Originally Posted by MrJames67

Thank you everyone, for your ideas and suggestions. I was hoping maybe but not expecting, some manufacturer would build a ready-made bike for people like me who are almost always coasting downhill or climbing. A lightweight 1X climbing flatbar road bike with hydraulic brakes. I'm guessing most people in the USA are probably pedaling level or near so much of the time. I'm the opposite. What I want is a 28T chain ring and an 11-42 cassette. This gives me 17.7 gear inches, 4 mph @ 85 cadence on the 42 and 17 mph at the same cadence on the 11 when riding on level ground. I don't need more speed than that where I ride-. I'm not a group rider, and I coast down at about 30 mph tops which is plenty quick on a bicycle. For genuine fast I could get another Honda CBR600 that topped out at 145 mph. Only in my dreams of course in high desert or remote interstates out west. I already have two older quality full suspension mountain bikes with that low gearing which are fairly heavy, and a Raleigh road bike with very low gearing and drop bars. No more drop bars for me. Partly because of the wildlife in the rural areas I ride, jumping out of ditches and culvert pipes, and deer who need to run out of the woods ahead of me. Or so they think. Several close calls. I have to have my hands on the brakes at all times. In short, a lightweight flatbar climbing bike, for which I guess manufacturers see no market worth building for at present. Money is an object . I'm waiting to hear from Specialized who seems in no hurry to respond, if a Sirrus Expert Carbon can do a 28T x 11-42 without the chain hitting the frame. Would consider it, depending upon the extra cost of alterations. Thanks again.