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While Machismo answers the question asked, the reason why there is that reaction is mainly a lack of understanding about how and why compact cranks exist. Obviously, you can look at it and say to give us better climbing (easy) gears. But what many people miss is the rear ratio changes. The race standard for many years was 53/12. That is the hardest gear, ...

Pedalling with compact cranks is supposed to be easier. So people who take great pride in how strong they are and how fast they can go don't like when you're able to do the same with (apparently) less effort. You can compare to being passed by electric bike while climbing, some people just feel the person on the e-bike doesn't "deserve" to be that fast and ...

Machismo. Compacts came about to alleviate the high gearing of a standard crankset's gearing without inheriting the troubles that come with a triple. Compacts are naturally geared lower than standards. Some people (incorrectly) see lower gearing as a sign of weakness. Some of those same people will serpentine their way up high grade mountain roads because ...

It all depends on the riders that you encounter, actually. I've been in group rides of 40+ where everyone was an experienced cyclist, and it was smooth sailing. People were able to move in and out of various parts of the group at will, road safety and laws were observed, etc. I've also been in rides with 6 people where the handling was sketchy, they spread ...

Cycling is a varied experience including many different reasons to ride, such as commuting, fitness, or racing. Experience is further shaped by the type of bike and environment. The book Bike Snob tries to distill what cyclists have in common and presents the definition of a cyclist as someone who chooses to ride a bike even if they don't have to. The book ...

I think that compact (lower gears) supposedly would imply the person isn't strong enough to spin higher gears, or actually needs that low gears to be able to climb properly. In any case, I think most people doesn't even know there is a difference on crank chainring sizes, not to mention they could very well prefer one over another. I for one ride internal ...

Yes on all counts! more cyclists on the road does seem to improve driver behaviour it does also mean more clueless cyclists (no etiquette, no shoulder checks, poor road positioning) ... and, of course, any dedicated provision will tend to be more congested (and disproportionately with the worse cyclists IME) In general I either ride with traffic, and ...

Do you find that higher volumes of commuters mean a worst commute for you personally? It's not bad if you ride smart: Look 20+ meters ahead, to see possible choke points Know how capable you are to make a sprint, because you might need the speed to get past traffic that will choke. That sprint can also help you get back in motion if you get stuck. ...

Considering everyday traffic, I'd rather take a longer detour than bike within all other bikers. My worst traffic accidents all were with other bikers, using the wrong side of the road, not respecting simplest rules like priority to the right. I avoid especially narrow curves that are hardly visual accessible and open for both directions of bike traffic. ...

Yep, a combination of maschisimo and most importantly a sad case of "It's not what the pros do". Yes, you'll never see a pro racer on a compact, and rarely one on aluminum wheels at that, but somehow a lot of guys love to hate it. Despite the fact that as the gearing post about mentions, you're rarely even in gears that make a difference in all but an out ...

When I bought a really expensive recumbent... The LBS did not sell recumbents, and they recommended me to go to the recumbent specialist 20km away. Lets call him RS, recumbent specialist. I dont own a car, so I had to borrow one for each trip there. Pickup day. I travelled to the specialist, did a check on the bike. There I found a few problems: The chain ...