Quote Originally Posted by sandra View Post
May I show MY IGNORANCE? I don't even understand 26:32 or 24:34 or (19 gear inches). What does that mean? How do you know this stuff? Do they tell you when you buy your bike? Can I look at my bike and know?
Hmmm... the 24:34 means that your smallest front ring has 24 teeth and your largest back gear has 34 teeth.
When you are in your very lowest gear to go up the very steepest hill, then you'd need you chain to be on the smallest ring up front and on the largest gear in the back.
A bike with a smaller smallest front ring (like a 24 instead of a 26) can go up a steeper hill more easily (not talking the rider or muscles here, just gears). If that same bike had a bigger biggest gear in the back (like 34 teeth instead of 32) then that would add even more to the ability to spin up steep hills.
That's why a 24/34 bike would be able to go up steeper hills more easily than a 26:32.
However,to keep things in perspective, both these bikes in question have very low gears good for climbing, compared to road/racing bikes or cruisers.