why do I like by 7 spd more than 10 spd cassette rides ??
 

curious but have to comment .. I ride a trek cf 10 spd triple as primary ride 11 - 24 but have recently been building for ride a couple of 7 spd freewheel rigs... one with 12 - 34 ( trple ) and another 12 - 28 dbl affair, alum and steel rides, any way the point of the post being.... i am favoring the 7 spd free wheel rides friction shift rides , over the " up to date" 10 spd ride.... ?? got to say less choice is better .. not to mention the stump puller 34t lets me coast my 54 yo butt up the hill like butter..... what wrong with me.... I seem to be building/buying bikes tailored for my rides perhaps....!! anyone else experience this thang..... or is this just the way to justify more bikes for the collection....hmmmm

Yes, less choice is better. That's why I prefer to ride either the single speed or the fixed gear over my 8 speed geared road bike as much as I can which is often. :D

Pretty funny, isn't it? I grew up with 2 x 5 "10 speed" - usually my standard utility rig was 42 x 52 with 14 - 28 5 speed cogset. I've got a 9 speed that's got 42 x 52 with a 30 inside, and a 12-28. Surprise. I'm almost always double shifting the back. Makes me wonder why I'm carrying those extra cogs! That bike has bar ends. I flipped the rear shifter to friction and in about 5 minutes forgot I'd ever had indexing. Weird.

Although riding hard and fast, I find the 10 cogs on my sport bike to just about right. Kind of a different environment and approach.

Too hilly for single speed, but it would sure make decisions easy.

Whether I prefer wide ranging gears or my closely-spaced 10 spd depends on the terrain/wind and whether I am riding alone or in a pace line.

I find that I use every gear on my road bikes on the rides I do. If I am driving hard for long distances having a gear ratio that keeps my cadence and effort in a comfortable range helps in getting the most out the bike/ride. If I am just cruising - like when I ride to work it doesn't matter, I doubt if I use more than 4 gears. I decided some time ago not to use my commute rides as opportunities for more training - if I did I'd start taking the car.

You have mentioned the one disadvantage of 10 speed that I can think of- Lack of a dinner plate as the largest sprocket on the cassette. This can be overcome as a 10 speed 11/34 is available if you have enough money ($150)

Taking the same gears- say 11/28 that is common on 7-8 and 10 speed. The 7 speed 11/28 has a hole in the gearing and that one gear change is a jump. This is better if a 12/28 is used. The 8 speed 11/28 does not have the hole and for that reason- I prefer 8 speed. Now 9 speed does have the dinner plate and I use 11/32 or 12/34 and this is the commonly used gearing on mountain bikes. All it is -is 8speed with a lower gear but it works.

Now 10 speed- and I have 12/27 and 12/25. On the 27- the 10th- 9th and 8th gear (27t,24t and 21t) have that hole back again. The jump between the gears is too large- but as you will only use them going uphills- the jump is not noticable really. The 25 is closer ratio and even I can run between the gears comfortably. Never tried a 23 or a 21 but I should think the closeness of the ratios on those will be superb. Would not enjoy too many hills with a 21 though.

It does depend on the use you put the bike to but If I were to build up a bike again- I would opt for 9 speed on the road. I do need a lower gear for the hills- and I can put up with the Jump from 28 to 32- But I do like the close ratios that a 12/25 gives me in 10 speed.

I see no reason for more than 7 cogs on the cassette for my bikes. I'm not racing, or ride in a pace lines. 7-speed cassettes and freewheels currently cost less than $20. 6/7 speed chains are cheap as well and don't require special "one time use" pins. The spacing between the cogs are wider so smooth shifts are easy to obtain with any index or friction shifter. Less dish on the rear wheel reduces the chance of spoke breakage.

Now I hear 11 speed cassettes are about to hit the market. No, Thank you. What I have now works just fine.

I will say that I have found that I really enjoy the rides on my bike with closer ratios a lot more. That said I am not sure how much it has to to with each of the many differences (number of gears, closeness of the ratios, width of the tires, weight, frame geometry, etc).

My road bike is broken (car/bike accident, car won), so I have been doing my rides on my touring bike. I have to say that I REALLY miss the road bike.

7 to 10
 

Ahhh, a topic I am about to become all too familiar with.
I have a 46/34 compact double running thru a 12/26 7 speed on the 91 Paramount PDG
and am about to embark on a trip to the dark side.
Shimano ultegra 6600 paddle shift thru a Ultegra 6600 10 speed cassette/50/34 chainring on the Moto IF
I'm figuring: I'll wind up using 5 max out of these 20 gears 90% of the time.
I'll probably be a week on the indoor rollers (with the stabilizer hooked to the handlebars) trying to figure out the darn shift pattern ...and then, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts I'm reaching for the downtube on every shift.
Worst part is: I Love the Paramount. Ergo I'll on one with paddle and another with downtube and trying to figure out which is which before I have to shift..lol

It's more useful to think of a triple chain ring/10-speed cassette combination as a smoother continuum of gears rather than as a wider choice of gears. One doesn't really choose which gear to ride in, you just sort of end up in a particular gear as conditions dictate. The triple/10-speed combination gives you close rations in three different ranges and, of course, it is simplified, because in the smallest chain ring, you are only using the biggest two or maybe three rear cogs. Once you begin to visualize the gearing as single smooth continuous line, the advantages of the 10-speed cassette become obvious.

I have the same experience with the triple/7-speed setup on my main bike with friction bar end shifters.

I think that you're making this shift pattern thing way too hard.

Shift pattern is something that we used to mess with when we had 5-speed freewheels. I even used to type my gear ratios up neatly on a piece of paper and tape it to my handlebar to help me find the next gear in the sequence.

With modern close ratio many cog cassettes I just think of my bike as having 2 or 3 gear ranges. On my Klein with the 50/34 compact crankset I do 90+% of my riding on the big ring and generally only use the small ring for climbing hills. On my triple equipped bikes I do almost all of my riding in the middle ring.