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edscoble
Maybe, it's a bit more complex, I'd say a hybrid of the two. Kind of depends on your riding style I'd say.
If from a standing start you accelerate to say 90 RPM then maintain that cadence and just keep clicking up gears and as you keep going up gears you just add more power to keep going at 90 RPM then I'd say yes. A bike does not have a continuously variable transmission though, but given that it has a lot of gears, it's close to that concept.
Interestingly, a few notable engineers have proven that CVTs are the most efficient transmission for cars, they're just not popular, so car manufacturers don't use them because they're in the business of making cars people want to buy. However, you'll see that manufacturers keep adding gears, Mercedes now make a 9sp auto, compared to the 4sp they were still putting out only 20 years ago, the spread is only a little bit wider but the drop between each gear is much much shorter so it's trying to emulate CVT by having more gears. I wouldn't be surprised if within another 10 years we're seeing 11 or 12sp autos, making them no different to 1x11.