bigfred 

I'm not surprised that you're finding 36X25 (38.4") a challenging gear. I'm about 6'5", 250lbs and consider myself to be a reasonably strong to very strong clyde climber. I've swapped the 34 tooth inner ring my cranks came with for a 36 in combination with an 11-26 cassette to give myself a 36X26 (37.0") low gear. I'm considering that ideal for my competitive nature.

Before getting too caught up in trying to cram the max cassette onto your bike that the derailleur will accommodate, I would suggest replacing your inner ring with a 34 or lower. A 34/46 X 11-28 combination would provide you with a 32.4" low gear while maintaining a reasonably overlap between rings and minimizing some of the big gearing jumps that the mega range cassettes involve.

brons2

Tandem: 21" (not yet implemented, but I have the parts)
Rivendell: 27"
Paul Taylor: 30"

Bigbandito

After reading the responses and thinking about this for a while, I have realized that - like most things in life - there are so many variables involved that I can't base my decision simply on what someone else does. Things like weight, height, relative fitness, riding style, etc. have such an influence on the outcome, that I will probably not know what I need until I try something.

My current fitness level is so poor that I really can't tell what gearing I would ultimately like to have or need. I feel pretty capable of making it up most smaller hills, but of course here are some where I still have to get off and walk up. I don't really intend on climbing mountains and just feel like I'd like to have another gear or two to go to sometimes. I think I'll put the 12-30 cassette on the back and see how that works. That gearing would give me a 23% increase at the bottom end.

donalson

the real tell-tale is your cadence... if you are dropping below your optimal cadence because it's too difficult to spin the cranks then you could prob use a lower gear...

IBOHUNT

^ This.
Being old I have dodgey knee's to start with. They don't like slow grind it out climbs so normally it was a 32 cassette (28") since I could encounter CAT2 and CAT3 climbs within 4 miles of the house.
When I was larger and knew I would be doing a 'hilly' ride, defined as 101-125'/mile gain, you wouldn't had to take a second look to see a SRAM X9 RD and a 36 tooth cassette (25") on the back coupled with the compact front 34/50. I've found that even a 3 lb difference can feel like a lot when I start seeing >10% climbs.

Today's gearing is a 36/52 in the front and either a 12-25 or 11-28 rear. (34" or 38"). That seems to suit my cadence and keeps me towards the middle of the cassette the majority of the time

The moral of the story is that usually, as you improve fitness, get your cadence up and drop weight - you can usually drop the number of teeth on the cassette.

This may help:

https://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

big chainring 

I'm a flatlander. My gearing is 45/52 with a 14-22 5 speed freewheel. I'm guessing my low gear is 50 some inches.

InOmaha

Road bike 38/52 14-28 so 37. Hybrid geared mountain bike 28/38/48 11-30 so 26. Mountain bike 24/34/42 14-34 so 19. With the last one you had better be ready to spin if you don't want to fall over.

brianogilvie 

Me too. Modern flexible chains don't lose much energy even at a big angle. I've got my All Road set up with a 44/28 double and a 13-30 9-speed cassette. On pavement, I use it as a 1x9 most of the time, with the little ring reserved for steep or really long hills. On dirt, I can do much of my riding on the little ring, since around here dirt usually means climbing.

Bill Kapaun

I pretty much use mine as a 1X9 around town.
I'll go to the larger ring (only 4T more) if I get out of the city where I don't have a stop light/sign every 6 blocks or so.
With my emphysema, I can't spin my highest gear (36-12) without a bit of a tail wind.
Out on the "road", I'll use the biggest ring to give me a bit better chain line and basically, put wear on the seldom used big ring instead of the mostly used middle ring. Even then, with a bit of a head wind or fatigue, it's middle ring.
My big ring only gives me about 1.5 higher gears than the middle. IF I get in a situation where I'm maxed out gear wise, I'll just be smiling and enjoy the rare experience.

clarkbre

Gearing for my bikes is as follows:

Surly Pacer: 52/42/30 with a 13/26 8 speed cassette & 700x25c tires. Low gear is 30.53"

Giant Innova Hybrid: 42/34/24 with a 12/21 7 speed cassette & 700x28c tires. Low gear is 30.51"

MattFoley

Road bike is 50/34 with an Ultegra 11-28 out back. I rarely use my 26 or 28 cogs locally, but I like having the 28 for the days I'm out in the mountains or centuries with long climbs. My commuter has a triple with a 48/39/30 up front and an 11-28 cassette. About the only time I use the 30t ring is when I'm pulling the dog trailer up steep hills or hitting the steeper hills (12-15%) after work with my double panniers fully loaded.

