13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. That's a corncob Popeye would make a pipe of.
Disc brakes and 1x drivetrains. These are the sort of things that belong on mountainbikes, are questionable on cross bikes, and should make an immediate trip to the rubbish bin when it comes to road bikes. Change for the sake of change; gimmickry masquerading as innovation. And to make matters worse, the appearance of 11-speed blocks has killed the last vestige of the complexity of our sport: block composition and size.
The question of gear choice was once one of the most critical decisions a Cyclist could make when tackling a course. In The Rider, Tim Krabé describes his gear choice and those of his competitors; throughout the book, he fixates upon which gear he is riding in. José Manuel Fuente used to use higher gears that the other climbers to intimidate them. Andy Hampsten famously rode only odd-numbered gears because obviously even-sized gears made his palms go sweaty.
Sean Kelly belabored his choice to use a 13-25 block versus a 12-23 for the 1989 World Championship Road Race. He knew he couldn’t climb as well as the other favorites and wanted a 25 to save his legs over the final climb. If, however, he managed to get over the hill, he would surely need the 12 in order to win the sprint. It was a classic catch-22; use a block that he could win the sprint with but get dropped on the climb, or get over the hill and lose the sprint. The race lay in the balance of a single tooth on a cog.
We used to build our blocks, not buy a complete cassette on ebay. The idea was to keep the gears as close together as possible with a straight block being the holy grail and the relative smallness of the biggest gear being a declaration of your status as Hardman. Every tooth beyond a 1 tooth jump was a sacrifice; every step beyond a 21 or 23 tooth cog was a silent admission of your sissiness as a Cyclist. The Pros today are riding 11-28 blocks on every kind of terrain, every day. Even at Paris-Roubaix, one of the only races flat enough to still require little more than a 19 even for us mortals.
Committing to nothing lower than a 19-tooth gear requires a suitcase of courage, poor planning, or both. And it looks tough as nails, that tight cluster of gears at the back wheel. Not like these big dinner plates we see riding around all over the place these days. You could serve a nice helping of Steak Frites on some of these modern blocks. Disgraceful. And while I’m not building my blocks anymore, I’m certainly still choosing a cassette for the terrain and plan to continue doing so until I’m pushing up daisies, thank you very much.
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50-34, 11-28 gets me up anything in Europe, very slowly . I'm old, I fucking live it and love it
@The Engine
Either depending on your religion, or the Flappy Paddle if it takes you that way.
I ride up a hill every other day that this old and fat (4 bikes over ideal climbing weight) guy still needs the 30 in front and 28 in back, so when I can do that with the 39 middle and 28 rear, I'll go n+1 and comply with rule 47.
A guy has to have goals.
Anyone know a source of the cable outer as in the lead photo?
@Teocalli
The 1970s?
@Oli
Ha Ha. Just nipped back to Boulder Cycles and they had one - bit of a long way away but bought from them before. Then remembered Campy Old a bit nearer home and they had another. Moral - engage brain before being lazy. Though to be fair I did try searching and did not come up with anything till I found the correct name for it on the Boulder Cycles site.
I'm out of my depth here technically but have this observation. I ride compact and 12-25 largely because it's hellish hilly in Devon. I once read an article on new tech where Sean Kelly stated that "the 11 sprocket was not realistic for the majority of riders, how many riders can really get that round?"
@DeKerr
most of the hills we ride average 7-10% around the 2km length, with plenty of corners, the V fact of improved performance and handling is just a no-brainer for me, I know my descending will improve, in fact I think the best times on the thing we cannot name will all improve as disc braking becomes the norm.
Being of a certain vintage and lacking the right dimensions for galloping up hills on a 56x11 I have progressed from the compact chainring and 11x28 to mid compact and 12x30. It's a setup suited to a wide range of riding from fast bunch rides to a long day in the hills. There's no need to change drivetrains all the time, just grab the bike and go. Purists may scoff at this approach but the pragmatists are all nodding sagely, they know it makes sense.
1. Just don't take away my 16 and I don't care about the rest.
B. Time trial gearing: 17-14-11. 17 for the start house, stand up, get on top, sit down, shift to 14. Stand up, get on top, sit down, shift to 11. Stand up get on top, sit down, continue. Before turnaround, shift to 17. Make the turn. Repeat as at start, until finish.