ultraman6970

Have not read all the coments but, campagnolo has record triple mechanic since years ago and now has been re introduced, in a long cage RD you can put up to a 32 or a 34 I believe. Campagnolo record 10 has long cage aswell just in case.

As for modern stuff, usually with campagnolo you can get away putting 1 or 2 more teeth in the cogset eventhought is not documented, just move the screw in the back to make more room and ready to go.

Campagnolo had 32T speed cassettes for triple I believe aswell, anyways is not hard to get a custom made miche cassette 10 or 11 speed with a 32 for example.

Pro's load a lot more gear than you can imagine and between you and me 34x29 is plenty small (for normal people) already to climb whatever you want, unless the rider cant climb even a 50 feet over pass or is using a 100 pounds rando bike, in that case go triple and problem fixed.

joejack951

Can I request that all comments about what specific gearing someone else should need to climb be moved to the Road forum? There are "real" experts there who can tell you what is truly necessary for you to climb. In the mechanics forum I'd prefer if we could stick to actually helping people achieve what they feel they need (which the first part of this post actually does, but I couldn't help but comment on the last bit).

FBinNY 

You can request it all you want, but it just won't happen.

In any case, even the most expert coach in the world, cannot tell anyone what gearing they need for a given climb or slope over the internet. Gear choice depends on the power to weight ratio, preferred cadence, and endurance. The gearing I need to climb a pass will be different than that of the pros and different that whoever might ask me what he needs.

joejack951

It will also vary depending on whether you are hitting that climb at mile 10 or mile 100 and how many more miles you plan to ride after that climb.

ultraman6970

It is fair what the oil man is saying, but IMO the reality is that many of the complainers asking for more gearing is people that go and do steep hills w/o having a single mile in the bike or only ride on sundays and between you and me to go up you have to have a lot of miles in the bike or at least be consistent and ride 2 or 3 times per week. As with any sport, if you dont train no matter how light the bike is, the guy will suck. Sure many reading here play golf, if you dont train the swing often the game goes to hell right?, same situation with riding a bike.

Solution for a store that wont tell an overweight sunday rider he needs to train, is to sell them stuff like larger cogs and stuff when the deep of the problem is other, well business is business. Believe me 34x29 is plenty gear, the problem is that some guys go 10 or 30 miles climbing having just 10 miles of ride a month and that's just insane, if you don't ride often you have no power, no cadence, no idea how to use the gears (seen a few here), etc. Always for this subject the deeper problem is another, not the gearing, is the rider expecting to climb like the best w/o sweating in a single mile during the week and that's impossible.

Cheers

HillRider

Philosophically you are absolutely right but neither you nor anyone here is going to correct that. Doctors and health officials have been saying the same thing for decades and most people won't pay attention. All we can do is provide whatever mechanical help we know about or point out that what the poster is asking for isn't available.

joejack951

If lower gearing allows someone who's not in that great of shape to get out and ride around their home, don't you that's better than them not riding at all? Why do you care so much what gearing someone else wants to use? And it's pretty pathetic of you to complain that someone might only get out on their bike once a week. Are you married and/or have kids? A demanding job? Any responsibilities other than yourself? I used to get out five times a week. Now I'm lucky if it's twice. My mileage has dropped from 6000+ year to a little over 2000. Funny thing, I was still using a 30x27 low gear even when I was in better shape.

Are you kidding me? Don't sell someone gearing that they need and instead tell them to lose some weight? You'd be fired your first day from my (hypothetical)bike shop. Do you realize that some people just want to go ride a bike and not "train"? Remember, we're not in the Road Cycling forum. You're dealing with normal individuals now.

No, I don't believe you that 34x29 is plenty. And I'm surprised HillRider didn't comment on that either. I know he's running a 26T front ring on some of his bikes. Unless he's using a 23T big cog, he's got lower gearing than that.

Everyone starts somewhere and some never get much further than just-starting-out shape for any number of reasons. Why do you have such an issue with this? No one is sneaking into your garage and swapping your 11-21 for an 11-36.

HillRider

I didn't mention that because I thought it was self evident I believe it's an absurd over generalization. You're right I use XX/XX/26 triples on my bikes and one has a 12x27 10-speed cassette and another has a 13x29 10-speed cassette so I have low gears way below 34x29 and am happy to have them. And, being retired, I do ride a lot, typically 6 to 7 days a week, year round whether permitting and I'm neither overweight or just a Sunday rider. I'd like to know where ultraman lives and what type of hills he rides.

ThermionicScott 

Nobody wants to hear that the engine might need work, but this is the Internet, so you'll get all views, whether you want them or not.

(For the record, I do believe in having the gearing you need, but one should try to keep the engine in shape as best they can...)

ultraman6970

joejack951... i do ride once a week just to start... Im overweight like 60 pounds... in 30 years you can go from 160 (when i was racing track and road) to 210 and riding once a week Married with kids... 2 dogs... just a normal guy right now. Lucky you can do 2000 miles per year, if i do 500 is too much, i dont even have a darn computer for example, just old fashion old man

All the time guys get mad and stuff for the same issue Many times the thing is pride and that people is too competitive sometimes. It's not a pissing contest you know, I know in some places the guys have like 15 degrees super long climbs, but you have to recognize too that if you are not trained no matter what gear you use, the ride will suck and will hurt, and thats the point I was making dude... hillrider kind'a agreed with me in that point... and answering his question I do have a relatively flat trail in here with a few 2 miles uphills that are easily done at 20 mph if trained poorly (not my case obviously) and the skyline that basically go like once a year if I'm able to find the time to ride at least for two weeks in a row to have some miles on me, riding once a week at 17 miles per hour wont do that much for me in a ride like the skyline as you can understand, in a matter of fact when I go to the skyline I cant do more than 5 or 6 mph... is slow, i suffer but is understandable too, racing was over 30 years ago don't need to compete with the guys that are passing me, just have fun, that's what is about, right? And even in my poor riding physical condition... 34x29 is plenty to go anywhere if the rider do some mileage.

Thermionic is calling it as I see the thing, nobody wants to hear that the engine needs work, and since money talks even in a fantasy store they will take the money 1st instead of pointing the problem to the client... it is a fact, i even have a friend with a shop and he doesn't deny that sometimes he has to satisfy the most stupid ideas when clearly the problem is another one, since it is money that pay his bills he sells them stuff that fix the problem only in the client heads, when in reality is just a momentary patch, the funny thing is that usually is people that ride only during the weekends and that can't climb the stairs going down hill, can you guess what item I'm talking about right?

Nights

joejack951

My point is that there are too many factors for anyone to someone else what gears they need. You made a clear statement that 34x29 should be the minimum. HillRider and I agree that that is an absurd statement. You can cling to it all you want and justify it with "work on the engine" comments but that won't make it any less absurd.

Happy Cycling!