CJ wrote:reohn2 wrote:CJ wrote:I've used this 12-36 9-speed cassette with a genuinely compact double (42,22) on my touring bike these past three years and find it absolutely spiffing!
Don't worry about the cassette being too widely spaced, or take any notice of those hyper-sensitive souls who opine that it is. I've ridden behind and studied the gearing use of people who advocate closely spaced gears and they don't shift any more often than I do. Rather than use the fine tuning as they claim, to maintain a constant cadence, what they actually seem to want this for is a closely-spaced selection of 'just right' gears frrom which they hope to select one that is not too low for the flat or too high to power up moderate slopes! Not a clever way to use gears IMO.
Other people have other opinions
Opinions are fine for those who hold 'em, but unless they stand up to rational analysis, opinions should not be promoted to the rank of general recommendations.
The opinion that a 17% jump in gear ratio is a 'problem' fails this test because if it were, single-speed would be useless.
I can justify my opinion that it is not a problem by referring to several data published in the book 'Bicycling Science', which indicate that the power/rpm curves of a typical human engine have a peak that is quite broad and flat, such that variations in cadence as great as 10% either side of the optimum (the effect of a 20% gear interval) should not affect power by more than one or two percentage points.
That may be enough to concern a racer perhaps, but should not bother the rest of us, who are not so much concerned to maximise power as to minimise effort and fatigue. The relative insignificance of the more easily measurable power/cadence relationship however, combined with the fact that we can quite easily and comfortably pedal a GREAT DEAL faster or slower, only goes to show that the 'problem' of gaps between gears is psychological rather than physical.
My opinion is valid because the gap from 18t to 21t in the middle of the cruising range bothers my cadence/power range,I find a 19 to 21 gap ideal.
To elaborate,my 9sp cassettes are 14,15,17,19,21,23,25,28,32 or 26,30,34 with an Alpine double of 24-39t.The top end is high enough and the bottom end is low enough,but it's the intermediate higher end 15,17,19,21,23 cogs I use most,the gaps work well for me,anything wider doesn't anything closer doesn't,and I don't ride a loaded bike any more just day luggage.
I don't race,never have done and never will,but I know what gaps feel like and I'm not alone in that,nor am I claiming I'm right and you're wrong simply I prefer what I prefer.
I've tried the standard cassette and don't get on with it,that's why I make up the cassettes that suit me,all the science won't convince me otherwise when I know what suites me.
Your preferences suit you and I have no problem with that,but please don't try and tell I'm wrong when my legs tell me otherwise.