On 25-05-17 16:26, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-05-24 15:46, Theodore Heise wrote:
On Wed, 24 May 2017 07:06:22 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 6:37:49 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-05-23 13:09, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 3:47:02 PM UTC-4, Duane wrote:
On 23/05/2017 3:32 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 1:48:12 AM UTC-4, Sir Ridesalot
wrote:
So what do you people think?

On a steep hill would there be a noticeable difference between
20.3 gear inches and 25.3 gear inches?

Like Andrew said, I think the difference would be big
enough to be noticeable although the 30- 32 is 25.3 gear
inches and the 24-32 is 20.3 gear inches.
I switched from a 53/39 chain ring to a 52/36. With an
11-28T on both, I can notice the difference on a steep
enough climb. How much it matters is hard to quantify.
I'm tsaking the guy out for a 60 km ride soon and there are
a few pretty steep hills in that area. I figure the 24 teeth
chainring bike would be the better choice for him as he's
not all that used to steep hills.

It also depends on his age. I used to climb steep hills in
Eastern Belgium using a corncob cassette because that's all
that was available back then. 42-21 was the lowest gear. No
problem. Fast forward 35 years, similar hills in California
and I had to walk some of them. Then I hacked an MTB cassette
and that got me down to 42-28. Still huffing and puffing on
some hills and after installing 42-32 it's now very
manageable. The difference between the 28 and 32 sprockets in
the back can be a profuse sweat versus easy spinning.

A friend of mine had a 24 on her triple and used it often on
steep sections. But I've had trouble with my 30 because you are
going so slow that you are more tired when you get to the top
than if you use a 39-29.

A friend and I did Ride the Rockies a couple of times, and were
struck with how very slowly a few tandem teams climbed the passes.
Our standard quip to each other was, "How do they keep from
falling over when they go that slow!?"


It is a matter of training and what you grew up with. I grew up biking
offroad a lot since the days when mountain bikes didn't exist yet. On my
ride yesterday I tried it on a short road up to a state park entrance
station since I was early and the pub wouldn't be open before 3:00pm
anyhow. I was on the MTB, shifted way down into the granny range and
went up at the speed of an ant. No problem.


My excuse for having and often using a low gear of 24/42 on my new
mountain bike is that tomorrow I will be 73 years old and my knees hurt
all too often.

Ned