Oh boy, I'm building up my latest project with 10sp Chorus, and I'm planning on using 10sp Veloce/Centaur (Powershift FTW) for the one after that...
Currently have one 7sp Synchro equipped bike, one 8sp Synchro, one 8sp Ergopower, one 10sp Powershift, two 11sp Ultrashift.
All of that said, if they reduce the offerings to just the "Record" chains and one level of cassette (which seems to be the case for 9sp), I don't think I'll lose any sleep. That stuff seems very reasonably priced and good quality.
Originally Posted by
zacster
I have a 50/34 and a 13-26 and it is all I need for where I ride. I almost never go on the small ring and don't have any qualms about cross chaining to the 50/26 combo when I go up the small hills here in NYC. In San Francisco when I rented a bike with 50/34 and 11-34 I used the 34/34 a LOT. I kind of wimped out on the hills there, but there is no place to train for that here in NY.
I hardly ever use the 50/13 combo but again this is a NYC thing. How fast do you think you can go here and still feel safe? I get to the bottom of hills mostly by coasting and there is one place where I can crank it out once there, but that's about it. I'm 65, how hard can I push it anyway?
A couple of places that come to mind where you can really try to crank out a bit:
- The 1st avenue tunnel under the UN. You have to ride in a regular traffic lane, but the speed limit is 25mph and there is a famous speed trap at the exit of the tunnel, so most drivers stick right to 25mph. Gives you great motivation to try and pass the cars, and the entrance is downhill slightly so you don't have to do as much work to build speed.
- A section of Vernon Blvd between LIC and Astoria (just North and South of the bridge to Roosevelt Island) is pretty good. There isn't any cross street traffic, so you can hammer along in the bike line (or in the regular traffic lanes) pretty well uninterrupted for a while, with good visibility and margins for safety.