Originally Posted by
rydabent
Up until approx 1980 we had 10 speed bikes. After that the bike industry started their march to ever more gears by increasing the number of sprockets on the freewheel. Right now as far as I know we are up to 12 speeds in the rear. My question is isnt that overkill? I feel this is true especially when you throw into the mix that a good percentage of us have triples in front. So do we really need 36 speeds? Or is the march to ever more speeds just a marketing ploy to dip into the pockets of cyclist that need "the latest thing"?
No-one is forcing you to buy into any of this. If you really want to make a point, ride single-speed which has been around for, like, forever.
You don't have to purchase the high-end stuff. You can always find 7 and 8 speed stuff on the low-end stuff, you know, the bikes found in Walmart and other sports stores.