Originally Posted by
Surubi
It depends on how you like to ride. If you are content to cruise along at seven mph and enjoy the scenery, the clouds and warm sun on your chest, then ten speeds are fine for you. If, however, you are like me and enjoy speed, feeling disappointed if I cover a route 0,1 mph slower than the last time then having the perfect gear to pedal at maximum efficiency is important.
Gearing is personal. And most people who are fussy about gearing and performance have usually taken the time to educate themselves about what their needs are. To a large extent, nobody else can tell you what your preferences and needs are, because as I said, gearing is personal.
Personally, I find on bents that I need a lower low and a higher high than my upright road bikes. The lowest low wants to be about 2/3rds the size of the lowest low on my uprights. The top gear on the bents wants to be 10% higher or so. I like a range from 20" to 110" if I can get it without compromising what I consider to be reasonable jumps between gears. I can happily tolerate anything up to about 15-16% between gears, and I am pretty easy to please in that regard. But much more than that I an notice it, and it's a little annoying. If I lived in a flat place or in a place where the grade of the road wasn't constantly changing, I would want tighter gear spacing.