 low.

I think that's the GMILF gear.
I ride 20/30 in front with 12/36 in back. I call the 20/36 combo Great Granny. I don't use it often, but it keeps me going on long technical climbs when my legs go limp.
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