I joined the local cricket club for the first time and couldn't hit a six, so didn't return to cricket.
I joined the local swimming club for the first time and came last in the races, so didn't return to swimming.
I joined the local football club for the first time but didn't score any goals ...
QG, cycling is a sport you start off being bad at and get better - just like all the others. You are talking about people going out as absolute beginners to do rides that are both long and hard, and you want then to be able to climb every hill without either going particularly slowly, having to pedal slowly or having to push hard. That is a false hope that technology won't solve. Drop it.
I went to a local club for their social Sunday morning ride, I'd already been riding for a few thousands of km. They advertised as a no drop social pace. I got dropped, and rode home alone. When I pointed this out to the organiser, his answer was to remove the no drop from the advert.
In cricket the people from the club aren't going to be stood at the top of the hill waiting for you to push your bike up the hill, or an equivalent. Ditto swimming or football. I think this is a false equivalence
Why do manufacturers include high gears on bikes? Come down to my club 10 one night. You'll see plenty of people, including children, spinning out their 50 rings. Ditto the local track. Nobody in the first half of the field will even have a 50 ring - and this is all at gutter amateur level. That's why.
Great. You've missed my point. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to buy a 53/11 chainset, or a 11-28 cassette. I'm suggesting that it would be better for everyone if they expanded their range to include lower gearing as well. So that a 46/30 is an option along side the 50/34. With the rise of the gravel bike as the middle ground between road and MTB, I'm not the only one who has felt that there is a need for gearing between the two. Esp given the designed in incompatibility between MTB and Road running gear. Even zigzag, an experienced rider, and TCR veteren, has sort out lower gears.
Saying that people can buy a stock bike and fit the FSA SL-K Modula 46/30 crankset if they want lower gears is hardly accessible for new riders. Surely it would be better if the experience cyclists were taking the stock chainrings off their bike, and putting bigger ones on if they want bigger gears, rather than the industry expecting those who want lower gears to be seeking out smaller manufacturers, to find parts to work in unapproved combinations, so they can get into cycling, so they can ride the rides they want to ride. My current bike has a Tiagra 4700 10 speed rear mech, and a Deore front mech. Both are controlled by Tiagra STI shifters. Officially according to every source I can find, these shifters, and this front mech will not work. The pull ratio is wrong. But I've got 11.8Mm of riding on this so far. The chainset is a 28/40. Coupled with an 11-34 cassette. I still walk up a lot of hills, fewer than I used to, but still more than I'd like. If I'd been stuck with a 1:1 gear, I'd probably not be venturing out of the flat lands very much, because of how demotivating it is to never be able to get up hills.
At your local club 10, and your local track the top half of the field won't have a 50t chain ring. Great. James Hayden won the TCR with a 46t front chain ring. If I get a place for TCRno7, I'll be riding it with a 28/38 chainset.
J
