There’s a thousand and one answers to that question, but todays answer is:
- Because they work. Bikes with gears almost never work properly – a sticky cable here, a bent and bent-back mech hanger there, a worn casette, a wobbly front mech, a wobby rear mech, worn out jockey wheels, chainsuck, burrs on the chainrings…. the list of geared ailments goes on and on. They only really work new out of the shop and even then the cables stretch. That nagging feeling that my bike doesn’t work properly drives me mad and 2 cogs, 1 chain allows me to bypass all that and get on with riding.
