Cycling UK Forum

MrsHJ wrote: ↑22 Oct 2022, 6:46pm Any thoughts on this updated version as I gradually refine it?

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/374032

I've just checked your whole route and a heads-up/word of warning.

Some parts of the track alongside the Canal Du Midi is just a muddy single track with tree roots, think a bad Sustrans route ...
To see where it might be look at the route on the "Open Cycle Map", if it's dotted then it could be bad.
Also see this journal from 2019 -> https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o= ... 20953&v=Hc
That may give you an idea of that section of the route.
So have a back plan/on road route just in case it is very bad and you have to bail away from the canal.

Luck .........

Nearholmer wrote: ↑22 Oct 2022, 5:12pm Having courted controversy in the thread about a recent death by dangerous driving case by saying that I agreed with the expert witness (for the defence, I assume) who said that a single, steady rear bike light was “less than ideal” from a visibility perspective, can I ask whether people think the current legal minimum standards for cycle rear lights are adequate, and if not what people think is adequate?

But to be legal on a bike and on the road at night, you also need visible pedal reflectors.
They give two moving points of light in a cars headlights, hence making a bike much more noticeable.
So if you are road legal at night, then a single steady light plus pedal reflectors is adequate.
If you are not road legal, then some form of additional flashing light is probably advised.

Luck ...........

My longest ride was my last UK tour. 5,500 miles around the coast.
My hardest ride was my 2012 UK tour. It stated to rain early April just after I started, and didn't really let up all tour. In 14 weeks, I only had about 3 weeks dry.

Luck .........

This page -> https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-gear-sprockets-guide/ may help.

According to SJS, the C7000 has an internal diameter of 35mm, see -> https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sprockets/s ... ocket-30t/
So it should fit with the extra tabs ground off.
I'd double check the internal diameter of the one you've got and does the Shimano part number of the one you've got/looking at match the ones on SJS.

Luck ...........

crossy wrote: ↑19 Oct 2022, 5:33pm I have a Rohloff trike that I put on after I got it. Kept the chain set the same 46, 36, 22, I also kept the same rear derailleur with a 17 tooth sprocket at the back. I have a bar end shifter for changing the front rings the Rohloff twist grip I put on the mirror mount. I can use the 46 and 36 chain ring but the 22 ring will be too low for the Rohloff. Most of the time I ride on the 46 ring just nice to know I can go lower when I need to. The only problem I have is if the hill is too steep I lose grip with the back wheel.

FYI:- If you swap to a 13t sprocket and a 24t inner chainring then all your gears become legal.
But you can only use the 13t sprocket with the MTB triple, so it's less flexible about the final gear range.
Plus small sprockets wear faster.

As for back wheel spin on hills, I find it more the going rather than the steepness that stops me.
With perfect going I can easily climb +25% hills, an silly ultra low first gear helps here.
If the going is a bit wet/loose/greasy then I may start to slip around 15%.
It's the reason I have a 50-406 Big Apple tyre on the back.
It has more rubber to wear out as compared to the lighter front tyres I use.

Luck ......

freeflow wrote: ↑19 Oct 2022, 8:07pm Go pinion P1.18. Not the cheapest option.

Isn't a Pinion and a Rohloff a bit excessive ??
With a first gear of 10", the top gear will be 334".
Only useful if you want to pedal downhill at ~100mph ..........

A Pinion by it's self is only a 6.36x range.
You can get the same range with a full derailleur setup and the OP wants wider.
So you'd still need some gears at the back to open the range a bit more.
Something like a SA 3 speed hub could work.
But you may run into torque limits when in first gear.
So not as simple as it first sounds.

Luck .......

I like my Schlumpf drive, I've had mine for ~12 years now.
It's been as trouble free as the Rohloff.
I've the kickplates fitted to mine, so to shift I only need to brush the crank with my heel.
But that goes lock me to 170mm cranks.
Servicing is easy, once a year I squirt a little IHG grease into it.

The way I've set mine up is to fix the first gear at just sub-10" and the shift into overdrive slightly faster (~20mph) than I can do on the flat.
Because I'm pedalling downhill when I shift up, I don't notice the slight extra drag off the step-up gear and the chain moving faster.
That's the main reason why I run twin chainrings, no extra drag on the flat and only a little more downhill where it doesn't matter.
The Speed Drive is easier to set up because it has a 110mm BCD, so a standard compact double will work with it.
The High Speed Drive is slight more tricky with a 130mm BCD, so a 38/56 double is ideal.
But I cannot use a 56t chainring because the chain catches on the chainguard when I shift, so I run 38/55.

The main downside I can think of is the cost.

Hope that helps .........

I looked into it fully ~12 year ago when I last upgraded my bent trike.

A plain derailleur setup gives around a 6x gear range.
A road triple and a Rohloff gives around a 8x gear range.
A SA hub plus all the works gives around a 10x gear range.
A Slumpf SD with twin chainrings and a Rohloff gives around a 13x gear range.
A Slumpf HSD with twin chainrings and a Rohloff gives around a 18x gear range.

