WHY!!!????

[AuctionLamb]

Now that we have 11 speed groupsets here? Is it not getting too much? I find that my 10 speed is  more than I need! These guys give you an option for another gear and that costs you a couple of grand more....and you most prob not gonna use that gear anyway!

[Canaris]

I had the same feeling about the 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 speed.  But we are all suckers for something new.

[AuctionLamb]

 

I had the same feeling about the 3' date=' 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 speed.  But we are all suckers for something new.[/quote']

 

I think 8 speed gives you enough to play with...

 

[Canaris]

I had the same feeling about the 3' date=' 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 speed.  But we are all suckers for something new.[/quote']

I think 8 speed gives you enough to play with...

 

counter-revolutionary.........

[Spinnekop]

I use all mine.......

 

Besides........

If I remember correctly, Shimano has already patent rights on 14 speed.......

 

Bring on new technology!!!!!!

 

[Jean-Jay]

14 speed - good grief - how the heck???

[GreyOwl3.0]

11 speed rocks...dunno how I lived without it...

[dirtrider]

Yes please give us more ! how boring is it to maintain a SS bike !!! We need more complicated stuff that we can modify and weld together .

[Thug]

Single speeds rule........  :-)

 

 

[Guest colonel]

AL: Having an 11 speed is the same category for me as paying R20 000-R25 000 for a groupset--it just aint gonna happen.

[Dirtbreath]

Kaching Kaching $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Maybe someone could be bothered to check the actual available vs used gears?

 

[Tumbleweed]

there was an onion spoof about gillette, titled: "F*&% it, we're going for five" about the "razor wars. it's become reality.

[The Guy in Pink]

Having all these gears has taken some of the fun out of racing. When we only had five on the back we would sit about the night before a race with piles of chainrings, clusters and a gear chart and have to make decisions.  Close ratio, wide  ratio? Is it a hilly route or can we take a chance on the big hill with a 57 inch gear?

I still have my flat road time trial chain rings and cranks.  A 177.5mm crank with 48 & 50 rings  running on a close ratio  14, 15, 16, 17 &19 cluster. 

[Yang]

Now that we have 11 speed groupsets here? Is it not getting too much? I find that my 10 speed is  more than I need! These guys give you an option for another gear and that costs you a couple of grand more....and you most prob not gonna use that gear anyway!

 

AL, isn't it all about choice and evolution? Its the same as when cyclists were faced with the choice of 7 speed to 8 speed to 9 to 10..... Chromoly to Alu. Alu to carbon. Downshifters to index shifters. These choices became no-brainers. Also: (I hope this comes out)

 

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[Johan Bornman]

 

AL, isn't it all about choice and evolution? Its the same as when cyclists were faced with the choice of 7 speed to 8 speed to 9 to 10..... Chromoly to Alu. Alu to carbon. Downshifters to index shifters. These choices became no-brainers. Also: (I hope this comes out)

 

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This is an interesting issue with many approaches. Here's one view on it.

 

Whenever faced with something new, I always ask the question: "What problem does it solve?"

 

I don't think, in the case of 9/10/11 speed wheels, we have solved any problem with the evolution to more sprockets.

 

We have however introduced more problems namely:

 

1) Incompatibility

2) Brand-specific (proprietay) components

3) Increased stockholding and increased cost.

4) Weaker and less durable parts

5) Artificial obsolescense at the bottom end.

 

There comes a point when a revolution, rather than an evolution is called for and I think we're in for something soon, if the trend towards more sprockets continues.

 

In the days of the 7-speed freewheel (screw-on clusters), the move to 8-speed introduced axle breakages. 8-Speed clusters taxed the axle too much, giving it a large unsupported right hand side and the chain tension flexed the axle.

 

The engineers then developed the freehub, the hub we have today. It has bearings underneath the sprockets (usually two there and two elsewhere in the hub) and the axle breaking problem disappeared.

 

From those days the trend was towards more sprockets and we're currently at 11, with a smallest one of 11. This gives you a choice of 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, or with a few gaps, a jump in the latter part of the combination.

 

I don't think the market will be satisfied until it has 11-25, which gives us a goal of 15 sprockets.

 

They cannot make the chain and sprockets any narrower without sacrificing shifting accuracy and overstretching the dishing. Therefore, the wheel has to go wider.

 

The current racing bike standard width is 130mm on the rear hub. Tandems are on 145mm and in some cases 165mm.

 

I can see where this will go.

 

Again, compatibility will suffer and we'll need a new frame standard. In the days of steel bikes we simply bent open the frame and inserted the new hub. Now bikes are made from charcoal and cannot bend. No problem, just get a new frame.

 

And so on.

 

No matter how much debating about the uselsessness of 11/12/13 speed, people will buy it and the vendor with such an offering will have an advantage.

 

What problem does it solve?

 

 

 

[Johan Bornman]

Kaching Kaching $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Well' date=' that and the fact that people will buy anything perceived as "better". Remember, it is immoral not to part a fool from his money. A variation on that theme is that you'll be wasting your talents if you don't sell people stuff they want.

 

Maybe someone could be bothered to check the actual available vs used gears?

 

Here I don't quite go with the flow. The un-available gears are still just the outer two. So the total available gears have increased.