Originally Posted by
DaveSSS
Half step was relevant in the day of 6 speed freewheels, but totally unnecessary these days. An 11 or 12 speed cassette has all the small steps you'll ever need.
Ummmm.... I'm a 60+ yr-old Luddite that STILL rides 6-speed rear freewheels on ALL of my 30+yr-old C&V road-ridden bikes. Oh, and three out of four are still 27" wheels vs 700c. My two 'touring' bikes both have triple cranksets. BUT, here along the glacial-scoured/ flattened lower Great Lakes (South Coast of Lake Erie), we don't have a lot of hills, so the biggest 'hills' I see are freeway or railroad overpasses. My 12.5-mile commute is only 140' downhill to work. 12 feet of elevation change in a mile is flat in my book! Here I seldom need any gearing above or below 75-90 Inch-Gears to be in my natural-cadence comfort zone.. As such I can get by with narrow-range six-speed 13-21 freewheels and a chainring of 38-42t on my commuters works. The 'tourers' get 13- or 14t-to 26/28/30.or even 32t freewheels to go with 24/36/46 or 28/38/48 cranksets depending on the terrain expected. No -- I'm NOT climbing the Appalachians or Rockies...