Originally Posted by
Wogster
The whole idea with adding more cogs is to make it easier to stay within the 80-95 RPM power band. Up until 8 speed it was often practical to have 2 or 3 freewheels with different ranges, and you selected the appropriate one. Racers in a race like the TdF would have one for the flat stages, another for mountain stages and probably a third for intermediate stages.
The question though, is 11 speed practical, the chains are thinner and narrower, meaning they wear out faster, some people say a lot faster, and they cost more to replace. The cogs also wear faster, and are more expensive to replace. I doubt many people would notice a very large performance change between 10 and 11 speed, unless they race and a hundredth of a second is a big deal.
I agree that 3x11 is not a huge improvement over 3x10. The primary advantage of the 11 speed cassette is the 16 cog on both the 12-17 and the 12-29. The 16 cog might be missed by a expert cyclist who wants to stay in the 85 to 95 cadence range while fighting a headwind or climbing a 2 to 6% slope.
The 11-23 includes- 11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23
The 11-25 includes- 11,12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,25
The 12-25 includes- 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23,25
The 12-27 includes- 12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,25,27
The 12-29 includes- 12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,26,29
I have a 3x7 on my 1983 Trek, It has 52/40/28 and a 13-24 freewheel
I have a 3x8 on my 1985 Serotta, It has 52/42/30 and a 12-28 cassette
I have a 3x9 on my Monstercross bike, It has 48/36/22 and a 12-27 cassette
I have a 3x10 on my 2012 road bike, It has 50/39/26 and a 12-27 cassette
I have a 3x10 on my 2012 Cyclocross bike, It has 50/39/26 and a 12-30 cassette
All of these triples can keep a tight cadence on flatter sections and provide the bail-out gearing I like to have on hilly century rides.