13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. That's a corncob Popeye would make a pipe of.
Disc brakes and 1x drivetrains. These are the sort of things that belong on mountainbikes, are questionable on cross bikes, and should make an immediate trip to the rubbish bin when it comes to road bikes. Change for the sake of change; gimmickry masquerading as innovation. And to make matters worse, the appearance of 11-speed blocks has killed the last vestige of the complexity of our sport: block composition and size.
The question of gear choice was once one of the most critical decisions a Cyclist could make when tackling a course. In The Rider, Tim Krabé describes his gear choice and those of his competitors; throughout the book, he fixates upon which gear he is riding in. José Manuel Fuente used to use higher gears that the other climbers to intimidate them. Andy Hampsten famously rode only odd-numbered gears because obviously even-sized gears made his palms go sweaty.
Sean Kelly belabored his choice to use a 13-25 block versus a 12-23 for the 1989 World Championship Road Race. He knew he couldn’t climb as well as the other favorites and wanted a 25 to save his legs over the final climb. If, however, he managed to get over the hill, he would surely need the 12 in order to win the sprint. It was a classic catch-22; use a block that he could win the sprint with but get dropped on the climb, or get over the hill and lose the sprint. The race lay in the balance of a single tooth on a cog.
We used to build our blocks, not buy a complete cassette on ebay. The idea was to keep the gears as close together as possible with a straight block being the holy grail and the relative smallness of the biggest gear being a declaration of your status as Hardman. Every tooth beyond a 1 tooth jump was a sacrifice; every step beyond a 21 or 23 tooth cog was a silent admission of your sissiness as a Cyclist. The Pros today are riding 11-28 blocks on every kind of terrain, every day. Even at Paris-Roubaix, one of the only races flat enough to still require little more than a 19 even for us mortals.
Committing to nothing lower than a 19-tooth gear requires a suitcase of courage, poor planning, or both. And it looks tough as nails, that tight cluster of gears at the back wheel. Not like these big dinner plates we see riding around all over the place these days. You could serve a nice helping of Steak Frites on some of these modern blocks. Disgraceful. And while I’m not building my blocks anymore, I’m certainly still choosing a cassette for the terrain and plan to continue doing so until I’m pushing up daisies, thank you very much.
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@gilvelo
Rule #47
@frank
My Haleakala FW build was 14-16-19-20-21-22 with a 42/45 up front. Spent most of the time in the 42 x 20/21 mode. 22t was only used for last km at summit. My favorite silent shifters were Gipiemme friction shifters. It was an art to not be heard shifting behind your opponent. When you made that jump you had pick a big enough gear, so you would not have to sit down to shift.
@frank
The brakes or the tire........
Cant have one without the other I guess (unless you do the old Flintstones manoueuvre and put your feet down to brake)
Hydraulic brakes work better at "braking".... be it good tyre / bad tyre / wet surface / dry surface / uphill / downhill...
Are they necessary though ? Not really I would suggest..... The carbon surfaces and brake pad development have come on leaps and bounds in the last few seasons.
I have never been, (and no doubt will never go), the speeds down hill at which the semi pro / continental or pro teams go... but one thing I do know, if I was going downhill as fast as they can I would want hydraulic disc brakes....they fucking work better !
Other thing that is in the photo that is sadly lacking on bikes these days - even bespoke steel ones... the chain hanger. Why don't they install those anymore?
@Puffy
Some still do, my steel bike has one.
Ahhh, frankenbike!
god that's so fugly.
I aint riding 'em yet, but next upgrade, 2017, I will be. They work better. End of. Looks? well beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they don't look that bad, just different and new. I hear they halve your breaking distance, and don't underestimate the handling improvements of breaking at the hub instead of the rim, whole new ball game. Once a few disc clad missiles have blown past you through your favourite descent, I'm sure they will grow on you.
@Puffy
Columbine brazes a clever little spur on their chain stays, and they offer a clamp on version that should also work on seat stays. On the chain stay it catches the chain as you pull the wheel, without having to lift it onto the peg.
Cable ties with the nubbin rounded work too.
@Sparty
The future is already there if you can handle or want it. See old article from Sheldon Brown on his 63 speed bike, combining Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, combined with 7 speed freewheel and triple up front. 63 speed bike
If you continue to use 11 speed FW but use 7 speed hub and double up front, you get 11x7x2=154 gears. Need more? Technically can be done now already, but for sure heavy and ugly and probably too much overlap and getting lost in the multitude of combinations.
On disc brakes: I understood Campagnolo has yet to come out with disc brakes? Cannot imagine they would allow Gruppo drivetrain to be mixed with Groupsan brakes. (Does not matter to me, as I have Groupsan on all bikes, and only disc brakes on the MTB, and that's how it will remain).
Used a 12-18 on the rear and upped to a 53/44 on the front 'cause that's what I read Eddie used for one race somewhere; damn near killed me on the climbs, but I got stronger and faster.
(Hailing from the Midlands where we don't really do climbs. I moved down to Dorset and asked for the same set up of the bike shop owner who was building a new bike for me and he looked at me like I came from Mars)