09-08-2016, 05:54 AM
You are asking the wrong question. The number of theoretical gear combinations is completely irrelevant. There are only two important factors: 1) Do you have a high and a low gear that fit the range of conditions you will encounter; 2) Are the jumps between gear ratios relatively low so that you don't bogged down with too much effort during an upshift. When riding, you would never use every single combination of gears. You use the front three chainrings as a low, medium, high range and just use the rear cluster to fine tune each of those ranges. Simple, see.
Currently, my commuter bike has 21 theoretical combinations (although I probably only use about 17 of them), almost as many as the bike in question, and given the hills on the way to and from work (up to 19% grade), that barely fills the bill.
Currently, my commuter bike has 21 theoretical combinations (although I probably only use about 17 of them), almost as many as the bike in question, and given the hills on the way to and from work (up to 19% grade), that barely fills the bill.