Originally Posted by
Miele Man
I've often wondered why bicycles are sold to the general public, and have a 53 teeth chainring and a 11 teeth cog. I think for the average person a 11, a 12, and a 13 teeth cog are too small. Heck even 52 x 14 is to high a gear for a lot of folks.
The general public pedaling 60 RPM thinks 52x14 (a typical big boom big gear) is too slow, and if you don't sell them something larger another company will.
Bike companies make more money from fewer SKUs. 11 and 12 cogs allow enough range you can have a fairly reasonable low gear and spacing starting with a 10 or 11, so that's all they make.
Now Campagnolo makes 12 speed with two options: 11-12-13-14
-15-16-17-19-21-23-26-29 and 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-19-22-25-28-32.
I'd have to dig up old catalogs to count the 8 speed combinations - 12-19, 12-21, 12-23, 12-26, 13-21, 13-23, 13-26, 13-28 ....
I'm among the significant minority that wants one tooth jumps through the 19 cog which is unlikely to happen.