ten-speed

American  

[ten-speed] / ˈtɛnˌspid /

noun

1. a system of gears having ten forward gear ratios, especially on a bicycle.

2. a bicycle having such a system of gears.

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adjective

1. having ten forward gear ratios.

Etymology

Origin of ten-speed

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The first time I had to follow a real map on my own was in 1964, when a friend and I set off from Carlisle, Pennsylvania and rode our ten-speed bikes to New York City and the Worlds Fair, and then turned west and rode back through Carlisle and onward, ending up where my friend lived in Manhattan, Kansas, the geographical center of the continental United States.

From Salon

She had already moved on to her new workplace, GM’s Toledo transmission plant, where the automaker builds ten-speed transmissions for popular pickup trucks.

From Reuters

This New Paltz, NY trio make sweet bedroom punk that sounds like riding your ten-speed down a sleepy summer street with someone you just realized you have a crush on.

From The Verge

“I’m going with you,” Anneliese said, and in the next minute she was pushing a matching pair of ten-speed bicycles out the door, hers and Chris’s.

From The New Yorker

I rode around my home town in Arkansas on my ten-speed Schwinn bike, and threw the afternoon paper to subscribers.

From Forbes