Originally Posted by techone
no, no. Not just a larger chainring, I mean larger all around, chainring, and cog so you can have a decent gear.
With more teeth on the cog, so more skid patches, so longer lasting tires.
I'm seriously thinking about getting a larger chainring and cog (and get below a 75 inch gear, this 77 inch stuff is nonsense!) mainly for this reason.
47/16 is better than 54/18 for that reason. It's all about relative primeness, there's just no shortcutting it, I'm afraid.
Likwise 48/15 is better than 48/16.