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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@Teocalli
I worked this out, it's why I wouldn't change the block if/when I change the chainrings.
It's just maths, man.
If I went from 11-25 or 11-28 on a compact to a 12-25 on a mid compact or standard, I'd lose loads of gears.
@piwakawaka
Yep, I'll go with that before I move to electronic gears. I'd rather be ugly than wrong.
Let the current first generation go through, see what evolves and buy in 2017 when it becomes standard.
As for their uses, I suspect that it won't be the people going fast on descents who have most cause to bless them. It will be the people who currently sit on their brakes and wear their rims.
Whenever any of the bigger groups from Dubai goes to do a ride in the mountains you can be sure there will be a good selection who will blow on the way down. We're talking about curves even I can take at 70km/h with some light braking, if at all. They will heat those discs to atmospheric re-entry temperatures.
@ChrisO
Replace the sound of exploding tyres with exploding hydraulics as the oil boils?
@Teocalli
Off topic, but I once accidentally pressed my leg against a rotor after a long mtn bike descent in the Alps. Perfect crescent shaped brand on my shin.
Wimps! Rule #5 should imply fixed wheel training with a 42x17 off season and a straight block unless you have alpine climbs nearby!
Okay, "wimps" is a bit harsh . . .
The mech/hydraulic shimano levers are friggen bull horns on the front of a bike and weigh a ton. You want hydraulic disc brakes? Then you want little electronic buttons and junction boxes in your levers, not mech shifters I promise ya that.
Fab stuff. I rode the seven speed 12 straight-through in the 80s. What was sweet that as you tended to ride a couple of cogs more than others, you could simply buy a replacement cog. Now you have to buy the whole damn cassette. I used to know guys who had the gear/inches ratios down pat.
One thing that's not mentioned here is that unless you had some esoteric chainset, the smallest chainring was a 42. Try getting up something steep in a 42-18 compared to the life o'reilly we have today. I currently ride 36-50 up front and 11-23 at the back. Gets me where I need to go and the 23 is rarely used.
@piwakawaka
Breaking at the rim or braking? lol
@piwakawaka
*hub, I meant to say...