Originally Posted by
cyccommute
You have to consider what a “normal” commute for other people is. My “normal” commute includes 475 feet of climbing for one route...most of which occurs in the last 3 miles of riding. Another route includes 550 feet of climbing that also occurs in the last 3 miles of my route. I can struggle up that last 3 miles in a 50 tooth gear or put the bike into a 39 tooth gear (or lower) and ride it comfortable.
One of my pet peeves is people telling others that their gears are “low enough”. You can’t make that decision for anyone but yourself. I’m far past “cutting my teeth” when it comes to riding and I have no issues whatsoever with having gearing lower than even what speyfitter is asking about.
I have a 30T front. with a 11-50T rear (really big tires though). I ONLY use the 3-4 tallest gears on my commute but in my local MTB park, which is on my commuting route and an optional detour, I really only use the 3 lowest gears (for steep climbing, descents I am usually focused on not dying so I forget to shift up, also I don't know all the trails either and have been caught in too high of a gear on a climb halfway down the hill, don't laugh). Before I got this setup I had a road bike setup at 65 gear inches (42x17 with 700x28) as a single speed and I loved that too.
So I guess, what I am trying to say is, +1 to different strokes for different folks.