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.
Cheers
I've often wondered why they sell gearing lower than say 42T in the front, and 23T in the rear to the general public.
The reality is that when one moves from 2x5 to 2x11 speeds, then one can do three things. Add more sprockets at the high end, add more sprockets at the low end, or fill in the middle (or a combination of the three).
A person may not use those huge sprockets a lot, and likewise may not use the low gears a lot, but it is nice to have a few extra shift points on either end.
There is also some debate on whether the general public actually needs to be spinning at 150 RPM just to go down the street at 10 MPH.
Not everyone spins at high speeds. And, for speeds less than 20 MPH, or perhaps less than 25 MPH, it really doesn't matter. It is really only under the high speed/high power situations when there is little choice other than increasing cadence to increase power (one can't get unlimited power with larger gears).
And, of course, what goes up must come down. So, those low gears to get up the hills, but who doesn't like to bomb down a hill occasionally. I still have a goal of 55 MPH (just shy of that). And, I'm not going to bomb down a hill at 55 MPH with 50x14 gearing, and not spin out.