Modern trend for extremely low gearing

[ColinJ]

All this talk of extreme chain angles... You will only be traversing half a cassette either side of the perfect chainline. I don't have any problem staying on the middle ring of my triple for the whole cassette.

I'd quite like a 1x system. I am going to experiment with one by sticking an expansion 42 sprocket on a 12-36 cassette and removing one of the middle sprockets.

 

[Blue Hills]

What amuses me is the way people do not like choice and although not in this case cost/price is so often mentioned.

I think folk are perfectly entitled to question particular choices.
Me on 1x dinner plate, i can see uses on serious offroad, not much else.
Oh, and I'll feel free to mention cost if it gives you a buzz, as in cost-benefit for many applications.

 

[DRM]

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I guess it's what you're used to. My old Saracen (above) back in 1985. 52-36 on the front 13-32 5 speed on the rear . The thing would go up the side of a house, and have a fair turn of speed downhill too. In fact, I still ride pretty much the same gearing today on my Thompson. 50-32 on the front 14-28 7 speed at the rear. I don't do MTBs and this works really well in pretty much all conditions on my rides round Argyll, which is a pretty hilly county in places. Works for me, and I'm now closer to 60 than 20

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In fact, a lad came round to look at buying my old Raleigh Scorpio, took one look at the gearing on my Summer bike - 14-24 7 speed rear, 42-52 on the front and couldn't believe that I managed anything but flat rides on it.

It's a lovely bike, but comparing it with one used off road is pointless, an MTB or Gravel bike needs the lower gears as climbing off road is a totally different ball game technique wise to that used on tarmac.

 

[screenman]

It's a lovely bike, but comparing it with one used off road is pointless, an MTB or Gravel bike needs the lower gears as climbing off road is a totally different ball game technique wise to that used on tarmac.

But who wants to spend money on off road bikes when roads are there, total waste of money.

 

[DRM]

Seems that once again that the uninitiated will believe anything that's in fashion - !

It's not "Fashion" it's designed to do a job, off tarmac, it'll also allow the fitment of wider tyres, so that the rear won't catch on a front mech, wider tyres = more comfort/grip off road, it's like comparing a Land Rover with a Ferrari both are very good at what they're designed to do, but are useless when trying to use one in the others terrain.

 

[DRM]

But who wants to spend money on off road bikes when roads are there, total waste of money.

Thats where gravel bikes come in, best of both worlds innit

 

[screenman]

Thats where gravel bikes come in, best of both worlds innit

Well almost but not quite, my mtb's will go places my cross bikes could not.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Wonder if the bike industry likes the reduced cost of a 1x setup. Same RRP 1 less mech 1 less lever, cable, chainring etc. or if it is just a new trend to raise revenue. Sorry getting cynical as I get older.

Right to be cynical. It's all marketing shite designed to sell more new bikes with a worse choice of gears for a bigger profit margin.
i haven't fallen for it and neither have all the other thousands of owners who are still defiantly riding around on their 80's and 90's vintage 26" rigids with practical 22/34/42 or 28/38/48 triples and 14-28 5 or 6 speed freewheels on the back. They just work and they keep working for years for peanuts in running costs. Most MTB's spend 99% of their miles not actually MTB'ing in the same way road racing bikes spend 99% of their mileage doing things other than actually racing. Triple-equipped bikes are inherently practical.
Comparing modern 1 x MTB transmissions with 5 speed racers is not really like for like. The racers were often sold like this to keep the purchase cost down for youngsters, not to cream extra profit for the manufacturers, and they were usually geared 46T on the front and 14-28 on the back. My 5 speed Raleigh Arena was geared 43, 50, 60, 70, 85 inches and worked fine on flattish terrain. A 10 speed version was at least £10 more expensive, and the buyer at least had the choice.

 

[screenman]

Have you got a choice of different beers to drink? Or do you stick to the Tesco own brand one. Money, marketing, that word that a lot on here hate so much profit, stop sounding like your dad's and realise not every cyclist wants the same thing, I certainly do not want to be scavenging in skips for my bikes.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Have you got a choice of different beers to drink?

Plenty of choice of beer here thanks. All good beer and good value. Plenty of choice of bikes to ride too. Also good value, especially the free ones. No overpriced marketing hype scam jobs.

 

[screenman]

Plenty of choice of beer here thanks. All good beer and good value. Plenty of choice of bikes to ride too. Also good value, especially the free ones. No overpriced marketing hype scam jobs.

Anything over 20p a can is a waste of good money, it is all the same stuff you have been conned by the shiny adverts into thinking it tastes different.

 

[DRM]

No marketing hype scam, they’re designed to do a job, and do it well, and if bike manufacturers don’t sell enough bikes, they go bust, it’s responding to market demands, which really doesn’t include 1980’s Raleigh bikes

 

[screenman]

No marketing hype scam, they’re designed to do a job, and do it well, and if bike manufacturers don’t sell enough bikes, they go bust, it’s responding to market demands, which really doesn’t include 1980’s Raleigh bikes

Come to think about it what happened to all those old British brands?

 

[Gunk]

Come to think about it what happened to all those old British brands?

They stopped trading at the same time you last bought a can of beer!

 

[screenman]

They stopped trading at the same time you last bought a can of beer!

Maybe they should have come up with idea's that created a new market and kept the staff in jobs, mind you some would see that as scamming.