Bike and Sprocket Problem

Chaim

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
58
You are riding a bike along a level road. Assume each wheel is 28 inches in diameter, the rear sprocket has radius 3 inches and the front sprocket has radius r inches. Suppose you are pedaling the front sprocket at the rate of 1.5 rev/sec and your forward speed is 11 mph on the bike. What is the radius of the front sprocket?

Answer: 4.4 inches

So here are the key information:
Wheel is 28 inches in diameter
Rear sprocket has raidus 3 inches
Front sprocket has raidus r inches
Pedaling front sprocket at the rate of 1.5 rev/sec
Forward speed is 11 mph
Find raidus of front sprocket

I'm having trouble putting all this information in my head, can anyone help me through with the steps? :)
 
You are riding a bike along a level road. Assume each wheel is 28 inches in diameter, the rear sprocket has radius 3 inches and the front sprocket has radius r inches. Suppose you are pedaling the front sprocket at the rate of 1.5 rev/sec and your forward speed is 11 mph on the bike. What is the radius of the front sprocket?

Answer: 4.4 inches

So here are the key information:
Wheel is 28 inches in diameter
Rear sprocket has raidus 3 inches
Front sprocket has raidus r inches
Pedaling front sprocket at the rate of 1.5 rev/sec
Forward speed is 11 mph
Find raidus of front sprocket

I'm having trouble putting all this information in my head, can anyone help me through with the steps? :)

1. Determine the number of revolutions per second of the rear wheel which is the same as the number of revolutions per second of the rear cogwheel:

11 mih  193.6 ins\displaystyle 11\ \frac{mi}h~\longrightarrow~193.6\ \frac{in}s

which will give 2.2 revs\displaystyle 2.2\ \frac{rev}s

2. Since the same length of the chain passes the front and the rear cogwheel per second you can say

circumferencefrontrevfront=circumferencerearrevrear\displaystyle circumference_{front} \cdot rev_{front} = circumference_{rear} \cdot rev_{rear}

or in short:

radiusfrontrevfront=radiusrearrevrear\displaystyle radius_{front} \cdot rev_{front} = radius_{rear} \cdot rev_{rear}

x1.5=32.2      x=4.4\displaystyle x \cdot 1.5 = 3 \cdot 2.2~\implies~x = 4.4

3. Remark: I'm not very used to those archaic measures like inches, feet, miles, fathoms or yards. So please check my arithmetic.
 
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