Acceptable number of Gears

ontheditch2

Still new to this lark, but just wondering What is an acceptable amount of gears on a road bike.

I have 16 on mine, will use it mainly for commuting 35kms, and for leisure/stay fit.. but do plan on tackling the mountains soon enough too.. As well as the odd competition (Gaelforce) here and there.

I am not going to go out and buy another bike, yet, but just wondering how much of a disadvantage will i be at??

Will 16 be enough for the mountains, haven't had any real challenge so far.

Just curious of what to expect, thanks..

Plastik

It depends on what 16 you have

ontheditch2

16 slow ones, going by my recent treks ;-)

Moreofthatjazz

it really depends on the range of gears rather than the amount i.e. front chainrings 50-34 or 53-39 ? or on the rear cassette 11-23 or lower 13-29? the lesser the size/teeth on the front and the more on the back makes things easier... for the hills its good to have a wide range so you can climb easier and not spin out going downhill... an eight speed cassette may have a wide range but be further apart and have big jumps between gears, having more gears makes it easier to have smaller jumps and maintain an even transition and cadence moving up and down the block...

macnab

if your front rings are something like 53/34 and your rears are 11-27 then you wont be too bad as that is quite low geared. but if your front is a 53/39 you might struggle for a while, and if you add a 11-21 rear to that then you will probably find the gearing too high for hills never mind mountains.
My advice is get lots of mileage into your legs, keep it flat-ish for a while and then start introducing hills. You will know yourself after a while whether you need to change your group-set or not.

cython

As was already said, the range of gears is far more important than simply the number. I too have 16 gear combinations on my bike (compact double (50-34), 8 speed (12-26) cassette), but this is a different 16 to what it originally had with a standard double (53-39). Struggling with hills was the main motivator behind my change, and since I made that change, keeping the same number of gears but in a more suitable range, I've kept with, and sometimes beaten, mates of mine up the Wicklow and Sally Gaps running various other groupset combinations, most of them offering a greater number of gears.

Essentially unless you're racing, or putting a massive focus on cadence whereby gaps caused by a wider spacing in gears are a disadvantage, then the number is far less important than the range.