Guess which one I picked ....
All I can say is "it's fun to pedal slowly downhill at 40 mph" ......

Luck ..........

If I was setting up a Rohloff on a bent trike without a Schlumpf drive on a bent trike ......

I would go for a 30/39/50 road triple.
That would give you 4 more gears up/down over the standard range.
On a 26" wheel then aim for as big a sprocket as possible.
So 30t / 1.9 = 16t sprocket for 13.6"-119" or a 17t at a push for 12.8"-112".
On a 20" wheel with a 13t sprocket that's only 12"-105".
If you plug the numbers into a gear calc, you'll see the overlaps line up offset by 2.
That make changing chainrings very predictable.
And the Rohloff chain tensioner will cope with the 20 tooth/10 link difference between chainrings.

If going for a double then something like 30/44 will give you 3 extra gears.
The big chainring needs to be 1.466x bigger than the small to line the overlaps up.

My twin chainrings also give my 3 extra and then you also add the 7 extra from the Schlumpf HSD for a grand total of 24 unique gears.

Luck ..........

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑18 Oct 2022, 1:39pm Two of those triples-with-the-outer removed that Spa sell as sub-compact doubles. One has 44/28, the other 46/30 (so doesn't really count for this thread!). The 44/28 is coupled with an 11-32 9-sp cassette, so not only is the bottom end less than 1:1, the top end is still over 100 gear-inches.

I've always thought that a beginners bike wants similar gearing.
Large chainring 4x bigger than small sprocket and small chainring 4 teeth smaller than big sprocket.
A gear range of around 25"-110" is a lot more useful vs a range of around 30"-125" as seen on a lot of beginners bikes as an extra gear down is a lot more useful than an extra gear up.
Again it comes down to having ridden enough miles on enough different bike to know exactly what I want from my gears.
That's why my bent trike has an ~18x gear range.

Luck ..........

When I was a kid, the "standard" top gear was 53/14 or just over 100".
If a 14t sprocket is shrunk to 11t then a 53t chainring needs to shrink to 42t to keep roughly the same top gear.
Keeping the 1.5x step between rings gives you a 28/42 compact double.
Most people don't need to be able to pedal downhill at 30mph, so spinning out at ~25mph is fine.
I wonder why it's taken so long for sub-compact doubles to take off as a bikes top gear is finally getting down to where it was 50 years ago.
Ps, I've always known them as "alpine doubles".

Luck .........

I did that route ~10 years ago.
Didn't have a guide/map of the route, so was following tourist info pamphlet.
Turned right up away from the river not exactly sure of where I was going, but found the ex-railway line.
Once in Bordeaux followed the satnav to a campsite.
Next day was out to Lacanau-Ocean and north through sand hills.

From what I remember the run down the ex-railway line was very nice.
But I'm also on a low recumbent trike, so don't see much of the surrounding countryside unless I stand up .....

Luck ...........

Nadie0212 wrote: ↑7 Oct 2022, 3:49pm Thank you for all your responses. You are being very helpful!
The bike is a Giant Escape 3 (2014).

Are you sure it's a Giant Escape 3 (2014) ??
Simply because it looks like the Escape 3 takes a different shaped hanger from the shape of your dropouts.
After a lot of Google-fu, it looks like a "Hanger 39" will fit the shape of your dropouts.
From what I can read it's held in place by a long M8 chainring bolt.

Luck ..........

I've also done it once.
New chainrings, chain and sprocket on my bent trike.
Set the chain at the perfect length on the big chainring.
But the chain was too close to the new bigger sprocket so a mech extender was added to improve the gap.
That worked fine until I went to shift onto the big chainring.
It shifted but only just and with zero slack.
Got away with only bending the mech hanger.
So a new mech hanger was ordered and a couple of links was added to the chain.

Luck .......

My thinking on a 3x8 setup for me.
I don't like the big steps between the gears on a cassette that starts 11-13-15-18-, so I'd go for one that starts 12-14-16-18-.
With a 12t small sprocket that almost locks me into a 48t big chainring.
With a triple, I'd want to maximize the capacity and hope that I still get crisp shifting, so that's 48-36-24.
I'd want to maximize the range on a cassette start with a 12t sprocket while keeping the gaps between the gears roughly even, so the 12-32 is the optimal one.
Now this is where I'd hope the LBS can swap the 32t sprocket for a 34t sprocket giving me a 12-34 cassette.
I don't mind a big step between gears at the bottom end of the gear range, it just means I'll grovel uphill in first a bit longer.
That gives me:- 5 grovelling uphill climbing gears 3.5-8 mph, 5 easy flatland gears 8-16 mph and 3 fun downhill gears 16-26 mph.

As for cadence, you're on a plain tour not the tour de france.
So the aim is to go from A-B in a reasonable time using the minimal energy.
Not to go from A-B as quickly as possible.
So a comfortable cadence with a light pedal pressure is ideal.
My optimal cadence zone is around 70-80 rpm.
Once I'm much above 80 rpm my efficiency tanks and I end up going slower in the long run as I run out of energy.

Luck .........