Staying on the gearing aspect.When I started riding MTB's- the best around was 7 speed- 11/28 and a 46/36/26 crankset. In fact I think that this was about the lowest you could get. I set mine up with a 48 big sprocket and a 12/28 rear cassette. Then in came the compact cranksets with 42/32/24 rings and 8 speed came in with 11/28. That was better and I could finally get up the steep offroad hill every time. Then I found that My strength got better and I went back to the 48/36/26 crankset and 8 speed rear. BUT there was this new gearing that came out called 9 speed. 11/32 rear cassettes available and if you coupled that with the new Compacts of 44/32/22- You could really spin up those hills. SPIN?? What was that? And on a mountain bike? All my mates got new bikes and there they were pedalling fast up these hills in their low gears- while I accelerated away from them with my gearing that was "Too" High.

But then a couple of medical problems and in 2001 I got the Bianchi. I could now spin up the hills with the rest of them and I found I was using these low gears. All it did was slow me down but it was easier to get up the steep hills. Then the BIG problem came in with the Tandem. Offroad again and this thing was heavy. Crankset of 48/38/26 and 8 speed 11/28. Changed it to 9 speed to get the new rear cassette of 12/34 and fine- Except we were bending the cogs on the rear cassette. Luckily- I realised that the XT rear cassette was the problem and got a stronger LX but it only came in 11/32. So there we are- Training on our steep hills with a low gear of 26/32 and it was tough. Low cadence of around 50 to 60 in places and the knees were giving out. We tried a compact crankset but the gearing was too low- and no speed available on the flat or downhill. So Final resort of fitting a 24T on as granny and it worked. 24/32 and we could get up the hills with a cadence of 80.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that gearing has changed considerably. I have used a lot of the various variations but to get the best out of the new low gearing has meant a radical change to the way I ride a bike. Cadence has gone up considerably from when I started in 1990- but I would have loved to see me getting up Windover hill with a cadence of 90 on 26/28 gearing. I can do it on 22/34- But I no longer have the speed that I used to have.

Same on this road gearing. The hills I used to struggle with a triple and 30/28 as my lowest gear- I now struggle up with 34/27. There is an optimum gearing for a bike- a rider and on that hill. If that hill requires the lowest gear you have got- You use it and make the hill- No matter how high that gearing is.- BUT there is no way I am fitting a std crankset for our hills.