What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

CrankNFurter
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What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby CrankNFurter » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:31 pm

I'm unfamiliar with junior cycling as I only got the white line fever as an adult - but what is the purpose of "junior" gearing? Is it physiological - to protect juniors from injury trying to push a too fast gear at too low cadence? Is it training related - to teach developing cyclists good high-cadence technique rather than mashing away? Is it for safety reasons to stop youngsters with lesser reflexes and handling skills from simply riding at too high a speed?
I've seen junior cassettes with cogsets that top out at 13T, even up to 16T as the high gear. Same objectives could be achieved by smaller chainrings, particluarly as large first position sprockets start positioning the chain into contact with the dropout.

CKinnard
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby CKinnard » Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:49 pm

http://www.cycling.org.au/Portals/10/Pa ... 082012.pdf

Background and Rationale
Gear development is the distance that a bicycle travels during one revolution of the crank. Restrictions are
placed on maximum gear development in the junior categories to achieve a number of outcomes including:

• To ensure a fair and equal competitive basis for all involved
• To limit the competitive advantage of athletes who mature early
• To increase the relative importance and thereby development of racing tactics
• To encourage development of technique and ability to produce power at high cadence
• To reduce the risk of overuse injuries

In practice, gear development restrictions are achieved by requiring junior competitors to have a chainring,
cog/cassette and tyre combination that, in the highest gear, ensures the gear development is equal to or less
than the maximum permitted for the athlete’s particular age category. A commissaire will supervise a ‘roll out’
procedure before and after a race to verify that each athlete’s bicycle has the correct development. Thus gear
development in cycling is also called ‘roll out distance’ or simply ‘roll out’. ‘Blocking off’ of gears refers to
adjustment of the gear shift mechanisms to prevent use of cogs and/or chainrings on the bicycle which, if
used, would exceed the permitted roll out.

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RonK
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby RonK » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:17 pm

Best ask the horses mouth.

Junior Gearing Information
Cycle touring blog and tour journals: whispering wheels...

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g-boaf
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby g-boaf » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:44 pm

RonK wrote:Best ask the horses mouth.

Junior Gearing Information

Didn't Duck post the exact same thing? :?

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Duck!
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby Duck! » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:51 pm

Someone else might have, but not I.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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g-boaf
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby g-boaf » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:14 pm

Duck! wrote:Someone else might have, but not I.
Doh! :oops: Apologies. I meant to say CKinnard..

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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby ironhanglider » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:12 pm

CrankNFurter wrote:I'm unfamiliar with junior cycling as I only got the white line fever as an adult - but what is the purpose of "junior" gearing? Is it physiological - to protect juniors from injury trying to push a too fast gear at too low cadence? Is it training related - to teach developing cyclists good high-cadence technique rather than mashing away? Is it for safety reasons to stop youngsters with lesser reflexes and handling skills from simply riding at too high a speed?
I've seen junior cassettes with cogsets that top out at 13T, even up to 16T as the high gear. Same objectives could be achieved by smaller chainrings, particluarly as large first position sprockets start positioning the chain into contact with the dropout.
Mostly the reason why riders do it is because the rules say so. Some explanation of the philosophy has been provided above.

There are several ways of achieving lower top gears and there are lots of variations.

Some use the limit screw on the rear derailler to restrict the throw to prevent shifting to the smaller cogs.
Others do the same on the front derailler to prevent shifting to the big ring.
Some will go as far as removing the offending cogs and replacing them with spacers, particularly if the bike is to be used at elite levels but 'Junior Cassettes' will offer more gears in between. [soft - I only had 3 gears on my first race bike]
Others will use smaller chainrings, but there can be issues with front derailler compatibility.

My 8yo runs a 14-28T cluster with 33-40T chainrings to comply with the 5.5m top gear.

Cheers,

Cameron

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jules21
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby jules21 » Mon Jun 11, 2018 2:08 pm

ironhanglider wrote:Some use the limit screw on the rear derailler to restrict the throw to prevent shifting to the smaller cogs.
didn't think that was permitted - too easy for vicarious parents to re-adjust after scrutineering

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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby ironhanglider » Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:18 pm

jules21 wrote:
ironhanglider wrote:Some use the limit screw on the rear derailler to restrict the throw to prevent shifting to the smaller cogs.
didn't think that was permitted - too easy for vicarious parents to re-adjust after scrutineering
As per the above, it isn't permitted at Nationals, but is ok for a club race. Not forgetting that the cable length is a bit of a giveaway if someone is intent on cheating in that way. Otherwise they'd have to do a gear adjustment as well. Besides a new cassette is just a fake puncture and wheel swap away. Post-race scruitineering would pick that sort of thing up anyway...

I've not encountered cheating in that manner when I was a junior back in the dark ages, and not heard of it happening deliberately in my more recent experience. I have come across people who were unaware of the restrictions and the kid turns up to race with a bike 'as purchased', I've also come across it with a 'neutral wheel' swapped in mid-race.

Usually this is the sort of thing that should be attended to at club level with promotion of the rules. The problem is that there is precious little club racing for juniors now at all, until it comes to Junior Tour level. My son still has several years of J11 to go.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Alex Simmons/RST
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:09 am

jules21 wrote:
ironhanglider wrote:Some use the limit screw on the rear derailler to restrict the throw to prevent shifting to the smaller cogs.
didn't think that was permitted - too easy for vicarious parents to re-adjust after scrutineering
Typically the high placing rider's bikes go straight into post race bike check.

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g-boaf
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Re: What is the purpose of "junior gearing"?

Postby g-boaf » Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:57 pm

ironhanglider wrote:Besides a new cassette is just a fake puncture and wheel swap away. Post-race scruitineering would pick that sort of thing up anyway...
I've heard about that, but not at events where I've been. And it was caught from what I remember.

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