Originally Posted by
63rickert
My first derailleur bike, purchased 1965, had a low gear of 39x28. That bike was not purchased from a specialist shop, it came from the Schwinn dealer. Mr. Schwinn had a 36 chainring sitting in normal inventory he could have popped onto my crank if I'd asked. Riding around on that bike it was soon discovered that 2 miles away another Schwinn dealer, operated by a tinkerer, could supply me with infinite gears, a Schwinn shop 4 miles away operated for racers could sell me low gears, a Raleigh store 8 miles away operated by a collector had super low gears on bikes sitting on the showroom floor. That dealer let me take a test ride on a Gitane fitted with a low of 28x30. In 1966. Soon after that I met Oscar Wastyn.......
This notion that "bikes of old" were limited is nonsense. It gets repeated here endlessly and is simply factually wrong. Endless repetition of false information will not make it so.
Yes, some bikes came with a 39t front ring. And yes, there were some bikes that came with a 'wide' range freewheel that had a 28t cog. At the same time, there were a ton of bikes that were 53/42 or 52/42 up front mated to a freewheel where the larges cog was 25t or so.
A Voyageur 11.8 came set up as 52-40 with a 13-28 cassette(that first gen cassette that disappeared). Thats a touring frame with a bailout of 39 gear inches. Absurd.
A 1987 Schwinn Tempo, which was a solidly mid-level 105 equipped road bike and nothing pro level about it, came with a bailout of 42-26 which is 43.75 gear inches. Thats better than the '88 model that had a 42-25 bailout!
An '87 Trek 560, also a 105 equipped mid-level road bike came with a 42-24t cassette.
I could go on and on and reference mid-level Miyata, Nishiki, Univega, Bridgestone, and Panasonic bikes with similar setups, but there is no need.
Reality is that in the 70s and very early 80s, mid-level road bikes came with easier gearing than similar level road bikes in the late 80s. Ultimately though, none of it is close to what comes stock on many mid-level road bikes now.
70s and early 80s- 39 or 42t small ring mated to a 28t freewheel.
mid80s into early 90s- 42t small ring mated to a 25 or 26t cassette.
current- 34t small ring mated to a 28 or 32t cassette.
There is a clear move to wider range gearing since the mid 80s. I dont know why gearing seemed to get more difficult in the 80s from what it used to be, but I have my guesses. I wasnt riding road bikes back then so I cant say for sure.
Point is- while your example is absolutely valid, so are all the examples of bikes I have refurbished and changed the freewheel/cassette on to make riding easier for the typically beginners who buy the bikes.
mid-level road bikes are consistently spec'd with 28t or 32t bailouts now with a 34t small ring. That is what I(and another poster) was referring to earlier. That is a huge difference from a 42-26 stock bailout from decades ago that was common on similar level bikes.