Pros using bigger gears and wider tires

[Keith A]

Looks like wider tires and bigger gears are catching on with the pros too...at least for the classics.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-of-flanders-tech-wider-tires-bigger-cogs-the-norm

[nate2351]

The real question is are they allowing plants in the hotel rooms?

[dancinkozmo]

i predict next year we'll be seeing this...

http://surlybikes.com//uploads/bikes/ice-cream-truck-15_34f_930x390.jpg

[brockd15]

Now I can run a 12-32 and still be 'pro'!

[David Tollefson]

As the number of cogs available has increased, they've got to go somewhere.

[firerescuefin]

Great example of how objective data, followed by "yeah that really works" is replacing decades of tribal hearsay.

[merckx]

Now that EPO is a thing of the (cough)......past.......(cough), they need the granny gears to see the top of climbs.

[bikinchris]

As the number of cogs available has increased, they've got to go somewhere.

Exactly. The 1/2 pitch chain can't go around an 11 tooth cog as it is. The 11 tooth cogs wear out long before the chain does already. Its certainly not like they can put a 10, 9 or 8 tooth cog on there. SOOOOO, they add cogs on the other end. Admit it, 11 speed is really for old guys who can't climb in a 21 tooth cog anymore. Well, I couldn't climb in a 38 myself......

[ultraman6970]

The pictures is what they use in the classics races due to the terrain, but is not what the guys use in regular races.

[El Chaba]

If this trend continues, we may well see Grant Petersen and Rivendell sponsoring a pro team......

[bigbill]

I ride campy 11 with a 12-27 cassette. The first 8 gears are identical to the 12-21 cassettes I raced in the 90's. Now I get three extra climbing gears without giving anything up.

[marciero]

Bigger tires make sense in those classics, but was thinking pros certainly do not need bigger cogs in the back... then I read this

“When there is a little hesitation in the peloton, our riders can shift lower and not have to put a foot down.”

[marciero]

Also this

“We wanted to go even bigger [than 28mm] for Roubaix, but we don’t have room in the frame,”

[donevwil]

The pictures is what they use in the classics races due to the terrain, but is not what the guys use in regular races.

Exactly, in past Vueltas some riders have even resorted to triples on the 25% + mountain stages.

[firerescuefin]

The pictures is what they use in the classics races due to the terrain, but is not what the guys use in regular races.

There is more of the peleton on 25s than 22-23s across the board (regardless of type of race) right now....Obviously, the gears are dependent on individual stages.

[Mark McM]

Exactly. The 1/2 pitch chain can't go around an 11 tooth cog as it is. The 11 tooth cogs wear out long before the chain does already. Its certainly not like they can put a 10, 9 or 8 tooth cog on there.


I guess you haven't seen the Shimano Capreo system, with its 9-26 10spd cassette:

http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/global_cycle/en/sg/index/products/city___comfort_bike/capreo/product.image.+media+bikecomponents+CS+CS-HG70-S_600x450_v1_m56577569830648804_dot_jpg.bm.512.384 .gif


9 & 10 tooth sprockets have also been made by others, including Regina and Moulton

[saab2000]

Exactly, in past Vueltas some riders have even resorted to triples on the 25% + mountain stages.

That was before compacts and 11-speed became common.

I run a 13-26 10-speed cassette with a standard 39/53 on one bike and I love it. I rarely miss the 12. I would never miss an 11.

The big cassettes are as much about leaving it in the big ring as much as possible as anything else.

[FlashUNC]

As the mechanics mentioned, this is not a function of the guys unable to get up a 20% pitch. Its unable to get up a 20% pitch because the road narrowed to a half width cobbled track around a corner that goes from 8 wide to 4 wide and guys get pinched or have to put a foot down because someone took a spill in front of them.

[donevwil]

That was before compacts and 11-speed became common.

I run a 13-26 10-speed cassette with a standard 39/53 on one bike and I love it. I rarely miss the 12. I would never miss an 11.

My point exactly, it's all about the desired gearing. Compact double, triple, wide-range cassettes all provide options to getting there. None is "wrong", it's personal preference.

If running a 53/39 - 13/26 gets you where you need to be, more power to you. I've got an old Merckx set-up with 52/39 - 12/25 and love riding it, but the bike get's left at home when doing one of my favorite hilly rides around here.

