john

its not for sprinting...  I typically gear into a 14 or 15 or 16 and wind it up when i sprint.  but then i use to be able to put it over 200 rpm (on rollers.. )   As i get older I am slowly losing this spin..  and do tend to push bigger gears. 

What these big gears are nice for is for rolling along in a big peloton..  or fast paceline, when at the back, switch up to a big gear and push along... just for a change to the muscles.  I have done a few races where i rarely came out of the biggest gear...  but a while ago and probably a 52x13.

I almost never use an 11, now sometimes use a 12, but use to almost always use a 13 with a 53..   Now i might with compact gearing, but then my big ring will be a  46, 48  at most a 50.. 

--- On Fri, 8/29/08, Steve Brown wrote:
From: Steve Brown
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Who needs an 11?
To: "OBRA list"
Date: Friday, August 29, 2008, 2:45 PM

Coming to cycling late in life, only having knowledge of some track
stuff and always interested to learn something new. I was somewhat
puzzled last week when I heard someone was selling a 12-25 cassette
because they needed and 11. Just a few days ago when I was hanging
with some of the big dog sprinters, they seemed to feel that a 53-12
should be enough meat to get you where you wanted to go. And as far
as I knew, Nigel Tufnel was really the only person to need an 11.
So where does a roadie use an 11? 53-12 at 100 rpm's is 35 mph.

Steve Brown
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