Just upgraded from a 7 speed Schwinn cruiser to a KHS Urban-X commuter bike with 21 gears... I'm at a loss.. why all the gears? I have two pretty good hills to scale each ride home in the evening. It was hard on the cruiser, but I got it down to 1 stop after several weeks of keeping at it and building my muscles up. Now that I have so many gears? First time this evening on my new bike I rode up the hills and yes, going to a lower gear makes it easier to peddle, but you slow down so much and peddle so fast you end up just as winded as when peddling with the limited low gear on the 7 speed. Am I doing something wrong? I put the front three gear choice in 3 (smallest cog) and was peddling with the back in combinations of 3-5 gear coggs.
Years ago I had a raceing bike with 10 speeds and always felt that was enough to get me anywhere I wanted to go. Are 21 gears over kill?