IanSmithCSE
Guru
Good afternoon,
This is a follow on to https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/how-much-bike-do-i-really-need-a-6-month-experiment.284154/ where I rode a maker's spec bike for 6 months to see if what I knew about bikes was wrong.
The basic bike came with 50/34 and an 8 speed 11-32 (11,13,15,18,21,24,28,32) cassette, outside of this experiment the cassette would have been an 11-25, but the point of the experiment was to ride the supplied spec.
Where I ride, mostly within a 40 miles radius of Worcester (30 miles south of Birmingham) and the fact that I ride with less than 4kg of luggage means that that 50x28 is the lowest useful gear. The whole 34 chainring is redundant and the 32t sprocket has little to offer over the 28 on the big ring, plus there are issues with the chain line which I might have been able to mitigate if I cared enough to want 50x32 and the cost of wearing out 8 speed stuff mattered. :-)
At first glance this may seem to be boasting, but 50x28 is the same gear as 42x24, which was the norm for bottom gears in the 70s and 80s for racers and
pretend racers sold on the High Street, 52x14 was also the norm for top gear.
I have always felt that a 1x7 would be horrible to ride as for me it means a big gap in gears, in this case 50x18, 21 and 24 become the dominant gears which have a massive a gap and 50x15 is for me me a slightly downhill road or a serious effort on the flat.
The first couple of months were difficult, I knew that the gears were wrong, but after a while I ceased to care.
My average ride speed dropped by around 1-2mph, this variation is depended upon the hills, the worst for me can be searched for as "hot air balloon Gloucester Birdlip".
Yet I grew to love not having to change chainrings, on both downtube and Ultegra Di2 chainring changes didn't matter but with Claris I never managed to get it anywhere beyond unpleasant.
If I really didn't care about speed and it didn't matter and to be clear crawling out of bed +/- 10 minutes doesn't really matter I can sort of "get" a 1x7. This really surprises me, but I would never buy one!
But it is so wrong, for me a closer ratio cassette and using both chainrings is so, so much better
Bye
Ian
This is a follow on to https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/how-much-bike-do-i-really-need-a-6-month-experiment.284154/ where I rode a maker's spec bike for 6 months to see if what I knew about bikes was wrong.
The basic bike came with 50/34 and an 8 speed 11-32 (11,13,15,18,21,24,28,32) cassette, outside of this experiment the cassette would have been an 11-25, but the point of the experiment was to ride the supplied spec.
Where I ride, mostly within a 40 miles radius of Worcester (30 miles south of Birmingham) and the fact that I ride with less than 4kg of luggage means that that 50x28 is the lowest useful gear. The whole 34 chainring is redundant and the 32t sprocket has little to offer over the 28 on the big ring, plus there are issues with the chain line which I might have been able to mitigate if I cared enough to want 50x32 and the cost of wearing out 8 speed stuff mattered. :-)
At first glance this may seem to be boasting, but 50x28 is the same gear as 42x24, which was the norm for bottom gears in the 70s and 80s for racers and
pretend racers sold on the High Street, 52x14 was also the norm for top gear.
I have always felt that a 1x7 would be horrible to ride as for me it means a big gap in gears, in this case 50x18, 21 and 24 become the dominant gears which have a massive a gap and 50x15 is for me me a slightly downhill road or a serious effort on the flat.
The first couple of months were difficult, I knew that the gears were wrong, but after a while I ceased to care.
My average ride speed dropped by around 1-2mph, this variation is depended upon the hills, the worst for me can be searched for as "hot air balloon Gloucester Birdlip".
Yet I grew to love not having to change chainrings, on both downtube and Ultegra Di2 chainring changes didn't matter but with Claris I never managed to get it anywhere beyond unpleasant.
If I really didn't care about speed and it didn't matter and to be clear crawling out of bed +/- 10 minutes doesn't really matter I can sort of "get" a 1x7. This really surprises me, but I would never buy one!
But it is so wrong, for me a closer ratio cassette and using both chainrings is so, so much better
Bye
Ian
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, which is consierably hillier. I was on on 39 x 26 as my bottom gear today, I'm lots older than I was but got up Mam Nick which is 12-15%. I'm on 8 speed on a 30 year old steel bike, and that's the best bottom gear I can get realistically. My other road bike is the same, old but DA rather than Ultegra - still limited for an old duffer.
