Originally Posted by Litespud

Well that's great for you, but I don't see how your preferred gearing has any relevance to anyone else's. I like a tight cassette - it suits my riding style and the rolling terrain I inhabit. It works for me. There's nothing magical about the 18, but in the context of a straight 12-19 run, it gets plenty of use. Sure, I could achieve the same ratio by dipping down onto the small ring, but jumping from ring to ring to achieve a specific ratio makes no sense, when I could just use a cassette that provides that nice straight run that I prefer.