Originally Posted by Barrettscv

Most 18 and 20 speed bikes have problematic gearing. Considering that most riders travel at 13 to 19 mph on flat windless rides, why then are most road bikes geared for 20 to 30+ mph travel?

My complaint includes;

Tall gearing causes slow cadence. This is hard on joints and reduces the fitness benefit of cycling.

Double chain-rings create cross-chaining while traveling at 13 to 19 mph. The small chain-ring range is too low thus putting the chain on the smallest cog, and the large chain-ring range is too tall, putting the chain on the largest cog. The rider is required to change chain-rings often to avoid this condition.

The spacing of the gearing is too broad on the large chainring, the cadence drops by more than 10% with each up-shift.

The smallest chain-ring possible on a compact is 34t. This limits the rider to 10% grades if the hill is long or the bike is loaded for multi-day travel.

The solution?

A touring triple crank-set or mountain bike gearing. Small wonder mountain bikes are more popular than road bikes. Why can't a bike have a 45t & 30t double chain-ring?

Michael