Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Nah, the great thing about being a retrogrouch is that your equipment really is better, which includes being more easily modifiable as one ages. It was easy and cheap for me to get down to 23 g.i. For studies, just look at the age breakdown for popular endurance events.
Just for fun - bike age in my fleet vs low gear
1973 - 23"
1979 - 41" (fix gear; something the new bikes cannot even do
[1983 - 71" (workhorse fix gear; it has no other life)]
1983 - 31"
2008 - 23"
2011 - 47" (fix gear; no modern bike can do remotely what this bike does so well)
A 110-74 BCD triple set up with a 24, 28 tooth in back - any FW or cassette ever (or at least since the dinosaurs died off) was offered with that 28 - and any SunTour GT derailleur with a vast assortment of friction , retro-friction (gotta slip that into this thread!) or ratchet and that old steed is good to go to that 23" low (and 122" high if you can find a 54 and 12). If you go out searching with a $100 bill, you might be able to buy yourself a latte with the change.
And the questioning retro (grouch?) - just why didn't every modern cranket manufacture get on board with 110-74 BCD? (OK, pure race can be bigger but the penalty for 110 cannot be measured. And not everyone needs that 74 drilling. But once 110 was here, why did anyone mess with 113? 105? ... And along those lines - thank you Sugino! Thank you SR! (And, going back to the tail end of the Jurassic era - thank you TA for making anything and everything possible. I rode the Mt. Washington TT on a 28t TA 1X. 1978)