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.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Think it's already been mentioned in passing, but the other interesting thing is that the space that the cassette's take up hasn't changed much. Meaning that to fit more cogs in there, everything needs to be thinner, including the margin for error when it comes to set up.
It's taken 4 months & 3 separate mechanics (not to mention my own ham fisted attempts) to get the 11sp Dura Ace on The Redback to an acceptable level of accordance with the Principle of Silence...then some fuckwit at work hits the RD as they're lifting their own bike off the rack alongside and we're back at the start again!
Hmmm, caption disappeared, but moving to the far right hanger should solve that issue...
I miss this, more than I can explain using "logic."
It occurs to me that with a 2 speed gap in teeth you could have 10 speed 11-27 or 12-28 in a straight formation. The gaps might make it tricky to get cadence however.
When it gets to 12 speed, you could have a 12-24. Now that would be very usable!
I run compact (came with the bike), originally with 12-28. Noticed I was spinning out compared to buddies on the downhills, so went to 11-25. Much happier. Hill gearing is the same as 39x28 anyways.
I believe there are some 1x cassettes that have a 10 tooth. They might make you guys spew, but from an engineering standpoint the machining on those cassettes if fucking gorgeous. They are art! But cost the same as an entire crankset...
@chris
Ok, I'm a little anal about cleaning my wheels, drivetrain, chain etc. But how the heck do you get a bike that clean!?
I am of course giving you the credit of assuming that's not a photo from when the bike was brand new...
@gilly
Yes, but he was probably running at least a 53/42 up front.
@RobSandy
Oddly enough, cleaning the cassette is one of my favorite bits of Bike maintenance. Shiny bits and all that. I just pull it apart and wipe it down with a rag and some Simple Green. The wheels, though, will never be that clean. I had just bought those off a mate and don't know how he cleaned them so well, but I don't have the patience to polish each spoke head with a q-tip.
wiscot - Colors! Road bikes = black/white, Italian red, silver, and pearl white. Cross is white with a bit of black. Track is full "chrome." Mtn. is blue. Commuter is candy apple red. SS commuter is blue. SS rain bike commuter is purple, my favorite color. I think I'm doin' alright.
2nd puncture this week. I should have known that was coming. First was due to a burred valve hole on a new wheelset, erupted at home after putting it to the proper PSI. This morning I woke up to ride my Casati to work. Rear tube was flat. (I'd ridden it yesterday as well).
All I'm asking is that the drunks who sit beside the MUP don't break their 40s ON the trail. Drink all day, piss on the trail, thrown garbage all over, screw in the woods (yes, I've seen this), deliver contact buzzes as I pass, just throw your bottles into the woods or parking lot, NOT directly on the trail.
@Ron
#1 black/carbon weave. #2 black/carbon weave. #3 white and black with blue detailing. #4 white with black fork. Graveur = black. MTN bike (rarely used) carbon weave/silver.
Doing ok on punctures this year - 2 I think.
Biggest issue on the trail I ride on is folks with dogs off the leash. Bevvy-merchants thankfully rare.
@Matt
It is a good idea to floss each internal link on a chainset, and for awhile started pushing Q tips thru — each link twice.