Can you tell the difference between these gear inches ranges?

[Manc33]

It's all gone out of the window since I put a motor on but on a normal bike in the past the best setup I ever had was a 48-36-22 triple with 11-40t (11-Speed) cassette. On my 26" wheels with 1.75" tyres that gave 14.10" to 111.84". I had 33 gears. The only downside to doing this was the cost of the 11-Speed stuff, since to swap to it you need a chain, right shifter, rear mech and cassette, but a normal oldschool 9-Speed hub can take that cassette, which saves having to get a rear wheel. This was my favourite ever setup anyway - and I'm pretty sure that 11-Speed setup shifted slightly better than my current 9-Speed does now (XTR shifter on both, XT rear mech on both).

[pwa]

It's all gone out of the window since I put a motor on but on a normal bike in the past the best setup I ever had was a 48-36-22 triple with 11-40t (11-Speed) cassette. On my 26" wheels with 1.75" tyres that gave 14.10" to 111.84". I had 33 gears. The only downside to doing this was the cost of the 11-Speed stuff, since to swap to it you need a chain, right shifter, rear mech and cassette, but a normal oldschool 9-Speed hub can take that cassette, which saves having to get a rear wheel. This was my favourite ever setup anyway - and I'm pretty sure that 11-Speed setup shifted slightly better than my current 9-Speed does now (XTR shifter on both, XT rear mech on both).

You got an 11 speed triple to work? Interesting. I thought there were no triple chainsets suited to 11 speed.

[Mick F]

Any triple can work with 11sp.
Maybe there could be an issue with chainring spacing, but that can be adjusted easily.

[Vorpal]

It' going to make more like a 3% difference

Of What? Of the entire range?

Of how often I walk on hills.

[Manc33]

It's all gone out of the window since I put a motor on but on a normal bike in the past the best setup I ever had was a 48-36-22 triple with 11-40t (11-Speed) cassette. On my 26" wheels with 1.75" tyres that gave 14.10" to 111.84". I had 33 gears. The only downside to doing this was the cost of the 11-Speed stuff, since to swap to it you need a chain, right shifter, rear mech and cassette, but a normal oldschool 9-Speed hub can take that cassette, which saves having to get a rear wheel. This was my favourite ever setup anyway - and I'm pretty sure that 11-Speed setup shifted slightly better than my current 9-Speed does now (XTR shifter on both, XT rear mech on both).

You got an 11 speed triple to work? Interesting. I thought there were no triple chainsets suited to 11 speed.

I think XTR might have briefly sold one but that's not (completely) the setup I had.

I had this lot:

Crankset: Alivio T4010 triple (48/36/26 with 26t taken off and replaced with 22t inner)
Front Mech: Shimano XT (FD-M771) - says up to 44t in the spec, but works OK on a 48t outer.
Rear mech: Shimano XT (M8000 SGS)
Cassette: Shimano XT (M8000) 11-40t
Right shifter: Shimano XTR M9000
Left shifter: Shimano XTR M9000

No trimming needed (or available on that left shifter) either, it just worked.

The fact that the above rear mech has such a long swingarm, helped. On my 26" wheels it was a bit too close to the ground to be honest (probably 1.5").

Another setup I had was 52/38/24 and I perhaps preferred that slightly because of the 38t middle. I never had an 11-Speed cassette on that to know if it worked or not. I was still on my 11-32t back then. That was a Spa Cycles 7075 triple crankset.

[pwa]

It's all gone out of the window since I put a motor on but on a normal bike in the past the best setup I ever had was a 48-36-22 triple with 11-40t (11-Speed) cassette. On my 26" wheels with 1.75" tyres that gave 14.10" to 111.84". I had 33 gears. The only downside to doing this was the cost of the 11-Speed stuff, since to swap to it you need a chain, right shifter, rear mech and cassette, but a normal oldschool 9-Speed hub can take that cassette, which saves having to get a rear wheel. This was my favourite ever setup anyway - and I'm pretty sure that 11-Speed setup shifted slightly better than my current 9-Speed does now (XTR shifter on both, XT rear mech on both).

You got an 11 speed triple to work? Interesting. I thought there were no triple chainsets suited to 11 speed.

I think XTR might have briefly sold one but that's not (completely) the setup I had.

I had this lot:

Crankset: Alivio T4010 triple (48/36/26 with 26t taken off and replaced with 22t inner)
Front Mech: Shimano XT (FD-M771) - says up to 44t in the spec, but works OK on a 48t outer.
Rear mech: Shimano XT (M8000 SGS)
Cassette: Shimano XT (M8000) 11-40t
Right shifter: Shimano XTR M9000
Left shifter: Shimano XTR M9000

No trimming needed (or available on that left shifter) either, it just worked.

The fact that the above rear mech has such a long swingarm, helped. On my 26" wheels it was a bit too close to the ground to be honest (probably 1.5").

Another setup I had was 52/38/24 and I perhaps preferred that slightly because of the 38t middle. I never had an 11-Speed cassette on that to know if it worked or not. I was still on my 11-32t back then. That was a Spa Cycles 7075 triple crankset.

So you had rings from 48 down to 22, and cassette from 11 to 40, and the rear mech could handle that without the chain going floppy if you accidentally ended up on smallest/ smallest? Or did you just rely on disciplined selection to avoid that?

[pq]

I've ridden lots of different gearing set-ups and I've mostly found that pretty much whatever I use, the highest gear never earns it's keep. I currently have a tourer with a 78" top gear and I don't even use that. I'm too fond of freewheeling down hills. At the other end I have 16.25" and while I don't use it that often, when I do use it I'm very grateful to have it.

26" wheels, 42/32/20 chainset, 14/32 8 speed cassette.

[mattheus]

I think it's true that ideally your lowest and highest gears would be the least used.
(But never used is a waste!)

[Greystoke]

I have a early MTB drop bar tourer conversion, 15 gears! Works ace.
Top gear 82", bottom 22", I can use all of the gears but I have 4 top gears close together on the middle and big chain rings then it gets serious and I have plenty of low gears.....low enough? Maybe....
Top gear doesn't see much use but it's there when required.
26" wheels, 14-28 block, 24-36-44 chain set.