Originally Posted by
Iride01
Google for bicycle gear ratio calculators...
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.
Originally Posted by
Iride01
You want your 1 tooth splits to be in the gears you use the most.
Got it. Thank you.
Originally Posted by
Iride01
For the extreme low range that is for those hills you seldom encounter, you can do with many more teeth between cogs.
Why is that? What's the reasoning behind this? Less stress on the components at the cost of a more noticeable shift?
Originally Posted by
woodcraft
The difference between a longer crank and a short one is similar to one lower gear, but crank length choice is more relevant to riding position, leg length, etc., or mainly what happens to be on the bike.
I assume by "length" you mean the crank arm itself (which, in my case, would be 172.5mm), right? But what exactly do you mean by "longer crank?"
Originally Posted by
jaxgtr
I don't give up that much in speed on the flats....
Gotcha! Thanks a ton for the info. I appreciate it.
Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
Not to add to your list of considerations...
Oh, please do. I love hearing everyone's views. Plus, it's a very relevant point you bring up. Sure I want smoother shifts, but at what expense? How much of the speed is actually sacrificed and is that sacrifice really worth losing those 3 cogs? At this point, honestly, I don't know. I'll have to go on a quick ride to test out the gears and see which I use most and decide then.
Originally Posted by
Random11
I went from an 11-34 cassette to 11-28 with no real "science" behind the switch--just experience....
Thanks a lot for sharing. Before I really started to visualize what everyone was talking about, I'd assumed this theory was either going to be wrong or at least very polarizing. I'm surprised that it's not and very happy that I learned about it.
Originally Posted by
aliasfox
Best advice would be to go out for a ride. Find an area where there’s a gradual descent or a decent tailwind, shift into the gear you like, and see what cog you’re in. Then find the biggest hill you’ll ever take on, shift into the gear you like, and see which one it is. Practically, that will likely be the extent of your range -maybe add one more on either end for a bit of extra range?
The one hill that has the steepest incline is way too far for me to ride to, since it's still pretty cold in my area. I'll definitely try to sneak a quick test ride into my schedule and figure out how often I use the 11-13 cogs. I don't know if I've ever really paid attention, so that'll be pretty interesting to figure out.
Originally Posted by
aliasfox
I have a bike with a 52/44/32 triple in the front and a 12-27 nine speed in the back, and I have a bike with a 50/34 11-34 eleven speed. The gaps created by the 11-34 are very noticeable to me coming from the 12-27, to the extent that I am likely to switch to an 11-30 to have smaller gaps in cadence. The biggest hill around here is less than 7%, and I think I’ve only ever used the 32 and 34 cogs by accident. Conversely, I’ve taken the other bike up a 13% grade and could have used more than my 32-27 gearing allowed for.
Yea', I don't know what I was thinking. As mentioned above, I think there's only one hill I can think of in my area that's steep, so having a 32T cassette boiled down to nothing more than ignorance on my end.
Originally Posted by
Drew Eckhardt
There are fewer situations where one cog offers a bit less resistance than you like and the next a bit more.
Thanks!
Originally Posted by
Drew Eckhardt
I think cassettes with more than a two tooth jump before the 19 cog are unsuitable for road riding. With 10 cogs I ride 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23-26 and with 11 it would be 12-25 switching to a 46T big ring.
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again.