Originally Posted by
Duragrouch
I am familiar with the area. A regular "road" bike with a double crankset is not low enough gearing, especially with someone just starting out. You want low enough to be able to "spin" up the hill while sitting, without pushing too hard that will hurt your knees. (As you get more in shape, you may be able to stand on the pedals and climb in a higher gear, but it's always nice to have sufficient low if you need it.) You want either a traditional mountain bike or touring bike with a triple crankset, or more modern with a "wide-range" double, or a newer bike with a single (1X, "one-by") gearing. You want a low gear near 20 gear inches, and a high gear at least 85 gear inches, that will be adequate but higher is fine for that. Look up Sheldon Brown Gear Calc and you will find a utility for entering tire size and gearing to output gear-inch range. (You'll need to change setting from "gain ratios" to "gear inches", look for that.)
I ended up with a 1x9 that is 34t X 11-42 as someone who doesnt know any better, it seems to get the job done. The 34x42 has a lot of spin to it and i actually dont seem to need it much for my particular commute. The one place i really really do need it is my last hill on the way home, it is very steep but at my current skill level i cant keep my legs spinning at that pace for that long and have to walk some of it still. Ill check out that calculator and do some research. My current drivetrain is some off brand "sram compatible" thing so I plan on changing it out eventually. Hopefully by then I will have a good idea of what i need.