Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
Not needed and not going to happen. Most road bike riders do most of their riding in gears that fall between about 54 inches to 90 inches. Someone climbing a mountain, or descending a mountain uses gears outside of that range.
Back in the 1980's, Greg LeMond's 12 speed setup gave him six distinctly different gear choices between 54 inches and 90 inches. In 2005, the best-selling Shimano 105 18-speed drivetrain offers just seven distinct choices between 54 inches and 90 inches. It took adding SIX more speeds to give a rider just ONE more usable gear. Add more gears? Silliness and nonsense.
90 gear inches as the top end
What is that 53-14 or something? 53-14 is a nice cruising gear.....but 53-13( 7th cog) and 53-12 (8th cog) are pretty fun to use for most people.
Maybe mashing away in a really tall gear won't win you any marathon races (like the TDF) but it is still fun anyway
