Is 8 (16) gears enough for a road bike?

bungle73

I'm looking at buying my first road bike, and for the cheapest option the one I'm looking at comes with the (part) Claris groupset with 16 gears. The next up is the Sora with 18, and then the Tiagra with 20.

Considering I could save quite a bit of money by choosing the cheapest option, would 16 be enough?

Bearing in mind that I'm coming from an MTB that has more gears than you can shake a stick at (24).

Thanks.

fenix

Well we used to manage with 5, 6, 7 in the dim and distant past.

16 is fine - but have you thought about second hand ?

bungle73

Fenix wrote:

Well we used to manage with 5, 6, 7 in the dim and distant past.

16 is fine - but have you thought about second hand ?

Not really, but I guess that's another option.

singleton

16 should be fine - as long as they are thr right 16 for you and for where you ride.

bungle73

Singleton wrote:

16 should be fine - as long as they are thr right 16 for you and for where you ride.

It's 11-28 and 50/34. I live in Kent so mainly undulating terrain.

nuclearred955

Bungle73 wrote:

It's 11-28 and 50/34. I live in Kent so mainly undulating terrain.

There might be some big-ish gaps but that's a decent spread.

That said, when I lived in Kent I rode 52-42 & 14-24. 6-speed block, obviously...

bungle73

Thanks.

hsiaolc

I ride on the big ring all the time. That gives me 11 which means you have 8.

Going downhill I can go up to 10 and 9 easily which means you probably need bigger spacing between the back but that means bigger gap.

Semantik

hsiaolc wrote:

I ride on the big ring all the time. That gives me 11 which means you have 8.

Going downhill I can go up to 10 and 9 easily which means you probably need bigger spacing between the back but that means bigger gap.

What on earth does this mean?

cougie

I think it means he can't use gears properly.

Hsi don't use big ring and big sprocket - you're bending the chain too much you'd like have a better gear on the small ring and a smaller sprocket.

germcevoy

Another option is to go for a triple up front. This means you can run a tighter sproclet at the rear to take out some of the big gaps you wind in a wide range 8 speed cassette but still have the back out of the granny ring up front when things go vertical.

hsiaolc

cougie wrote:

I think it means he can't use gears properly.

Hsi don't use big ring and big sprocket - you're bending the chain too much you'd like have a better gear on the small ring and a smaller sprocket.

My back is 11-23 and I start with 19 and on down hill I will be on big cog and the back at 12. Normally I am on 19 and keep on around 17&18 at the back together with big cog. So I will run out of gear if I had only 8 gears but I can live with 10.

My chain wear is a lot less than my colleagues who uses small cog all the time.

hsiaolc

Semantik wrote:

hsiaolc wrote:

I ride on the big ring all the time. That gives me 11 which means you have 8.

Going downhill I can go up to 10 and 9 easily which means you probably need bigger spacing between the back but that means bigger gap.

What on earth does this mean?

Means no I don't believe 8 gears is enough once he gets up to speed and fitness.

Mad_Malx

50-11 at a top gear is plenty for 95% of riders. For high speeds the number of gears is irrelevant.

cougie

Hsi worry less about chain wear and more about knee wear....

DeVlaeminck

hsiaolc wrote:

cougie wrote:

I think it means he can't use gears properly.

Hsi don't use big ring and big sprocket - you're bending the chain too much you'd like have a better gear on the small ring and a smaller sprocket.

My back is 11-23 and I start with 19 and on down hill I will be on big cog and the back at 12. Normally I am on 19 and keep on around 17&18 at the back together with big cog. So I will run out of gear if I had only 8 gears but I can live with 10.

My chain wear is a lot less than my colleagues who uses small cog all the time.

I've got this image in my head of Hsi grinding away in the big ring all the time with his mate spinning like a hamster never getting out of the 39.

For the OP - 8 speed isn't a problem but personally - and this may be snobbery on my part - I do wonder about the quality of the lowest range groupsets.

roger_merriman

DeVlaeminck wrote:

hsiaolc wrote:

cougie wrote:

I think it means he can't use gears properly.

Hsi don't use big ring and big sprocket - you're bending the chain too much you'd like have a better gear on the small ring and a smaller sprocket.

My back is 11-23 and I start with 19 and on down hill I will be on big cog and the back at 12. Normally I am on 19 and keep on around 17&18 at the back together with big cog. So I will run out of gear if I had only 8 gears but I can live with 10.

My chain wear is a lot less than my colleagues who uses small cog all the time.

I've got this image in my head of Hsi grinding away in the big ring all the time with his mate spinning like a hamster never getting out of the 39.

For the OP - 8 speed isn't a problem but personally - and this may be snobbery on my part - I do wonder about the quality of the lowest range groupsets.

Should be fine as long as set up well, my cheap CX bike has 7speed Tourney shifters, it's a slightly clunky but mostly due to the gaps between the cogs. But it shifts quickly and smoothly, the hire bike in OZ with ULTEGRA was clunky due to being not quite in tune, the hire bike in Tenerife with 105 was nice and smooth, but no better than the Tourney stuff. Though the 7 speed has combined brake/shifter one way, button the other 8speed is the rest of the range. Though slightly more lumpen clunky looking hoods.

