Originally Posted by
bmthom.gis
not just racers, but those of us over here on the East Coast can get away with less gears as well. I doubt I will be taking my mountain bike to actual mountains, and the local trails we have here would be completely suited to a 1x...and stronger riders can and do get away with single speeds as well. My commute could also easily be done on a 1x10, and riding around in the city is often done on a 3 speed or single speed. I don't think I could get away with that so much in Denver. I don't think I'll be changing my Fred Sled over to a 1x system, ever.
Columbia may be flat but all you have to do is go about 150 miles northwest to find the eastern US's best kept secret...short, brutish, nasty mountains. And, unlike our mountains out here, road engineers in the eastern US don't seem to understand the concept of "gradient". They just take the damned roads straight up whatever gets in their way. If there's a 25% grade on the route, so what? I've ridden extensively in those short little nasty mountains you have out there. Colorado's mountains have altitude but eastern mountains have attitude!
I would say that I have bikes that I commute on. I don't have a "commuter" bike. All of my bikes have done commuting duty but they have also been ridden in a variety of different terrains. My "main" commuter bike has been ridden over Colorado passes and on long rides along the Platte River (definitely flat) and on commutes where I take the long way around which includes riding over the saddle of a mountain (but still not as steep as those damned eastern mountains). Basically, all of my bikes have to be ready to handle any terrain because I never know what I'm going to do with them.