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bitch please. you must not have any steep hills around you, or you don't weigh anything and are super strong/never get tired.
Could not agree more. I don't know what everyone else is riding but I've ridden up stuff unladen where I had to get off and push with my 34/11-42 not being low enough. I have never, ever regretted having too low a gear. I don't know, maybe people have never tried riding through a perfect storm of heavy gear, 30mph headwind, rain/mud/snow, fatigue and steep slopes - which I thought was the whole point of gravel riding personally.
Or maybe I'm just weak. Still, I'm fitter than 90% of casuals, so if I can't get up a hill they certainly can't, and Shimano should be making something for them/me.
frankenbike-
word. people seem to think having big gears wins them some sort of manliness . if you want to do that ride a single speed up mountains. that shit is impressive. when i blow past some dude struggling up a 15-20% paved pitch in 36-28 at 40rpm i don't think "wow he's hard." my power goes down if i'm doing 40-50rpm, so if i want to go as fast as i can i get the appropriate gears for my w/kg. i mean if froome is going to ride 34-32 up the zoncolan then we all probs need a bit more gear-inches for any similar terrain. plus like you say, some of us get tired.
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I climbed a 25% hill into a 40mph headwind last month on my Croix de Fer with 42/42. Would have really appreciated an even lower gears then.
zmjones_
GideonPARANOID
bitch please. you must not have any steep hills around you, or you don't weigh anything and are super strong/never get tired. there is a paved climb i like near me that is a mile at 14% avg (so the kom is ~5.4mph avg), and lots of gravel roads and singletrack that is nearly that steep avg (and much steeper in certain places) and much longer.
and in any case i was criticizing what shimano makes available. until recently the lowest you could get was 34/32 and now you can get 34/34. i've never run a 46/30 crank but probably would if i could get one as a part of a group.
i rode with the guy who got 3rd at us road nationals over the weekend on one such course and even he was running a mtb crankset.
i don't mind grinding a bit but you just can't do it when it is loose or on super steep wet pavement (this is seattle i'm talking about)