Originally Posted by TimeZer0
I have one bike running 44/16 with 180 cranks, my new bike is running 42/14 with 165 cranks.
I thought they would feel very similar but it's like night and day- the new set up seems much easier. can anyone tell me what im pushin as far as gear inches for these?
That's kind of messed up. They shouldn't feel the same, that much is for sure. Since they have the same sized wheel, you can neglect that in your calculations. So, the 44/16 gives you a ratio of 2.75, and the 42/14 has a ratio of 3.0. So, the new bike should be harder. And, the older bike has longer cranks, which should make the pedaling even easier. If you take gain ratio (gear inches w/cranks) the old = 5.1; new = 6.1. So, the new one should be way harder to pedal. And, if you take into account that most folks say a smaller ring/cog setup is harder, the new one should be even harder yet.
But you say that it's easier. My brain just melted.