Gearing

simontwosheds Mr Conan,

There is a difference between changing a chainring and a sproket. I don`t know the sums but the chainring controls the leverage (torque) which is not greatly affected by the sprocket until you get down to track sproket type sizes (14t).
Using a small chainring (39t or less) is good for low cadence pedalling. Attempting to spin such a gear is difficult because you need a lot of muscle tension to keep it smooth and comfortable.
Using a large chainring (above about 41t) promotes a spinning cadence, because the leverage is low and resitance is more even around the pedal circle.
A 46x18 gear and a 36x14 are both about 69", but when used througout a range of pedal speeds they would feel quite different from one another.

Balls.

Sorry.

Still balls.