Sprockets
Indeed, professional racing cyclists generally use an 11-23 or even 11-21 casette, although they may opt for a slightly larger sprocket on races with steep climbs. Unfortunately, a larger sprocket, or easier gear, does not provide you with additional 'pedal force'. All it does is allow you to expend your energy more slowly, thus each pedal stroke becomes easier, but also moves you along at a slower speed. Us mortals need lower gears just to be able to pedal at a reasonable cadence on climbs or riding into a head-wind. A professional racing cyclist, never going under 30kph on a race, keeping a cadence of 90RPM with a 53 tooth chain ring would not need more than a 21 tooth sprocket. A 23 tooth sprocket and a 39 tooth chain ring would allow a speed of about 19kph, well below what a professional cyclist would need on a race, even with some pretty steep climbs (Lance Armstrong climbed the Alpe d'Huez in the 2004 TDF time trial at an average speed of about 18kph). Yuval. P.S. Sorry about the English, reinstalled Windows and botched up the Hebrew support
