Research · topics

The gear decisions riders are making

Not a spec sheet on one part — the question behind it. What’s changing, what the evidence says, and what riders actually report. Sourced, cited, free.

• Crank length

  Should you go shorter?

  Across cranks from 120 to 220mm, maximum power moves about 4% — the lever was never where the watts were.Read →
• Handlebar width

  Should you go narrower?

  Narrow is the new aero — and from 2026 the UCI is drawing a line at 400mm.Read →
• Tyre width

  Should you go wider?

  At the same pressure a wider tyre and a narrower one press the same-size contact patch into the road — the wider one's is just shorter and fatter, so the casing flexes less each rotation and wastes less energy.Read →
• Chain wear

  When should you replace it?

  Your chain never stretched. The pins and rollers wore, the spacing opened up — and the part that gets expensive if you ignore it is the cassette, not the chain.Read →
• Chain lube

  Should you switch to wax?

  A properly waxed chain can run thousands of gritty kilometres with almost no measurable wear, where a wet oil chews through more than a chain over the same distance — the real case for wax is drivetrain life, not watts.Read →
• 1x vs 2x

  Do you still need the front derailleur?

  Dropping the front derailleur buys real simplicity and no fumbled front shifts — but a single cassette physically can’t give you both a 2x’s total range and its tight jumps, so you’re always trading one for the other.Read →
• Tubeless sealant

  How often does it actually need replacing?

  The two biggest sealant brands disagree by a factor of three about how long their own product lasts — which is why every interval you have been given is a guess wearing a number.Read →
• Tyre pressure

  What should you actually run?

  Ten psi too high cost nine watts. Ten psi too low cost one. The penalty for guessing is not symmetrical, and almost everyone guesses upward.Read →
• Cassette wear

  Does it have to go with the chain?

  There is no gauge for a cassette. The accepted test is to fit a new chain and see whether it skips — which means you find out after you have already bought the chain.Read →
• Chainring wear

  When does a worn ring actually matter?

  Worn chainring teeth take the shape of a shark's fin — and the inner ring and the outer ring tell you they are finished in two completely different ways.Read →