That's certainly been true in my case (even now when I have 21 gears :eek: ). But we live in more-is-better land.

On the other hand, I think the racers really do use all those gears. As I understand it, they try very hard to keep their cadence at one exact speed and vary the gears to the terrain.

I suspect that those of us who don't race would do fine with six. The kids and I have 21 gears on our hybrid bikes. My wife never has any trouble keeping up with us -- and she rides the same 3-speed Raleigh that she rode growing up.

Each additional two gears adds a half inch to the biker's penis, don't they? It's the tradeoff for the testicle damage from the seats.

So wolf, what exactly are you saying about dar's wife?
:lol:

Shopping for a new mtn bike for my husband, and 24 gears is what the sales guy's were pushing. I agree with only using 5-6 gears 99.9% of the time. A nice Specialized with heavy duty frame (hubby's over 300#) and front suspension is going for $329...

The K2 is probably a legit bike as well. You do have to be careful about cheap suspension. You're probably alright with either bike but you may want to write down the model name of each bike and look at the manufacturers web site... or let one of us do it for you just to be sure you're not paying more than its worth. It's prolly cool though. Have fun!

I rode home from work tonight. It was pretty sweet got a thumbs up from a Toyota pickup while I climbed the brutal West Hill (Vestal) nice to get positive input from the fossil fuel set. Got nice waves from a couple kids. One little guy in a pedal car who I've seen before really admired the speed. I must bring him to the good side of the force. The boys at school were pretty mellow today so I didn't NEED the ride but it sure was nice to have the ride along with a couple Negra Modelos when I got home.

K2 is cool. Is that the one with the trick rear suspension where the spring is in tension and the rear shock is inside the frame. Thinking outside the box.

both sold one hour before i got back to the pawnshop. :grr:

But I'll keep the money handy and strike the next time the iron's hot.

About the only time I go all "oriental" and wax about karma is with shopping. Obviously either one of them was not mean't for you. You'll find your bike.
I also dislike this 21st century retail marketing which bury's a little worm that says "Better buy it now, because tomorrow........" They want all purchases to be impulse that way the price/quality becomes less important.

Went shoppiong this weekend for new mountain bikes, ours were 10 years old with no suspension. Hubby got a Specialized, I got a Trek again, but Woman specific this time. LOVE the WSD, highly recommend it especially for shorties like me!! Mostly for riding around the neighborhood. There are some nice offroad areas around here, but the Burley tends to be a little wide for most of the singletrack :)

When the Burley Rat gets too big and wants his/her own bike. Don't waste time with training wheels and what seems like hours running down the street stooped over holding the saddle . Simply remove the pedals, crank and chain from "the first' bike and let Burley Rat walk the bike around for a week. (see attached)

After a week and no less, because BR will whine and plead to have pedals reinstalled after a couple of days, reinstall the pedal etc. and BR will pedal off into the future.

An Austrian guy told me this and it worked with my then 3-ish year old.

Am I correct in thinking that one cannot practically use all the gear ratio combinations because of the angle of the chain across the cogs? So even if one has 7 or 8 on the rear cassette one doesn't use the two larger rings in conjunction with the smallest of the front set and same applies the other way around. so practically mountain bikes have say 13 or 16 useable combinations.

You are correct!

Argueably, my 9speed cassette actually has too wide a selection to be usable. The 44tooth rear in combination with the granny may provide too much mechanical advantage to be useful climbing causing you to break loose.

Long Day
 

Okay I left the house about 6:15am and rode the Trek into work. Its been extremely muggy here for a few days so I was thinking that the ride home would be brutal. I realized that I have Team Meeting this week so I needed to get all my data in before leaving work. I finished just as the thunderstorm started sliding into the area. I got really wet which doesn't help loosen up legs which sat in little chairs playing the autism game all day. I rode a few miles and thought I'd stop at a little market for some chow, since I hadn't had dinner. The market is out of business... crap where is the Resevoir Dog Cart when you need it. :cool: I settled for a hot fudge sundae and a coke while I waited for the rain to slacken and the lightening to mellow. I made it home before dark! Wet,tired, and sore. Oh, happy as well.

What does this mean? :confused:

Please select from the following:

a. He sat and rocked and flailed his hands about and wailed occasionally.

b. The people he was meeting with were similar to people with autism in their level of understanding the data presented.

c. He is a teacher of autistic children and is trying to get the end-of-year paperwork wrapped up.

d. All of the above.