[11.4]

This is all an irrelevant discussion. We used to switch out our 13-18 six-speed freewheels for 13-23, along with a 42/53, when we were climbing the really big cols and that was just for those of us in the grupetto. Those who were in contention at the front just rode their 13-18's because they needed the close ratios and knew they wouldn't go fast enough in a 23 so why need it? All this spinning hooey. It's not like you needed drugs to ride a 13-18 up mountains so why did you need a 13-23? That's what weight loss is for. And drillium. And holding onto team cars. Wimps, all.

And nonsense on the idea that more cogs meant having to go to bigger cogs. Shimano is coming out in the next iteration of Dura Ace with half-tooth cog jumps -- 13, 13-1/2, 14, 14-1/2, and so on. Wayne Stetina wanted to go for quarter-tooth cog jumps but got overruled. You don't think Campy would do anything so smart, would ya? Why, Shimano made their 9000 cassettes just to test out cassettes with partial cogs -- you break the spiders and get to test these teething patterns. I hear from informed sources that Shimano will follow up on the success of oval chainrings and go to oval cassette cogs as well. Why not be first with major new advances?

[bcroslin]

Are every one of these teams riding "one-off" bikes with stays and forks that will fit a 25+ tire? I've ridden 25's on my EVO and I pulled them off after noticing rubber marks on the inside of the chain stays. I realize there's Roubaix specific bikes like the Cervelos and Specialized but most of the bikes I see look like regular race bikes.

[beeatnik]

11.4, I like your sardonic style.

[pbarry]

Exactly. The 1/2 pitch chain can't go around an 11 tooth cog as it is. The 11 tooth cogs wear out long before the chain does already. Its certainly not like they can put a 10, 9 or 8 tooth cog on there. SOOOOO, they add cogs on the other end. Admit it, 11 speed is really for old guys who can't climb in a 21 tooth cog anymore. Well, I couldn't climb in a 38 myself......

Yep. Time for the UCI to rescind their ban on Shimano 10 Pitch..

[ultraman6970]

Riders get too spoiled now a days man... :P

This is all an irrelevant discussion. We used to switch out our 13-18 six-speed freewheels for 13-23, along with a 42/53, when we were climbing the really big cols and that was just for those of us in the grupetto. Those who were in contention at the front just rode their 13-18's because they needed the close ratios and knew they wouldn't go fast enough in a 23 so why need it? All this spinning hooey. It's not like you needed drugs to ride a 13-18 up mountains so why did you need a 13-23? That's what weight loss is for. And drillium. And holding onto team cars. Wimps, all.

And nonsense on the idea that more cogs meant having to go to bigger cogs. Shimano is coming out in the next iteration of Dura Ace with half-tooth cog jumps -- 13, 13-1/2, 14, 14-1/2, and so on. Wayne Stetina wanted to go for quarter-tooth cog jumps but got overruled. You don't think Campy would do anything so smart, would ya? Why, Shimano made their 9000 cassettes just to test out cassettes with partial cogs -- you break the spiders and get to test these teething patterns. I hear from informed sources that Shimano will follow up on the success of oval chainrings and go to oval cassette cogs as well. Why not be first with major new advances?

[regularguy412]

That was before compacts and 11-speed became common.

I run a 13-26 10-speed cassette with a standard 39/53 on one bike and I love it. I rarely miss the 12. I would never miss an 11.

The big cassettes are as much about leaving it in the big ring as much as possible as anything else.

This ^^

Mike in AR:beer:

[bikinchris]

I guess you haven't seen the Shimano Capreo system, with its 9-26 10spd cassette:

http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/global_cycle/en/sg/index/products/city___comfort_bike/capreo/product.image.+media+bikecomponents+CS+CS-HG70-S_600x450_v1_m56577569830648804_dot_jpg.bm.512.384 .gif


9 & 10 tooth sprockets have also been made by others, including Regina and Moulton

None of that makes the chain work better. The chain will not wrap around those cogs and it will wear out amazingly fast.
They just do that because people want a higher gear. Bike Friday has been doing it also, because the small wheels make the gear too low for some stronger riders.