Why do TerraTrikes have fewer gears than some other trikes?
First remember that the number of gears is never as important as the range of gearing. The bike industry has done a great job convincing the consumer that more gears = better. This is far from true. More gears only = more complexity (and potential mechanical problems), and more weight to carry around. We believe that we could race or tour on any bike with 5 gears if we could pick our shift points. The old 10 speeds we all had actually had the same gear range as today’s 27 speed mountain bikes. The new ones just have more overlapping or redundant gears. Most recumbent companies try to dazzle the consumer with a big number of gears. This is superfluous, and a waste of your money. The number you want to compare is the Gear Inch Range. Click here to view the gear inch ranges of our products. Click here if you’re interested in using a gear-inch calculator.
