I'm thinking about getting an ebike and wondering about gear inches. On bikes with multiple gears, I tend to use far fewer combinations than I have available. I also like to have one "easy" combo available for hills, particularly as I'm getting older. I was wondering about the differences between a low gear combo using a 50/34 crank and a Shimano 105 11-34 cluster and a combo of a 44t crank and a 11-42 cluster. According to Sheldon Brown, if I computed it right, the lowest gear combo between the two is 34/34 (approximately 27 gear inches) on the first bike and 44/34 (approximately 28.3 gear inches) on the second bike. Is a combo of 27 gear inches versus 28.3 gear inches a big deal? I think I would prefer an 11 speed to a 22 speed if the difference between those two low gear combos is not a big deal. (By the way, I am comparing a Cannondale Synapse Neo 1 to a Cannondale Synapse Neo SE here.)
Thanks for your help. (Please forgive any stupidity in the question. This is new ground for me)
Thanks for your help. (Please forgive any stupidity in the question. This is new ground for me)