seypat

I'm with you there. A lot faster and easier just to change the cassette for a change in gearing. I run road triples with 5-8 speed freewheels/cassettes in the 12/13-21/23 range. This weekend however, I had the once yearly super climbing ride. This year I rode it on a 7 speed and on went the 12-28. Last year it was a 5 speed bike with a 14-28. I only got on the 14 briefly either year and certainly not the 12t this year. Now a 13-23 is back on until the next hilly ride. It took about a minute and I have tight ratios through all of the gears. On relatively flat land which is where I mostly ride, the 52/42 and 13-whatever works a lot better than the 50/36 and 11-whatever. Especially on the top end of the cassette. The granny is on there in case I encounter any large hills.

By the way, I guess I am not a top notch cyclist. On downhills, particularly steep ones I use this seemingly unheard of method called "coasting."