Age catgories and Gear restrictions for Youths and Juniors

[-Adam-]

Im sorry I never asked your name in the cafe earlier, but for the Father/Son of club evening time trial fame who were enquiring about the rules as to Youth categories and gear restrictions for racing... here you go...

3.3 Gear Restrictions
3.3.1 In all road events (other than events promoted in accordance with T.R. 7.12) juniors shall be restricted to a maximum gear such that the distance covered per crank revolution is 7.93 metres. The gear restriction shall not apply to seniors.
Youth category riders shall be restricted in all events to maximum gears as shown in the following table

YOUTH CATEGORY GEAR RESTRICTIONS
CATEGORY ROAD RACING TRACK RACING ROLLER RACING
YOUTH A 6.91 metres 6.91 metres 7.93 metres
YOUTH B 6.45 metres 6.45 metres 7.40 metres
YOUTH C 6.05 metres 6.05 metres 6.94 metres
YOUTH D 5.40 metres for all events.
YOUTH E 5.10 metres for all events.
Note: These gear restrictions apply to riders in all events irrespective of the gearing used by riders from other categories in the same event.

5 AGE CATEGORIES

Licences, which shall be valid for all disciplines, shall be issued as follows:

5.1 Youth
5.1.1 Youth E - Under 8 - Until 31 December in year of 8th birthday.

5.1.2 Youth D - Under 10 – From 1 January in year of 9th Birthday until 31 December in year of 10th birthday.

5.1.3 Youth C - Under 12 -. From 1 January in year of 11th Birthday until 31 December in year of 12th birthday

5.1.4 Youth B - Under 14 - From 1 January in year of 13th Birthday until 31 December in year of 14th birthday

5.1.5 Youth A - Under 16 - From 1 January in year of 15th Birthday until 31 December in year of 16th birthday. On reaching his 16th birthday a rider may apply for a Junior competition licence in order to be permitted to compete on the open road. On taking up this option he may no longer compete as a Youth rider.

Note:
Whilst the above categories may be grouped together in events, promoters should be conscious of the range of abilities of riders within the youth categories. This can be helped by running events for different age groups, different sizes, similar ability, by forming suitable handicaps or by offering separate awards for different groups. Girls are permitted to compete in events open to, and for awards available to, those Boys of the next youngest age category at the discretion of the chief Commissaire. In such situations, such Girls must restrict themselves to that gear restriction as per the Boy’s category. Two or three shorter races on an omnium basis may also be more suitable than one longer race.

5.2 Junior
5.2.1 Junior - To any male or female junior member of the Federation.
5.2.2 A member who has not reached his 18th birthday may not compete without having provided the consent of their parent or guardian in the form as prescribed from time to time by the Board.
5.2.3 Applicants for an annual licence must send such a Parental Consent Form, duly completed and signed, to Federation Headquarters and any licence issued is only valid if such a form has been received. At the time of application for an annual licence the parent's or guardian's signature must be witnessed by an official of the member's club or other responsible adult.

SYNOPSIS OF AGE CATEGORIES FOR 2007
Category Qualification
Youth E
Under 8 born in 1999 or later Until 31st December of year in which 8th birthday falls

Youth D
Under 10 born in 1997 or 1998 From 1st Jan of year in which 9th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 10th birthday falls

Youth C
Under 12 born in 1995 or 1996 From 1st Jan of year in which 11th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 12th birthday falls

Youth B
Under 14 born in 1993 or 1994 From 1st Jan of year in which 13th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 14th birthday falls (or upgraded from Youth C).

Youth A
Under 16 born in 1991 or 1992 From 1st Jan of year in which 15th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 16th birthday falls (or upgraded from Youth B).

Junior 16 yrs old or born in 1989 or 1990 From 1st Jan of year in which 17th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 18th birthday falls.

Under 23 born in 1985, 1986, 1987 or 1988 From 1st Jan of year in which 19th birthday falls to 31st December of year in which 22nd birthday falls.

Over 23 born in 1984 or earlier From 1st Jan of year in which 23rd birthday falls.

Women born in 1988 or earlier From 1st Jan of year in which 19th birthday falls.

Note: For cyclo-cross age categories, refer to the specific cyclo-cross regulations.

By my reckoning this all makes your son Youth B for the time being, which means a maximum gear of 6.45m for Road Racing, which equates to...

a 52x17, ie a 52teeth front chainring with a smallest sprocket of 17 on the cassette. GB's or whatever bike shop you use will be able to help you out there. Other than that its just a license you need really.

