My last bike, a ca. 1973 Raleigh Cruiser had three speeds, but only the second gear worked after I owned it about a month. I just stayed in second gear. I did that for almost a year, summer, winter. I stopped missing the other gears. I forgot all about them.

My previous bike had seven. Seven was perfect! The old Miele got me up hills whistling effortlessly, where before I was gasping for air and finally getting off and pushing. Broadview, you know that first hill right before the view of the valley and the city scape on the left, and then that second even steeper hill, no view, and even if there was, you couldn’t enjoy it, you’d be busy pedalling, balancing, and breathing so hard.

I also think the Miele had a broader range than my previous bike – meaning lowest gear was probably a little bit easier than lowest gear on my 5 speed, my previous previous bike. But I found myself changing gears all the time on the Miele. It became a habit, not a necessity. I’d had it fitted with one of those beautiful ergonomic Shamano thumb shifters.

That was seven speeds. It was a luxury. It meant never having to pedal too hard, or too fast.

So then, what’s the deal with 12 speeds? 18, 24, 27 speeds? Do you even need twenty-seven speeds?  Tell me what’s really the difference between 18th and 19th gear? I wanna know!

The real question is, does first gear on a 12 speed get you up a hill easier than on a 7 speed? What city even has a hill steep enough to need what first gear on a 27-speed bike theoretically promises you can easily climb?

So I did a little research. The range between lowest and highest gear can differ from bike to bike no matter how many speeds it has. But what I also learned from reading this article is that with all these speeds you can’t, or shouldn’t even use them all. The cogs can stack up quite wide. If your chain is on the largest sprocket in the back and on the smallest at the crank, it runs diagonally and covers more length from rear wheel to chain wheel. That way you stretch the chain, and wear it out too fast.

The main advantage to having that many speeds, or as many speeds that requires two sets of cogs is that you can choose which side to shift depending on whether you need to skip a few speeds.

Still not sure, how many speeds you actually end up using.

So for a year I made do with only second gear. Now I ride a three speed, a brand new bone coloured Simcoe, named Windy, built for Toronto Winters, with internal gears, nice treads, customized handle bar and stem for the perfect angle, and a new Selle Royal seat, that took me two weeks to get comfortable on. I rarely change gears now, just stay in second most of the time. But every now and then I wish I had something between second and third gear. One speed is fine. Three is somehow not enough.