I’ve never been able to decide if choices are a gift or a curse; a lack of choices introduces simplicity but also with it the risk that the simple choices do not meet the demands of a complex world. An abundance of similar choices, on the other hand, often reduces the impact of getting things a little bit wrong, but also decreases the thoughtfulness in decision making. Finally, having many divergent choices mostly just leads to a lot of planning and ultimately indecision, assuming my experience in Corporate America is anything to go by.
These days, we tend to ride bicycles with 10 or 11 speed clusters made up of sprockets that are closely matched to their neighbors. This development removes the rider somewhat from the art of gear selection, a fact carried further by bar-mounted shifters; as gradients increase and decrease, we glide from gear to gear maintaining our cadence with hardly any consideration given to the ratios hard at work for us. It is a beautiful freedom to ride like this, but it is also another degree of separation between rider and machine.
I recently read an interview with Sean Kelly, who was discussing his defeat at the hands of Greg Lemond during the 1989 World Championship Road Race. With only seven sprockets at his disposal over a route slightly too hilly for a rider of his ilk, he was faced with a difficult choice: spare the legs on the climb with a 25T at the bottom end, or hamper his sprint with a 13T at the top end.
Kelly faced a tough decision: mount a gear that would carry him over the climb to contend the finale with the handicap of a 13T, or overload the cannons on too big a gear for the climb and never have the chance to go for the win in the first place. He deliberated over the decision while training on the course and finally decided for the low gear. Kelly made it over the climbs to contest the sprint, but his 53×13 was hopelessly outmatched by LeMan’s monster 54×12.
More recently, the Cycling world was aflutter about Tony Martin’s choice to ride a 58T front chain ring during a time trail. This wasn’t a display of bravado but rather a highly refined choice of chain line: knowing the speeds he wanted to ride, he chose his big ring in such a size that would provide the straightest chain line in the gear he’d be riding in during the majority of the race. The result was less friction, and a Tour de France stage win under his belt.
There is an art to gear and cluster choice that is nearly lost with today’s expanding sprocket ranges, but it remains within our grasp if only we are willing to seek it out. Don’t settle for knowing the maximum and minimum size gears in your block; know exactly which gears you have across the board, and understand what sizes you’ll be missing and gaining when switching between 11-23, 12-25 and 13-26 – there is more to it than just taking one off one end and slapping it on the other.
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@frank
{Bows in gratitude} Only because I have stood upon the shoulders of giants.
@frank
Before I found my way...I actually bought a bike with a compact on it. The shame is that I didn't even know what a compact crankset was. My goodness, was I green. A few years on and my legs have still never, ever gotten along with it. I still feel as if I'm always in the wrong gear. I'm going to swap it out next time the Budgetatus is overflowing, which could be by the end of this month.
It's as easy as riding a bike...
This is one of those discussions that highlights the silliness of that statement. When you ride daily and head out solo for long distances, you begin to think deeply about small things, like the number of teeth on the chainwheels you are turning around and around.
The very minor things are amplified into larger importance and if you want to push, and enjoy yourself, you need the proper tools for the job. Cassettes are key!
Great post and a good one for filling the comments while the racing is still light on the schedule and the weather too shitty for a lot of outside riding.
I ride 11-23 on Bikes 1,2,3 and 12-25 on $3 and the Graveur. 36 inside rings on all. Will I go the Spinal Tap option and go to 11? I doubt it - too expensive an unnecessary. I can handle anything with what I have. I'm sure 11 will become 12 in good time thus rendering 10s old school and cheaper. Isn't it amazing how much cheaper 8 and 9 speed stuff is compared to 10 and 11?
Of course, I'm an old fart who rode 12 -18 straight through blocks in the 80s when you could simply replace whatever sprocket you used the most individually instead of the whole friggin cassette. That's a pure scam right there. Let's face it, most of us probably ride in the same 2 or 3 sprockets. It would be nice to be able to buy them individually.
@wiscot what, 2 world tour races happening simultaneously isn't enough for you?
@ChrisO
I upgraded to 5-speed with Campagnolo Grand Sport derailleur in the mid-1960s and I continue to ride contentedly with that, having always found I could cope with any terrain.
@Mikael Liddy
Have you seen the "highlights" of the Tour of San Luis so far? Flat, flat, flat and . . . . more flat. Weather? Sunny, sunny and sunny. Not enough to get me too worked up yet. Mind you, it was good to see Cadel giving it some welly and scoring the win Down Under. Capped, of course, by another magnificently understated salute. Tommeke was wearing a proper cycling cap on the San Luis podium so that was a highlight too.
I want to see shitty weather, bad roads, the whole of the classics season. Races that 95% of the peloton are using for training just don't get my juices going.
@sowtondevil
Please tell me you have taken advantage of some modern developments and you're not still riding wool shorts with real chamois? All leather shoes?
@936adl
Not exactly like your fixie, but when I ride my TSX with DT shifters, I find myself just motoring along in the same gear and let my cadence fluctuate for the simple reason that shifting is harder - this is especially true climbing and climbing out of the saddle.
I find the same with riding pavé, gravel, or CX; cadence just washes into the background and you get the job done in whatever gear you're in.
We get spoiled by having such wide ranges of closely matched gears, its good to remind yourself that you can ride outside your normal cadence comfort zone.
Also, hashtags are as repellant as emoticons, FYI.
I rode all last year with a 53/39 and 11-23. I am up to an 11-26 this year but will see how that fairs on the hills.