Originally Posted by
hueyhoolihan
they weight from 13 to 18 pounds i expect and it IS easier to climb seven miles on a 13 pound bike than it is an 18 pound bike. but just switching from a 39/17 to a 39/18 would probably make up the difference.
One sees comments like this with some regularity. Could you please tell me how gearing down will negate the amount of extra energy required to move a heavier bike up a hill? Gearing down will make it possible for a rider with limited power output to move more weight up the hill, albeit more slowly. But the lighter bike will still require less energy on the climb than a heavier bike, no matter what you do with the gears.