graymee wrote:Why? To stop cable stretch? New cables, other than pre stretched ones, will stretch a little when fitted then reach a fixed length after a short while then stay that way. I leave my bike in the gear I want to set off in. I can see absolutely no benefit in leaving your bike on the smallest chainring/sprocket.
I agree. There may be a very slight benefit in changing to the slackest setting, this will vary front to back and with top normal and bottom normal dérailleurs. In practice I usually snap a strand at one end or the other before I need to alter the indexing due to stretch. Snapping strands is usually due to friction at the entrance/exit of outers, not tension per se.
"I thought of that while riding my bike." -Albert Einstein, on the Theory of Relativity
I live on a hill, so I really need to leave the bike in a gear I can start up the hill in. Also I'm on a big main road, so I need to get up speed reasonably quickly - wouldn't fancy trying to start in too low a gear 'cos I'd be likely to wobble a bit too much just when I'm trying to pull out into traffic. It'd be well worth a little extra wear on the cables and springs not to have this inconvenience every time I leave the house in an uphill direction!
Jonty wrote:I got the advice to put my S/A 1965 hub 4 gear into top gear from the Moulton site when not riding. This is no problem with a hub gear as before you ride you can simply engage third or second gear before moving off.
it's good advice i reckon. and like you say, there's no reason not to do it as you can change into 1 or 2 at the flick of a trigger unlike on lesser variable gear systems
Fairly. On my hub with the external shifter there are two cables which are turning a pulley, the pulley is turning a nut which changes the gear.
If the cables stretch then all that happens is the gripshift starts to get play in it. All the indexing is done inside the hub and so the cable stretch doesn't affect the shifting very much.
The cables are not under tension and there is no spring, so less cable stretch.
Mick F wrote:<snip> I still reckon that derailleur equipped bikes look better when in top gear. No mechanical reason for this, it's just that they look better. A better pose.
That's why it's 'the law' to take photo's of bikes in big ring/mid to small sprocket. This 'law' also states tyre logos and tube valves must be aligned and valves are always at 6 oclock
Chris the Sheep wrote: Why not let the ratchet of a handbrake click? That's what it's designed for! I've never heard of one wearing out.
When I was taught how to drive (at a Police driving school) it was drummed into me not to drag the handbrake up the ratchet, but to depress the button whilst applying it. The reason given was that the teeth on the ratchet would eventually round off, and the handbrake wouldn't stay on. What a load of old cobblers I thought, but I complied with instructions. Years later I stopped a Ford Cortina in which the driver lifted up the handbrake lever and then laid a Mole wrench between the two front seat cushions to stop it from falling back to the floor because the teeth on the ratchet had worn smooth.
QED.
Riding a Dahon Jetstream P9 folder, an early 90s Vision R30 above seat steered recumbent, and the latest acquisition, a Haibike Sduro Trekking 4.0 electric bike.
Chris the Sheep wrote: Why not let the ratchet of a handbrake click? That's what it's designed for! I've never heard of one wearing out.
When I was taught how to drive (at a Police driving school) it was drummed into me not to drag the handbrake up the ratchet, but to depress the button whilst applying it. The reason given was that the teeth on the ratchet would eventually round off, and the handbrake wouldn't stay on. What a load of old cobblers I thought, but I complied with instructions. Years later I stopped a Ford Cortina in which the driver lifted up the handbrake lever and then laid a Mole wrench between the two front seat cushions to stop it from falling back to the floor because the teeth on the ratchet had worn smooth.
QED.
Yes I was always taught by my driving instructor not to use the ratchet,never have done since.
Second nature now and strangely it annoys me when other people do it.
