What would be cool is a 5-speed in the back and a double crankset up front like in the olden days. But my legs can't power that, and I don't know how anyone did back in the pre-1980's era.
I live in rolling-to-hilly terrain and it's all I can do to get down the road in my 36T middle ring with the 11-30 cassette I have in the back. It was also all I could do when I had 11-32 in the back. I don't feel any diff. There is no such thing as restorative rides, or "walking your bike" around here. You go up and down, or on a rare flat, or a false flat, so you are always working hard. I am a weak rider. I am not an athlete like racers and Randonneurs are. On the rare true flats we have around here, I cruise somewhere in that 13-15-17 range, while in that middle 36T ring. I got a cassette once that had 11-13-15-18, and that was too big a jump between 15 and 18 while cruising on flats. I felt I was either bogging down in the 15, or spinning too fast in the 18. I lost the sweet spot in that cassette. But I have found the 13-15-17-20 works really well for me. I don't like anything bigger than 3 tooth jumps in the easier gears for me, so the 20-23-26-30 side of the cassette works nicely for me. So, with 7 and 8 speed cassettes, I am trying to strike a balance between the close tooth counts of a 10-speed, but with the better friction shifting of a 5-speed. I find the 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30 keeps my cadence smooth throughout the changes over the cassette, and I also enjoy the mental relaxation of having less cogs in the back, though I don't have the legs to ever go to single speed. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
