rear wheel spacing 6 speed m

[garygkn]

Just had a thought if I run a different rear wheel say an 8 speed and keep the front chainset what could I go to for some lower gears?

13-28?
14-30?

Did that part come with your Colnago?

[Brucey]

yes a 14-30 (or thereabouts) and you present chainset will work fine. However if you have indexed gear levers you will need to think hard before varying the number of sprockets.

My chorus mech came to me on another bike, no colnagos here just now...

cheers

[garygkn]

Friction shifters mean that I can try stuff out with Shimano or Campag?

[garygkn]

Thanks for your help.
Much appreciated.

[Brucey]

Friction shifters mean that I can try stuff out with Shimano or Campag?

mostly, yes.

cheers

[garygkn]

Brucey - I just spotted on this frame that I think a 52t front chain ring is the smallest I can go on this frame.
A triple 52 42 30 may be the way forward - I think?

[Brucey]

I think that converted roadbikes with triple chainsets of that sort can make really nice bikes for day rides, especially if you are limited to 6 or 7 at the back. A 52T big ring may seem huge but with a 14-28 (say) this can give you 52 x 19 in the middle of the block and this is a good gear for tapping along in, with a few higher than that and plenty lower. The 'extra weight' of a third chainring is about 100g and everything else can be about the same weight, so what is not to like?

Now when it comes to braze-on front mechs it is not well understood that there are two ways of doing it; back in the day you would occasionally see a touring bike with small chainrings running a road-racing BO front mech, and in this case the mount could be so low on the frame that you would never be able to run anything bigger than 48T or so. Similarly you might get TT bike with a high mount that could only ever run 54 or 56T big ring using a similar mech.

However the 'correct' way of doing it on a touring bike is to have the mount in the same place as a RR bike would have it and then to use a different mech with a larger built-in drop to it. So you can start with a standard 52T ring/front mech/mount and then (with the right front mech) run a smaller chainring down to 46 or 48. I have a small stash of BO front mechs for exactly this purpose, but I'm not sure what is available currently to do this job from (say) shimano etc.

BTW the last time I set up a 52-42-30 triple roadbike I went for the tightest chainline possible and I really struggled to find a front mech that would do the job properly. In the end I used a BO triple mech (FD-1057) from the shimano 1055-based triple groupset; it was the only one I found that would reach in far enough to access the inner chainring.



(teddy bear is optional)

cheers

[garygkn]

That's great news Brucey.
So far I'm doing OK but I won't always and the option of the triple is a great bonus.
I will look out for one of those 105 front mechs they are very useful.

[Brucey]

those mechs are pretty rare; I wonder if there are others that would do the same job?

cheers

[garygkn]

Hi Brucey,
I was really enjoying riding this bicycle until Monday.
I was hit in the rear wheel by an angry city commuter type.
I took a mighty fall.
The rider who hit me proceeded to attack me while I was lying in the road bleeding from my arm and leg.
A motorcyclist came to my aid and told him to behave. The cyclist then scuttled off.
A personality possibly high on the sociopathy scale. There are more uber aggressive riders around these days.

I've now got an expensive new problem.
The down tube of the Colnago now has a dent, the bars are broken, both brake callipers are not aligned they are twisted out of shape probably finished, the rear wheel has been totally wiped out, the saddle is ruined, the rear mech looks finished. The bike has really been running very smoothly until this happened. I was very happy with it. I really hope the frame is good? Which should be as the wheel took the brunt of the force. I was moving and not stationary.









[ Graham : images failed to show . . . except a lot of white-space. ]

[gaz]

Sorry to hear of your incident.

Edit: above pics now working

[Brucey]

that sounds terrible, I hope you are OK.

I can't see your images either.

cheers

[garygkn]

Thanks everyone. I'm bruised with a fair bit of road rash. My shorts and shirt are toast. Badly grazed knee, elbow, arm and ribs. The worst pain was my ribs, shoulders and back. I've got two damaged fingers on my left hand. I tried to.play the guitar tonight and forgot about the injuries and then quickly gave up. I'm going to rebuild the bike as a triple. The dent has really annoyed me.

When I can pay for the rebuild I'll have to buy some Fly6 cameras to record the front and back as I could not see that collision coming but a recording would have got the angry rider. I remember when cyclists were helpful and friendly types but the competitive and aggressive nature of the new breed young and old is awful.

I'll see if I can get to a desk top to fix the links.

[mjr]

Oh no. Get well soon and I hope you can fix the bike. Was most of the damage from the fall or the attack?

[garygkn]

Damage from the fall.
The attack was the commuter kicking and shouting and saying that I had hit him and wiped him out.
There was a group of cyclists on the floor behind him.
He had something to prove.

I'm thinking 9 x 3 so I'll need new shifters, cranks and mechs as well as cables, bars and tape.

I was thinking of covering the dent with something that will hide it but not sure what?

I think the pictures are working now?

Thanks: Gaz (I wasn't sure if I was the only one that could see the pics)