They are inexpensive bikes and perfectly capable for commuters. But is a 7-speed bike enough for hills? Let’s find out.
IS a 7-SPEED bike ENOUGH FOR HILLS?
A 7-speed bike is enough for hills. But if you have particularly steep hills in your area, you may want to pick a 9 or 10-speed bike. An extra climbing gear will make your life much easier and a high-speed gear will make it more fun when you come back down.
But keep in mind that a 10-speed bike is not automatically better than a 7-speed bike for hills.
What matters is to have a wider range of speeds:
So for example: Take a 7-speed bike and add a lower speed and two higher speeds on top of the existing 7 speeds.
That would extend the gear range of the bike and is exactly what we are looking for.
Here’s why.
You will need an ultra-low gear for those steep climbs.
And you will also need an ultra-high gear when you have reached the top of the hill and it goes back down (and fast).
Only you can decide how low and high those extra gears need to be.
But the general rule of thumb is:
The smaller the smallest cog and the bigger the biggest cog on the rear wheel is, the wider the gear range of the bike. That is, for the same size chainring of course.
HOW MANY SPEEDS DO I NEED ON MY BIKE?
How many speeds you need largely depends on what type of bike you ride.
It also depends on your use case:
- Do you want to ride a hybrid bike to work?
- Are you going downhill some single tracks with your buddies?
- Or are you going for speed in road race competitions?
It’s also important to be clear about what bike you’re looking at.
- A kid’s bike usually has one to three speeds.
- A dutch bike often has three to five speeds.
- The sweet spot for a modern commuter bicycle is 5 to 9 speeds.
- A mountain bike will have anywhere between 8 and 24 speeds.
- A road bike on the other usually comes with anywhere between 10 and 27 speeds.
Lastly, the terrain also determines how many gears you will need:
Flat roads don’t needs as many speeds.
But the steeper the hills in your area, the wider of a gear range your bike should have. And ideally also more gears.
Because chances are: The higher you will have to climb, the faster you will go back down on the other side.
7-SPEEDS ARE PERFECT FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON.
Generally speaking, the average person is well-equipped with 7 speeds:
- Speeds 1-3 are for climbing and winds.
- Gears 4-5 are for cruising.
- And speeds 6-7 are for speed or for going down small hills.
That’s all the average person will ever need to cruise around a city.
But most people will probably want more than those 7 gears sooner or later.
Why?
Because they will encounter a bigger hill, or heavier winds, or go on a longer ride in the countryside at some point.
And in those edge cases, more gears and wider gear ranges might be better.
GEAR RANGES, SCHMEAR RANGES – How many speeds do I need for hills?
If you don’t want to think about gear ranges, or just want to buy a bike that is guaranteed to work in hills: Go for a 21-speed bike.
A 21-speed bike has 7 cogs in the back, just like a 7-speed bike. But it also has 3 chain rings in the front.
That gives you a total of 21 gear combinations (3×7).
Here is what the 3 chainrings are great for:
- The smallest chainring in the front is great for riding uphill (or against the wind).
- The big chainring is great for riding downhill (or with the wind).
- The one in the middle is great for everything else.
This way you only have to on the rear derailleur to change gears in those settings.
That will keep you in the right gear range while allowing you to find an efficient cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) with your 7 rear cogs under all conditions.
The reason why I generally don’t recommend bikes with front derailleurs to most riders is that it is another moving part that needs to be maintained, fine-tuned, and that can break.
It is also often found in cheap bikes, that are overloaded with features, but lack in quality.
But a good 21-speed bike is always going to be one of the most versatile options.
Just one word of warning: 21-speed bikes don’t have 21 unique speeds.
Instead, they have 21 total combinations.
Some of these combinations may overlap, effectively creating redundancy.
Even if they may not be mathematically identical. Some of these speeds will feel the same.
All of this adds extra weight and introduces more things that can break – without adding any real benefit over a purpose-built drivetrain.
So always be clear on this if you want a 21-speed bike.
ARE 7 GEARS ENOUGH ON A MOUNTAIN BIKE?
