Why oh why did I bother with 11 speed?

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I spent many many years, riding 6 speed bikes, and I was pushing the boundaries when I made the transition to the ( quite frankly ) gobsmacking heady heights of 9 speed. Then two ten speed bikes made it in to my line up. Then I took a gigantic leap into the here and now, and went to 11 speed, on one of my bikes. Today I changed the cassette on my trusty 9 speed, for an 11-30 tooth. It’s left me wondering what the point of the 11 speed is. The 10 speeds are justifiable for their Carbon frame sets, which are noticeably better for me, on distance rides, but the 11 speed really does seem like total frippery, given the 9 speed’s performance, with the new cassette. Lord only knows what will happen if any manufacturer decides to introduce a 12 speed set up. I can’t see that happening though, it’s just too far fetched.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
12 speed is already here... SRAM launched theirs last month, and Campag have taken out a load of road gruppo 12 speed patents, so presumably they're not far behind.

I don't know at what point the benefits of ever decreasing gaps between adjacent ratios starts to be outweighed by the extra mass.
 
OP
OP
Racing roadkill
12 speed is already here... SRAM launched theirs last month, and Campag have taken out a load of road gruppo 12 speed patents, so presumably they're not far behind.

E8C5BDDD-A222-488D-969A-8F1496EC3277.jpeg
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
I don't know at what point the benefits of ever decreasing gaps between adjacent ratios starts to be outweighed by the extra mass.

Makes no difference to the pros as long as the UCI continue to enforce the 6.8kg weight limit, since it is already easily possible to undercut that.

Of course, as well as 12-speed cassettes, single chainrings are on the rise as well - Aqua Blue are riding the 3T Strada this year, which is designed for 1x12 gearing (though they are currently running 1x11).
 
Law of diminishing returns bites again, I imagine the main attraction will be for the 1x crowd, and likely spare cassettes will set you back £150 or somesuch and you might as well just stick with the FD to maintain the same range of gears.
 
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screenman

Legendary Member
Law of diminishing returns bites again, I imagine the main attraction will be for the 1x crowd, and likely spare cassettes will set you back £150 or somesuch and you might as well just stick with the FD to maintain the same range of gears.

What else would you do with the money, honest though this has been going on since Adam's time. I could almost hear you spit out the words " 1 x crowd"
 
U

User6179

Guest
UOTE="fixedfixer, post: 5217645, member: 12286"]I still ride one. Drive chains last for years :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

Aye but I imagine you will have a constipated look on 25% gradient hills


Man-with-a-strained-look-chronic-constipation.jpg


Edit- When you say 1, do you mean one gear or one 7 speed triple?
 

davidphilips

Veteran
Location
Onabike
Perhaps for pro racers there may be some benefit, But for the likes of myself i can go round the same 30 mile route with a 70s bike with down tube shifters as i can on a modern carbon bike with 8 more gears, maybe a few seconds in it but certainly not noticeable to me so an extra gear or three to me any way may be a nice talking point but would certainly not improve my cycling performance.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Eventually there'll be eleventy-eight geared bikes with a single tooth difference between each. I've no problem with it at all, but wonder what it really brings to the non professional cyclist.
 
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