Drive train

The Drive Train of your bike is its power transfer system, shifting power from your legs to the wheels. Comprised of various components, including cranks, chainring and cassette, the drive chain of a bike is fundamentally important.

Chains

Chains wear relatively quickly, particularly in poor conditions or if badly maintained. If your chain is excessively warn and stretched you will probably need to change your cassette as well to keep shifting smooth.

When purchasing a chain check what speed cassette you are running - how many sprockets you have at the back - and whether you require a specialist chain such as Dour-ace 10.

Chainrings

Chainrings come with varying finishes and different numbers of teeth depending on what size gear you want to ride.

Before purchasing a chain ring check whether you require 4 or 5 arm and whether you need a standard or compact size. Ring sizes vary so you can customise your gear selections. 50t being the largest generally used off-road.

On road the choice is simply Shimano or Campagnolo depending on your chainset - then once again your choice of chain ring size. Look out for chain rings that are ramped or profiled for smoother changes.

Cassettes and Free-wheels

Select your gearing to suit the terrain with a wide range of cassette sizes. If you are a big power-house of a sprinter you'll be looking at the 11-21t , for the rest of us a 12 is big enough with lower gears of 23 25 or 27. Off-road you have the option of even bigger gears to cope with the challenges of mountain biking cassette range up to 34t. When choosing a cassette remember that the smaller number of teeth a sprocket has the bigger the gear and the heavier it is to push.

Chainsets and Cranks

Your cranks are all about power transfer - getting your effort to the back wheel. Choose a crank set that is stiff, strong and light. When choosing a crankset ask for advice on crank length- if you have long legs you should opt for longer cranks.

Chainsets ATB

Chainsets come in for a lot of abuse and have to be up to the job. Wide ranges of chainsets are available - the full ranges of Shimano parts as well as Race Face and FSA come in splined, square taper and external options.

Chainset Road

Your chainset is responsible for converting the power your body generates into speed - and you don't want to waste any of it. With the full range of Shimano chainsets available there are plenty of options for any budget.