Originally Posted by jimshapiro
It only covers a factor of about 4 along the x-axis and the forward movement of the bicycle in relation to the rotations of the crank, i.e., the gear-inches, couldn't be more linear. Am I missing something here?
Don't mean to argue, but "gear inches" are not the forward travel of the bike. You'd have to factor by pi to get that. A 100 inch gear will actually send you 314.16 inches down the road for each full rotation of the chain ring.