Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,520
Likes: 12
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
Originally Posted by
John E
I also concur that your 45/14 top is good enough for most applications, although I prefer something a bit taller, such as 45/13, 49/14, or 52/15.
How do you guys figure that? I always figured that what goes up must come down so the steeper the hill on the up side that requires me to use a 30-inch or so gear to climb it needs a big gear to go down the other side at 50-mph. Sure you could coast but what's the fun of that?
On my Bottecchia I run 52/40 in front and 14-18-24-30-34 in back for a range of 31.5 - 100 inches.
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1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista