hhsrb

Is that normal nowadays

Wait until you hear what tyre width they're riding nowadays!

11-32!!! Is that normal nowadays

Definitely around here. When I rent a bike with a 28 (which was a big cassette when I bought one 6 years back), I feel like I'm undergeared. Don't care about the weight, just helps a bit with long steep climbs.

cue @frankenbike

Is that normal nowadays

it's that or 11-29 with campag 12 speed. Yes people use to run much bigger gears back in the day, yes it does look more macho and a bit more impressive, but generally people(mainly Pros) are much faster up hills nowadays so it can't be a terrible thing.

CADENCE CADENCE CADENCE!!

Just to subvert your expectations I rode 50/34 11-28 up Sa Calobra last week. It was fine. (I would have been faster spinning up at 100 RPM though)

There is a place for that sort of thing... It's just not any of the roads in the UK, on any bike that is going to be ridden in bad weather, for anyone weighing more than 75kg, on any bike weighing more than 10 kg or whatever. And fine on race bikes as well I guess. And if you've got twice my FTP. Basically like 5% of all cyclists need that gearing.

Edit: to unsubvert your expectations the reason that I used that cassette is because I was too much of a #cheapskate to buy a new derailleur.

Haha yes, I bought 25mm tyres for my winter bike in 1999 and the lad in the bike shop said
There you go mate, you'll be invited to all the kids parties with these balloons

@BONOR , Pro's still ride 39x23 (25 or 26 in the mountains) and have high cadence. That's why they're pro's and not tourists. ;) But it's the tourists that buy these bikes and that's why they have 11-32.

Pro's still ride 39x23 (25 or 26 in the mountains)

Nobody rides 11-23 anymore. 11-25/28 is standard, when it gets really hilly some pros even ride 11-32, combined with a 34t inner chainring.

sorry but you're just wrong, Sure most pros still use a 39t inner ring on the mountains but an 11-28 is standard and most pros will drop to a 36 or even 34t. I think what you're missing is that an 11-28 11spd block is the same as a 11-23 9 speed block with a few more cogs glued on.

Pussies...

up Sa Calobra last week

Brutal. How was the weather last week? Other side of the Island was catastrophic.

You're probably right about what gearing is on their bike. But I know from the pro's I know (and they're not even pro tour, "only" continental) it's over and out as soon as they have to shift to the (39 x) 28 when the hammer goes down in a mountain stage.

Not so bad, a bit of rain but quite moderate really. Last night I was there was the night of the floods, I got absolutely soaked riding a tandem around near Palma and we had to take cover because the lightning was worryingly near. But nothing worse than that.

But yeah, pretty tragic what happened. Hope you weren't in the floods?

Quintana rode 54/42 x 12/27 for majority of tour in 2017/2018

Yeah we were in the middle of it, so still recovering a bit. The level of destruction is astonishing and really makes you wake up and appreciate the forces of nature and the affects it has on peoples livelihoods and the environment.

Wow, that must be upsetting. It was quite a shock to wake up to it on the news and see worried messages from friends etc. so can't imagine how you must have felt.

I'm weird: I run a standard 53x39 up front with an 11-32 on the back. Why? Because I bought a new frame with BB30, had that chainset lying about in the garage and money was tight. It's the mullet of the gearing world: business at the front, party at the back.

My current (first) road bike came with 50-34 / 11-34. I did use that extremely low gear when first attempting steeper hills, now it feels unusably spinny. On my new one I'm getting 52-36 / 11-28. The new lowest should be a bit lower than the current third lowest (34/26)

I was thinking that's a very middle of the road gearing, but it seems like bike manufacturers are going a bit lower than that now. I guess that goes to show that a stock Canyon is not hip hop

LOve the spacer / lens.

So hip.

Weird gif and video and song. 2/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uee_mcxvrw

What's the frame?
Much love for those Quarq cranks - least shouty spider-based cranks going.