Sixty Fiver

One of my gripes with bike manufacturers is that too many bikes are equipped with gear ranges that are better suited to competitive riders.

Pros can run a 50-120 plus gear range while recreational riders who are in good shape might get by with a 40 - x range if the terrain is not too hilly but most folks really appreciate having a bailout gearing that is 30 or less and will never need gearing higher than 100 gear inches.

The number of threads on how to lower the gearing on road bikes is overwhelming, manufacturers should just start offering bikes that come with wider range blocks and derailleurs that can handle this.

One of the most common upgrades I do at my shop and at the co-op is to expand and lower the stock ranges on bikes (old and new) since most people are not racing and benefit greatly from a range that is at the lower end.

The set up I use for my XC mountain bike and touring bikes runs 20-110 which is pretty much all the range you need to pull stumps or go really stinking fast and you can do this with a compact triple and a fairly tight rear block.

Bigbandito

That's good to know. Thanks. So do you think the 32.6 inches I'll get from going to the 12-30 on the back will be enough?

Sixty Fiver

This all depends on you... I am a whippet with a bad leg who can manage a 30-40 gear inch low on a light bike but if I am loaded up I like lower gearing so I can keep spinning at a fairly high cadence.

Bigbandito

Well I'm more of circus bear, but I'm gonna try it.

cyccommute 

Exactly! But things aren't getting any better. With Shimano going to the Dynasys system, they have made getting really low gears for road bikes almost impossible. Shimano offers an 11-36 10 speed cassette but you can't use it on a road system because you can't shift it with current derailers.

I've never understood the mentality of the bicycle companies. They offer stuff for young strong riders who don't have 2 nickels to rub together and completely ignore the old weak riders who have all the money.

I ride, proudly by the way, bikes that have 20/34 gear combinations. That's around 15 gear inches on mountain bikes and road bikes

chrism32205

I'd trade a lower gear range any day. I don't find myself going 25+ mph riding solo all that much.

Bill Kapaun

One of my pet peeves is the "generic" 11-32 they seem to put on most 8 speed bikes.
With a 32T "1st" gear, new users will tend to only use the big ring unless doing a hill forces them to a smaller ring. Many probably never use 7 & 8!
48:32 is a pretty good take off gear. I think something like 13-25 would make so much more sense. 38:25 is a good take off gear too!

pdlamb

Depends on your strength and terrain. My bikes have low gears of 21-19", and I've used low gears on all of them. I live within two miles of at least four grades of 10% or more.

Sixty Fiver

Many people do not grok the concept of multiple front chainwheels. This is evident when I service bicycles and see that the bike has never been shifted off the front and has one badly worn chainwheel and one or two fresh ones.

The cassettes and freewheels often show a similar pattern of wear.

donalson

no surprise... I've had to teach a number of poeople who have been riding for a while how to use their gears even just a little. On the last group ride I went on it was for the beginners, it was my first ride with this group so I rode with them, the leader of the ride went over all the basic safety things and about 1/2 way though the ride we stopped before a bridge (only real climb of the ride) and told everyone to shift to the small ring in their crank, some people he had to help.

people just don't understand gearing, they don't shift their own car so why would they shift their bike?

cyclist2000

lowest gear on my touring bike is 21 gear inches, road bike with compact crank is 30, my road bike with a triple is 31 GI

PartsMan

One bike has a 30 and 25. The other is a single speed with 38 and 16.
I catch myself using my small chainring on hills I can take on the single speed easy enough.

Tandem427

My Rans F5 has a 52/39/26 paired with an 11-34 so that works out to a 20.1-124.2 range and I use all of it on the average ride here. (4 to 40 mph)

Bigfoot has a 32/20 and an Alfine 11 with a 23 cog. The Alfine 11 has a huge gap between 1st and 2nd gear, so 2nd is my practical low gear with 1st as a super bailout gear. Gear inches for the first three gears are 13.3, 17.3, and 19.5 gear inches. If I loose power and grind to a halt on a steep hill I can downshift to 1st and start up again, no problem. When I downshift to 1st too early on a hill I wind up over-spinning my legs like a hamster in a cage. I could probably use it for pulling stumps if I could get enough traction.

I think my trike has a low of around 16 gear inches. It has a 3x7 cassette so 63 gears total. I had no problems climbing up Mt Evans with it.

I never calculated the gear inches for my Screamer tandem but it also has low gears. It has 84 speeds using the same 3x7 cassette with 4 chain rings and a Rohloff intermediate hub with independent coasting and a 2 to 1 gear ratio. I hope I explained that right.