7-8 is steel all cassettes etc so wear should be fine, I don't get much out of the CX but I use fairly hard off road so the wear rate if fairly horrific but not much worse than the 9speed commute bike. 700 vs 1000 miles for chains

simon_masterson

If it gives you the ratios you want with gaps that are acceptable to you, yes. For me, on a TT bike, 12-19 is perfect. If you need to go down to 28, you will have some big gaps. These may annoy you.

iPete

In short yes.
If the price difference isn't huge the jump to a 10-speed setup is probably worth it should you stick with it.

Else a quick look at the Claris range and it's cheap as chips and they offer a 11-30 cassette, the range is there, it's the bits in-between that could irritate but coming from mtb, i'm sure it's all good!

bungle73

iPete wrote:

In short yes.
If the price difference isn't huge the jump to a 10-speed setup is probably worth it should you stick with it.

Else a quick look at the Claris range and it's cheap as chips and they offer a 11-30 cassette, the range is there, it's the bits in-between that could irritate but coming from mtb, i'm sure it's all good!

The price difference between the Claris (16 speed) and the Sora (18) is £50; and between Sora and the Tiagra (20) £70.

bungle73

They also have a 105 version for £80 more than that.

Incidentally, there were selling all of them at a discount at the beginning of the year (Sora for the price of Claris etc.), so I could wait until the end of the year to see if they do the same, and get a higher spec for a cheaper price. But that is sooo long to wait! LOL!

Giraffoto

Number of gears isn't as important as them being the right gears - and a 50/34 front with 11-28 rear is a pretty decent range for general purpose. Claris brakes, derailleurs and shifters are all pretty good too. They may not look quite as stylish as the higher range groupsets, but they're perfectly effective. In fact, given the way Shimano trickles down the technology, they're probably a slightly heavier version of eight-speed Dura Ace.

effillo

I had Claris on my first road bike, a CAAD8, was enough for me at the time. Shifts well and gearing spread was fine. I now run 11 speed 105, it is nicer with neater cabling, closer ratios and better feel on shift levers, but it should be for the big price jump. I've ridden with sora and tiagra and in all honesty Claris is more than a match for them, think it would only be worth the money to jump to 105 or Ultegra.

drlodge

NuclearRed955 wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

It's 11-28 and 50/34. I live in Kent so mainly undulating terrain.

There might be some big-ish gaps but that's a decent spread.

That said, when I lived in Kent I rode 52-42 & 14-24. 6-speed block, obviously...

You're such a pu$$y, when I were a lad I rode 52-42 and 13-18

To the OP - the only important gear is the bottom/low gear, it has to be low enough to get you up the steepest hill you're likely to encounter. The high gear doesn't really matter as you can freewheel downhill. Then its down to the spread of gears and whether you're willing to live with a bigger gap between gears compared to a 9/10/11 speed cassette.

So in short, yes, 16 gears is enough.

iPete

Bungle73 wrote:

They also have a 105 version for £80 more than that.

Incidentally, there were selling all of them at a discount at the beginning of the year (Sora for the price of Claris etc.), so I could wait until the end of the year to see if they do the same, and get a higher spec for a cheaper price. But that is sooo long to wait! LOL!

So on the same frame/wheelset the difference from Claris to 105 (5800 11 speed?) is £200, that's quite a jump.
If you were building the bike yourself you can get the 105 parts for under £300.

It's your money and I don't know how much you ride. Personally I'd go 105, it's more than most people will ever need so you'll (maybe) avoid any upgrade fever, closer ratios and the internal cabling on the handlbars is a nice touch (no idea if the new Claris, Tiagra, etc. has this, not looked). If none of the above matters, get the Claris.

bungle73

iPete wrote:

So on the same frame/wheelset the difference from Claris to 105 (5800 11 speed?) is £200, that's quite a jump.

Yes and no. It's the same 4600 10 speed as on the Tiagra. The bikes are not full groupsets; eg the cranksets are FSA and not Shimano.

If you were building the bike yourself you can get the 105 parts for under £300.

That's something to consider, but I think I'd prefer to buy a complete bike.

It's your money and I don't know how much you ride. Personally I'd go 105, it's more than most people will ever need so you'll (maybe) avoid any upgrade fever, closer ratios and the internal cabling on the handlbars is a nice touch (no idea if the new Claris, Tiagra, etc. has this, not looked). If none of the above matters, get the Claris.

Sounds like I might as well stick with the Claris then.

8 Speed is the same as I have on my MTB so I'm guessing the ratios would be similar to what I'm used to?

Thanks all.

JesseD

Go for Sora for an additional £50, it will give you a better spread of gears.

A guy at my club races on Sora and kicks my ar5e up every hill every time and doesn't seem to want for more gears, but by then he is usually too far ahead of me for me to hear him!

16 or 18 gears is fine, there maybe gaps in the gearing but for most scenarios they will be fine and you wont miss what you never had!

drlodge

I have a 7 speed cassette on my winter bike, 13-14-16-18-21-24-28 and 34-50 chainset. It gives the spread of gears I need, sometimes I could do with a gear "in between" but generally I have no issues.

bungle73

Thanks.

bungle73

I'll stick this on here instead of starting yet another thread. Would the Vision Team 30 wheelset be a worthwhile upgrade when I buy the bike (it's an option) - bearing in mind I won't be doing racing on it or anything like that. Or would I be better off sticking with the stock wheels and spending the money on a better groupset? I'm pretty sure I already know the answer.

bungle73

The upgrade price is £69.99 btw, which seems like quite a bargain considering their usual RRP.