Originally Posted by
Badgerjockey
All good points raised, thank you!
I'm beginning to re-think the need for a higher top end for flats and descents now. Perhaps 80" really isn't enough. Although, looking some Strava data of a recent tour I was rarely over 20mph...
Anyone have any knowledge of whether the top and bottom gear combinations would be noisier or particularly friction-y?
I mentioned above that I sometimes wished I had higher gearing on my Rohoff bike. That has a high gear of 85.1 gear inches and on shallow downhills I often spin out. While that might be a very small percentage of the total riding I do, it still is noticeable.
One of my derailleur touring bikes, the top two gears are 115.5 and 105.9 gear
inches, the other bike the top two are 106.8 and 97.9 gear inches. Rarely used, but nice to have. I think over 100 is unnecessary, but nice. I think a top gear in the 95 to 100 gear inch range would be adequate for me.
Keep in mind some people are spinners and some are more like a diesel engine, low revs and a lot of torque. So, the gear inch range that would keep one person happy might not be so good to the next person.
Noise wise, when my drive train is noisy, I use chain lube. So, I doubt that the highest or lowest would be noisy. People have researched drive train friction when cross chained, I do not have any links handy at this time but I have seen such research.