The link to the rule book is

[url]http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/bcf/rulebook.asp[/url]

and click on: General Cross-Discipline Regs. & Track & Road Racing Rulebook (1.1 mb) >>>>

Its all in there, all 97pages of it!

Anyway, hope this helps. Remember, theres always gonna be crashes, but they're not that common. So just don't tell mum and you'll be fine!

Cheers,

Adam

[Ian A4size]

Clear as mud!

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

Thanks, Adam - really useful.

You're right, Sam would be CAT B. The big chain ring is a 50 on his Bianchi so I'll have to do the maths but it looks like a trip down to GB. He's got his racing license so once we've got this sorted he'll be burning rubber and hopefully firing imaginary arrows with his imaginary bow at Crystal P.

Thanks again - Sam was really impressed with the scar BTW - best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Jon

[Andrew G]

You may not be able to get a suitable cassette with a big enough small sprocket. I think the normal way to limit the gearing for juniors is to sdjust the limit screws on the rear mech so that you just can't use the smaller sprockets. It will reduce the block from 10 to say 7 gears but will save some cash.

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

Andrew

Hi. Thanks. Sounds a neat solution. Unless anyone knows any reason why we can't do this I'll give it a try.

Cheers

Jon

[-Adam-]

Well ill hope he'll be impressed with the scar ill have on my shoulder if they cut it open!

See you both tuesday for the evening 10?

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

Yep, we'll be there - funny but I'm getting a twinge in my right thigh muscle just thinking about it!

[Andrew G]

[quote="The other, newer Jon C"]Andrew

Hi. Thanks. Sounds a neat solution. Unless anyone knows any reason why we can't do this I'll give it a try.

Cheers

Jon

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

I am sorry but do not know the age we are talking about here, but for a Youth category, it is unlikely to get a low enough gearing using the big chainring, even if it is a 50.

If you want to do the maths, the old style imperial measurement of gearing in inches converted any combination of chainwheel sprocket and wheel into the equivalent of a Penny Farthing wheel, i,e, a big diameter circle, and goes like this:

Chainring size divided by sprocket size times diameter of rear wheel in inches.
For example:
52/15*27 = 93.6"

To convert this metrically speaking to a runout as detailed in BC's rules that Adam posted, replace the 27" with 68cm (an approximation as thin tyres will be less than this) and add multiply by pi, 3.142

Example above
52/15*0.68*3.142 = 7.407m

This will give you a guide, BUT the gear will be checked against a measured run out, usually a chalk line on the ground. It is a simple task to mock this up for yourself. Take the measurement applicable, make a mark on a long enough piece of land, mark start and finish points. Place the bike facing backwards with the pedal at the bottom of its stroke, i.e.vertical and wheel the bike backwards to the end line. The crank should return to vertical ie 1 complete revolution by the time you reach the end mark. If it finishes too early, try a smaller sprocket and vice versa.

It is a simple method to restrict the large chainwheel by adjusting the screw to prevent it changing up. Similarly the rear gear can be prevented from changing on to the smallest 1 or 2 sprockets. If further adjustment is needed, and the screw will not go in far enough, it is possible to either shorten the spring that surrounds the adjusting screw, or removing it altogether.

Trust this helps. Please get in touch for any more info.

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

Thanks mrpvt, Great stuff!

As I keep trying to explain to my wife it's this kind of thing that makes cycling so fascinating

Do the race organisers actually check each bike before a race? Or do they take it on trust? (not that we're thinking of cheating you understand).

Anway...by my calculation

50 x 16 gives an inch over
50 x 17 gives 12" under !!

I presume in order to get the best set up for the race I'm trying to get a gear ration that'll give me as close to 6.45 metres as possible without going over??

The nearest I can get seems to be 39 x 13 which is 9" under. Why did the choose 6.45 metres or am I doing something wrong? Any ideas?

Thanks in anticipation

Best wishes

Jon

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

As I said earlier, the width of the tyres makes ad ifference, and it is best to do an accurate measurement on a line out. I don't agree with 50*16 being over?? I make it 6.67m

Yes the gears are (should be) checked at the start of every race and the first 6 finishers afterwards. However, it is not always done, depending on level of race, commissaire, organiser etc, but if it is evident (easily spotted) that you have a bigger gear than anyone else, other (parents mostly) riders will object, and then DQ'd.

The gearing levels were set on the most commonly available chainrings at the time which were 42/52.

42*13 is spot on for a Youth A - 42/13*0.68*3.142 = 6.91m.
42*14 for a B
and so on