How many gears do you need?

half_pint

I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.

Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

Pete Biggs

half_pint wrote:

> I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.

I don't think 24, 27 or even 30 gears are ridiculous. They provide a wide
range of closely spaced gears to make pedalling more
pleasant--particularly useful for those who cycle in hilly areas and are
fussy about caddence. However, I would like to see more bikes with fewer
gears made available for those who don't want them.

> Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> 35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

You don't need a bike at all.

> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

That's true and you can use a fixed gear bike on the road as well if you
like, but so what?

~PB

Burning_Ranger

half_pint wrote:
> Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> 35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

Only kids use that type of 'oneupmanship', I've never heard any adult
cyclists do that.

> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

We don't all have legs the size of tree trunks. Some of us actually need to
start off on a low gear with high cadence, so that our knees still work when
we're older.

--

Burning_Ranger

To email: aziz@aziz1removethisbit.fsnet.co.uk

[Not Responding]

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 02:28:04 -0000, "half_pint"
<info@uk.millwardbrown.com> wrote:

>I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
>
>Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
>35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

If anything, there's a reverse oneupmanship at play among the cycling
cogniscenti. You're nobody if you've got more than a single and
positively laughable if you're not on a fixer.

I've got 8. And they're in a can.

>Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

Yes but sterile racing conditions are just a tad different from your
average British commute. Tracks don't have hills or stop-start traffic
lights etc.

chris French

In message <317hs6F38kremU1@individual.net>, Pete Biggs
<pwrinkledgrape{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> writes
>half_pint wrote:
>
>> I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
>
<snip>
>
>> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?
>
>That's true and you can use a fixed gear bike on the road as well if you
>like, but so what?

Indeed, of course you don't *need* any gears. I find varying amounts of
multiple gears useful however on different bikes. (which of cours eI
don't need either

There was an interesting little snippet in the latest CTC rag about the
chap who invented the deraillieur , of course the idea of multiple gears
was poo -pooed by many other cyclists :-)
--
Chris French, Leeds

Mark Tranchant

chris French wrote:

> Indeed, of course you don't *need* any gears.

One is helpful as a bare minimum, unless you like walking.

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

Tony Raven

half_pint wrote:
> I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
>
> Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> 35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.
>
> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?
>
>

If you mount a 30 speed system on a Rohloff 14 speed hub and a mountain
drive BB you can have 840 gears but I bet you when you come to that hill
you still won't have the right one available ;-)

Tony

Tony Raven

Mark Tranchant wrote:
> chris French wrote:
>
>> Indeed, of course you don't *need* any gears.
>
>
> One is helpful as a bare minimum, unless you like walking.
>

That's two then, the single speed and the 24" gear.

Tony

Jon Senior

half_pint info@uk.millwardbrown.com opined the following...
> I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.

Define ridiculous. To my mind the impossibly low single gear of a BMX is
ridiculous, but my three bikes have 1, 8 (Soon to be 16) and 27 gears
respectively. The choice of gear range influences what I use them for.

> Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> 35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

Only to those who don't understand gears.

> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

"A lot of"? With the exception of the BHPC meets, I suspect that you'll
never see a geared & freewheel equipped bike on a track.

Jon

MSeries

Jon Senior wrote:
> half_pint info@uk.millwardbrown.com opined the following...
>
>>I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
>
>
> Define ridiculous. To my mind the impossibly low single gear of a BMX is
> ridiculous, but my three bikes have 1, 8 (Soon to be 16) and 27 gears
> respectively. The choice of gear range influences what I use them for.
>
>
>>Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
>>35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.
>
>
> Only to those who don't understand gears.
>
>
>>Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?
>
>
> "A lot of"? With the exception of the BHPC meets, I suspect that you'll
> never see a geared & freewheel equipped bike on a track.
>
> Jon

Careful, I think they have fun races on grass tracks that allow any
bike. Talking of tracks Jon ...... Manchester is very busy ATM, I have
heard that weekends are fully booked until the end of January

David Martin

On 2/12/04 9:40 am, in article comntu$344$1@news.ox.ac.uk, "Geraint Jones"
<Geraint.Jones@20041202093745.wolfson.oxford.ac.uk.invalid> wrote:

> "Pete Biggs" <pwrinkledgrape{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote:
>> You don't need a bike at all.
>
> I am tempted to take exception to the publication of such a blatant untruth.

You don't need *a* bike, you need loads of bikes..

...d

Dave Larrington

half_pint wrote:

> I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
>
> Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> 35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.

Yes, thank you. Except on Cosimo, where I could probably get away without
the inner chainring.

> Also don't a lot of track racing bikes only have one gear?

And when did you last see a velodrome with a hill in it?

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

Peter Clinch

Geraint Jones wrote:

> I am tempted to take exception to the publication of such a blatant untruth.

Various owners of trikes who don't run bikes may well disagree...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

JohnB

" [Not Responding]" wrote:
>
> On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 02:28:04 -0000, "half_pint"
> <info@uk.millwardbrown.com> wrote:
>
> >I see bikes with ridiculous amounts of gears.
> >
> >Yes it sounds great in "oneupmanship" to say "well actually I have
> >35 gears :OP " but do you really need them.
>
> If anything, there's a reverse oneupmanship at play among the cycling
> cogniscenti. You're nobody if you've got more than a single and
> positively laughable if you're not on a fixer.

I win both ways :-)

1 on the fixie
81 on the Trice

:-p

John B