Calculating Metres of Development
One could also calculate "gear centimetres," but in practice this is not done. An equivalent system customarily used by continental European cyclists is "metres of development", and measures the distance travelled with each turn of the crank. That is, metres of development is calculated as:
Circumference of drive wheel in metres × number of teeth in front chainring / number of teeth in rear sprocket.
Thus gear inches and development differ by a factor of π plus imperial/metric conversion. To convert from gear inches to metres of development, multiply by 0.08 (more exactly: 0.0798, or precisely: 0.0254π).
Read more about this topic: Gear Inches
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