Quote:
Originally Posted by benb
I find it semi-ironic they trained us all to crave more cogs on the cassette for tighter spacing, but then they convinced us all we needed massive range on the cassette so now a lot of us have no tighter spacing than we had back in the 9-speed era, but meanwhile now we have higher costs for the consumables and have to change out everything more frequently.
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I don't think "they" convinced us to have tighter spaced, smaller range cassettes - I think the consumers convinced themselves of that. Or more precisely, consumers saw that this is what pro racers were using (and had been using for decades), and at some point consumers convinced themselves that they should be using the same equipment that the pro racers were using.
Ironically, those narrow range cassettes with tight spacing were probably not best for the pros either, but for many years no self-respecting pro would be caught using "touring" gears on their bikes. It was only when some of the big races started introducing stages with very steep climbs that the pros finally relented. For the first few years that races started using steeper climbs the team mechanics would have to cobble together drivetrains with components outside the manufacturer's "racing" groupsets, until finally the manufacturers had to introduce wider gear ranges into their top level "racing" groups.
10-02-2024, 12:47 PM
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