Cassette on new bikes.

[raleighnut]

I'm old enough to remember when most bikes came with 14-24 five speeds block, usually paired with a 52-42 up front.

 

[Levo-Lon]

11-42 rocks with a 36-26 up front.

I had to go 11-32 as I just can't get up hills I'm a Fenner.
I have a 44-34 on the Boardman, I like that

 

[Chris S]

I've got a 3-speed hub on mine which gives 45, 60 and 80 inch gears. These are just right for Birmingham. I suspect most bikes come with a 11x28 cassette because it's just right for most places.

 

[Globalti]

Aren't most bikes built for American born-again cyclists living in California? That would explain why they are so badly sealed against water and the finish deteriorates so fast in wet conditions.

 

[Smokin Joe]

…. and I managed with a 14-18 with a 52/42! One winter I had an 18-20 block made up and thought it was "cheating" as I dropped my club mates on the hills.

I rode the early season Croydon Hardriders 25 with a 48 chainring and 14-18 back in 1970.

That was NOT a good idea, as anyone who knows Kent will tell you.

 

[jowwy]

Mine has a motor instead

 

[CXRAndy]

My first road bike as an adult and more unfit was 50/34 and 11-32. It allowed me to climb 10% hills, but whilst being on the ragged edge of blowing up.

Now i use a triple crank 48/36/26 mated to either 11-32 or 11-40 .Im much fitter these days and really enjoy climbing mountains. They are still tough, but I dictate the pace/cadence not the gradient.
Says 90+kg 50+rider

 

[mgs315]

I rode the early season Croydon Hardriders 25 with a 48 chainring and 14-18 back in 1970.

That was NOT a good idea, as anyone who knows Kent will tell you.

Wow, yeah sod that. I’m glad I’ve got a 50/34 11-32 available on some of those gradients.

 

[rogerzilla]

In the early 90s, you'd have bern laughed at for having anything bigger than 21T on a racing bike. We've gone soft.

 

[mikeymustard]

You had a front clanger? You must have been well off! I dreamt of having 10 gears instead of 5.

Cue "You were lucky, we had to eat COLD gravel" response.

We all nagged our parents to buy us a 10 speed, then treated the bikes so badly that the front seized anyway!

 

[raleighnut]

In the early 90s, you'd have bern laughed at for having anything bigger than 21T on a racing bike. We've gone soft.

I remember cycling to work back then when MTBs had just come out, I used to pass this guy most mornings 'twiddling' away as I cruised past at 25-30Mph (depending on the wind) and thinking ""

Now I look at the Carlton (with a 13-23 and 42-52) and think "Gawd I used to ride that everywhere"

 

[fossyant]

Pah, what happened to 42 x 21 - we must have been mad.

 

[ColinJ]

In the early 90s, you'd have bern laughed at for having anything bigger than 21T on a racing bike. We've gone soft.

The Milk Race went up local climb 'Mytholm Steeps' once in the 1980s. I got chatting to a local cyclist who had been standing on the steepest section (see my photos below) and he said that spectators were having to catch the cyclists as they toppled sideways, their feet still strapped onto their pedals. They certainly weren't climbing well on their 21s - ha ha!

 

[derrick]

You are looking at this the wrong way!

11-28 is a good cassette with a decent range for most riding. Where people and manufacturers get it wrong is pairing it with an unsuitable chainset.

Yes you need to be using a 36/ 52 chain rings.

 

[I like Skol]

Yes you need to be using a 36/ 52 chain rings.

For anyone that struggles or doesn't enjoy a hard climb I would always suggest something like 28/38/48 as the perfect chainset. Certainly worked well on my hybrid coupled to an 11-26 cassette, and I even enjoy hill climbing (probably because I try to choose gearing suitable for the Pennine hills?).