Closer ratios vs easier spinning?

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Comments

  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    Unless your big ring is a 48, 50/11 is too big, there are more useful sprockets to have.
  • timothyw
    timothyw Posts: 2,482
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    Unless your big ring is a 48, 50/11 is too big, there are more useful sprockets to have.
    For you, maybe.

    Some of us want to be able to sprint at high speed without spinning ourselves out.

    Some of us like to pedal while descending using our natural cadence.

    I still find use for 50x11, and even 53x11. I miss it when it isn't there.

    As an added bonus, having it there gives me a better chainline on the 13-14-15 gears which undeniably get used more.

    Perhaps you should have a word with SRAM who have produced 10-x cassettes for MTB use.... :lol:
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    TimothyW wrote:
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    Unless your big ring is a 48, 50/11 is too big, there are more useful sprockets to have.
    For you, maybe.

    Some of us want to be able to sprint at high speed without spinning ourselves out.

    Some of us like to pedal while descending using our natural cadence.

    I still find use for 50x11, and even 53x11. I miss it when it isn't there.

    As an added bonus, having it there gives me a better chainline on the 13-14-15 gears which undeniably get used more.

    Perhaps you should have a word with SRAM who have produced 10-x cassettes for MTB use.... :lol:

    There is no way you are 'spinning out' in the 11 sprocket.
  • timothyw
    timothyw Posts: 2,482
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    TimothyW wrote:
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    Unless your big ring is a 48, 50/11 is too big, there are more useful sprockets to have.
    For you, maybe.

    Some of us want to be able to sprint at high speed without spinning ourselves out.

    Some of us like to pedal while descending using our natural cadence.

    I still find use for 50x11, and even 53x11. I miss it when it isn't there.

    As an added bonus, having it there gives me a better chainline on the 13-14-15 gears which undeniably get used more.

    Perhaps you should have a word with SRAM who have produced 10-x cassettes for MTB use.... :lol:

    There is no way you are 'spinning out' in the 11 sprocket.

    That would be the point. I don't spin out with an 11.

    With the 12, I found I'd run out of gears for the village sign sprint...

    Yes, I am aware that Merckx didn't need such a big gear to sprint. He was also a much much much better cyclist than me.
  • yiannism
    yiannism Posts: 345
    I will take more spokes over closer gears any time. For me is way more important to be able to climb without destroy my knees than have smother shifting. Hell on my MTB the range is even more wide and there is no problem at all
  • bernithebiker
    bernithebiker Posts: 4,148
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    MozBiker wrote:
    On my first bike I had a 52-36 up front and 11-32 on the back.

    Now I ride a 53-39 up front and 11-26 on the back.

    I definitely prefer my latter set of gears. It suits my riding style more. I can climb at 80-90 rpm up any gradient up to around 9%. More than 10% I usually climb out of the saddle.

    The small gaps between the lower end gears are very nice. Especially for the mostly flat terrain I have. And a plus is that I can fine tune my gears for sprinting in a wide variety of conditions.

    My gears are 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-26

    I love it. Although there was once an occasion where I wish I had a 28 or a 32. But just need to train more I guess

    I assume based on your thread in amateur race that you are pretty quick, but 36:26 at 80rpm is 15.1kmh, which on a 9% grade would be 4.5 w/kg or more (http://bikecalculator.com/).

    I suggest that most of us mere mortals cannot sustain 4.5 w/kg for too long!

    That was my immediate thought too.

    If you can spin at 90rpm up a 9% slope on a 39-26, you are f*^ing quick. (17km/h)

    Last year's Etape did the Col de Joux Plane; 11.5km at 8.5%.

    I did it at 13.3km/h and came 214th overall. I don't remember anyone going past me at 17km/h!!
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    bernithebiker wrote:
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    MozBiker wrote:
    On my first bike I had a 52-36 up front and 11-32 on the back.

    Now I ride a 53-39 up front and 11-26 on the back.

    I definitely prefer my latter set of gears. It suits my riding style more. I can climb at 80-90 rpm up any gradient up to around 9%. More than 10% I usually climb out of the saddle.

    The small gaps between the lower end gears are very nice. Especially for the mostly flat terrain I have. And a plus is that I can fine tune my gears for sprinting in a wide variety of conditions.

    My gears are 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-26

    I love it. Although there was once an occasion where I wish I had a 28 or a 32. But just need to train more I guess

    I assume based on your thread in amateur race that you are pretty quick, but 36:26 at 80rpm is 15.1kmh, which on a 9% grade would be 4.5 w/kg or more (http://bikecalculator.com/).

    I suggest that most of us mere mortals cannot sustain 4.5 w/kg for too long!

    That was my immediate thought too.

    If you can spin at 90rpm up a 9% slope on a 39-26, you are f*^ing quick. (17km/h)

    Last year's Etape did the Col de Joux Plane; 11.5km at 8.5%.

    I did it at 13.3km/h and came 214th overall. I don't remember anyone going past me at 17km/h!!

    Wiggins did it at around 19km/hr (35 mins irrc) so would have beaten MozBiker by a good five minutes.
    Faster than a tent.......

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