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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A-merckx. I rode a buddy's fat bike with a 1x11 drivetrain last weekend before a relaxing 4 hour ride. I don't know which I was more self conscious about being seen with, the dinner plate that was the smallest cog, or the fact that it was a fat bike.
Years ago, my LBS had a Suntour board full of cogs that you'd buy a body or two and build your block to liking - 6 cog block. Always the 13-18 and my favourite, the Alpine Cluster. 13-14-16-18-19-21, small ring was a 42.
Still have enough cogs and spacers in the old toolbox to build a couple of Suntour blocks.
Looking forward to spinning this up one day!
Yep, Letraset your own wheels!
11 speed 11-23, straight 11-19, + 21 and 23, comes with the mystical 18, and bring on disc brakes as well, they will improve road riding to the same degree as mountain biking. ( broken 2 dura-ace blocks so far).
I think a road bike looks better with a corncob cassette and short cage derailleur. But to lessen the 'difficulty' of the high gearing, I make use of a triple up front.
@sthilzy
I had the full Suntour Freewheel chart on the wall. I believe there were four different 16t cogs. The 16t and 15t cogs were always the center of any build. I swear to God, the weight of a complete FW was more than some frames these days. The front chainrings were always 53/42, although I did hear about some pussies from CO using 39t, back in the day. There was so much planning before race day. In addition, being a good shifter was such a huge tactical advantage in racing.
Yes, and yes! I am not aware of a straight block in 11 speed. 10, sure but 11?
So, I mourn the 18...
SRAM don't even make an 11speed with an 18 in it so I am forced to put a shimano cassette on (which isn't a big deal except I prefer to keep it all within the same OEM). They make a very lovely 12-25 11 speed which is defacto on all my 11 speed wheels.
12-25 gives single tooth steps through to 19, leaving 21, 23, 25 as the only doubles. I do have to spin at times in races when an 11 would be nice but it's a small price to pay, swapping the 11 for 18.
No, it's not flat around here. Sure, there is quite a bit of flat (no compacts on my bikes) but when the road goes up it goes up in grades with double figures. I like to think of it as strength endurance efforts.
@piwakawaka
In the name of decency - can we just agree that disc brakes look shit and have no place on road bikes?
@Resty
A triple!? How do you sleep at night man!
I ride a 10 speed and on my 50mm aero wheels I run 11-25 while my light wheels have 12-28