7 speeds are generally not enough on a mountain bike.
Having more speeds is usually better on an MTB.
While the trend in higher-end bikes is going towards 1x drivetrains, most modern MTBs now have 9 to 12 speeds. And all of these speeds are dedicated MTB gear ratios.
They’re great for climbing and for going fast downhill.
These gears are usually not comparable to the ones found on a hybrid bike that tends to have a much smaller gear range.
Why no front derailleur on mountain bikes?
One of the reasons is that the front derailleur can easily break, bend, or catch on the trail.
The less hardware you have on a mountain bike, the less can break.
It also reduces the weight a little. And small weight reductions can have a huge performance increase in biking.
The last reason against front derailleurs on MTBs is safety: In case of a crash (and 30% of mountain biking seems to be crashing), the fewer metal parts you have that you can scrape or catch your leg on, the better.
The last reason is that a 21-speed bike has some overlap in gears.
The 1×11 drivetrain has proven to be an efficient compromise for MTBs that can take you both up and down a hill.
Without the downsides of three-by drivetrains.
IS A 7-SPEED ROAD BIKE ENOUGH?
Unfortunately: Not really.
This is a case where a 7-speed bike is definitely not enough for hills. You may want to opt for a 10 to 30-speed bike instead.
The biggest driving force in your decision on how many speeds you need is the environment in which you ride.
An 11-speed road bike is usually enough for flat roads and light hills.
But if you plan to ride through rolling mountain roads, more speeds are often better.
Just keep in mind that one of the major considerations in choosing a road bike is its weight.
The more speeds you have, the more your bike will weigh. The more your bike weighs, the slower you are over a long distance.
But while it’s one of the lightest drivetrains, I would personally not consider a 7-speed bike to go fast for long periods of time either.
You are just going to miss some of the gear range for those ultra-high speeds.
And compared to a mountain bike, you only want the high-speed gears.
A double crankset with 20 speeds (2×10) may be a good balance for most riders.
But since road biking is such a specific use case it’s a little outside the scope of this post.
If you are interested in learning more, check out this Youtube video by GCN:
Next up, let’s look at what a 7-speed bike is actually great for.
THE BENEFITS OF 7-SPEED BIKES.
7-speed bikes are great. They offer enough range for most riders, are often inexpensive, and are reliable.
The lack of a front derailleur reduces maintenance over 2x or 3x cranksets.
And if we’re honest, they are probably fast enough. Please check out this post if you don’t believe me: How fast can a 7-speed bike go?
In the article above, I took my 7-speed bike out for a real-life speed test. The results surprised me to say the least.
While they are not built for speed, these bicycles are great for running around town, meeting friends, and commuting to school or work.
If I could only have one bike, it would probably be an 8 or 9-speed bike though.
That extra gear or two would give me a little more versatility in everyday life.
Could I live with only a 7-speed bike? Absolutely. I lived with fewer gears for many years without issues.
It may not be the perfect one-and-only bike, but it’s a bike that is so versatile and useful that I would not want to miss it.
SUMMARY: IT’S ALL ABOUT RANGE AND YOUR USE CASE.
So, is a 7-speed bike enough for hills?
It depends.
If you want to ride to school or work in a city: Yes, it’s enough. An extra gear would probably be nice, but a 7-speed is perfectly capable for slow commuting through hills.
In fact, I rode around 4,000 miles on a 3-speed bike in one year to get to my first job. It was mostly on flat roads, but the experience was probably the same.
Now, If you want to go mountain biking: A couple more gears would definitely help. The constant ups and downs require a higher number of available gear ratios.
I am not sure if you would be happy with a 7-speed road bike on the other hand.
Or if such a thing even exists.
Even when discounting the fact that 7-speed are usually hybrids that are designed to be anything but fast (in materials, tires, extras, and geometry), the gear range on a 7-speed bike is likely too limited to keep up with anyone on a proper road bike. Especially in hills.
But even then, one thing always holds true:
The bike you have is always faster than the one you don’t have.
And don’t forget to check out How fast can a 7-speed bike go? (Faster than you may think).
