+1

Yep
I'll be learning what I can from you folks and folks around once I get started. I prefer to learn from others mistakes without having to make them myself if possible.

I'm pretty sure I could change a flat. I've done it a hundred+ times on bikes when I was younger 20" and larger. I assume these new bikes are similar other than the fact that our bikes are "tubeless ready" which may make it a bit tougher to get the tire bead over the rim, I've read.

My tri and road bikes both run 52/36 front (with different length cranks mind you) and one has a 11-25, the other 11-28. I have an 11-25 for the road bike waiting to be installed. I think often about what the best rear gearing is and go back and forth. Then when riding (regardless of which bike) I always seem to be able to get up every hill (and we ride some steep climbs) and never run out of gear on the flats or down hill. My point is, if I wish I had a larger rear gear while climbing, I just grind it out and think about it making me stronger (which may or may not be the case).

You are going to find a couple of gears that become your fave's on the flats (give or take a wee bit of wind) train outside of those gears to get stronger, don't always default into them because they "work" for you.

The worst gearing I ever had was in my teens. We raced and had required gearing (I can't remember the sanctioning body or class etc) but we needed to ride a 48/52 front and a 16-20 rear. It was like having 4 gears. There was just nothing really between one tooth on the rear. Climbing sucked, and not enough gear on downhill..... It sucked to ride. It may have been why I quite riding for 25 plus years.... :) (or the flat tires or crashing...)

We had only 5 gears back then unless you rode in the late 80s then you had 6.

Yep, Junior gear restriction, sucks. I think it was 52 15, maybe 16? I hated them because we would get blown off the back during training rides. We just didn't have enough gears on those long flats where the big boys motor away. We change freewheels before a race.

The trick w/ tube changes is to be sure that the bead is seated all the way around, it can get hung up where the valve stem is, I put a little air in the tube to start, seat the bead by kneading it, add 30#s or so to double check it then inflate to riding pressure.

An adjustable C02 cartridge/filler is the nuts for this, a pump will do in a pinch.

53x15 was the max for junior gearing. Plenty of gear for racing, even with the seniors. We used to blow those guys away when they would shift down into their 13's and we would just spin faster. Jonas Carney used to decimate the seniors cat 2 races riding as a junior on junior gears. The only time I ever really needed big gears was racing in Belgium. Those guys could push big gears for miles. We were only half joking when we said we had 2 gears. 53x13 for the flat and 53x15 for the hills.

I started racing with a standard 5 speed then switched to a six speed. Everything was down tube friction shifters. Once in a while I will jump onto one of my old bikes and play around. They still feel good and I can corner it as fast as anything modern.

On Presta valves, install them as Bill had mentioned and leave the stem loose. I would push them up in the tire when seating the bead then pressure them up so as not to pinch the tube.

When reading Jeff's response, my first thought was he uses different length cranks... Then the coffee kicked in!

If your drivetrain is making noise, then you are probably out of range.

It took a bit for me to get the new 1x11 to a range where it was rideable for me on the climbs.
Think I settled on 28x46 on the back end for the trail bike and 26x42 on the fat (winter) bike.
Neither are ridden on road except to get to the trail near the house.

Seriously looking at the Sram 1x12 Eagle in X0 or XX1. Maybe after this stuff wears out.

I do REALLY like the way the SRAM double tap shifters works!

then don't try their eTap or Shimano electronic.

I'm assuming the cost $$$ for e-shifting would make adding those to my bike $ seem a little silly.

But they are amazing.... :)

I'm riding a compact front and 11-40 rear and could use more on many hills. Our club rides many goats in double digits. Our group has many in the 60-70 year old range a good number have 11-40 or 11-42 cassettes. It is definitely not macho but you get up the hills and at least you are out there. Ride with experienced cyclists and you will get lots of good advice if you ask. You pickup various bits of helpful info. over the years. I'm only about 2.5 years into it. It seems like you are always looking for ways to be more comfortable on the bike.

We had one guy that bought a bike over the internet. It came with gearing of something like

11-42 rear

38-52 front

Yes, he could UNDERDRIVE. He changed the cassette soon after, but not before a BUNCH of ribbing.

I've got the latest and greatest Shimano Di2 on one bike and the latest Shimano Ultegra mechanical on another, Both are nice.

The only time I prefer Di2 is when upshifting the front at the end of a long ride, those last few ups on the Ultegra really strain my thumb.

On the Ultegra I really like going down 2 at a time, makes keeping pace much easier as iIcan keep speed up in a higher gear longer

Otherwise IMO it's wash , except for the price. The Di2 components are works of art but I don't spend much time looking at them, unlike some of the guys I know that keep their gems in their office to look at all day.

just listen to yer chain
if you cross over to much it will make a grinding noise.