Originally Posted by
Typhon2222
Thanks for the replies gents!
It's good to know that road bikes can get that low.
But I guess I'm still confused. Since mountain bikes have smaller wheels, wouldn't that mean that 30/29 or 34/34 on road wheels will still be higher (in terms of distance travelled per revolution) than a 32/30 on 26" wheels? Or do the lighter wheels and frame of a road bike make up for that?
See my previous post - in terms of the gear size (or "gear development" if you want to be picky) it is all about the ratios between the cogs and the size of the wheel. That formula allows for gear comparisons between road bikes, mountain bikes, recumbents, kid's bikes, pretty much anything that doesn't use a internally geared hub (like the classic Sturmey Archer three speed), which use the internal gears to increase or decrease the base gear ratio by a set percentage. But that doesn't apply to your bike.