SICK OF IT - GEARS AND THINGS

[Mick F]

I love my 3x10 on Mercian, but my 3x10x3 on my Moulton is fun fun fun fun fun.

What I find odd, is that now Sturmey Archer have a 3sp hub that will take a cassette, that more people aren't using them.

[colin mitchell]

I'm a 3x9 person as it is easily available and with two bikes with similar straight handlebars and mountain bike equipment, they do all I need. I do agree with lorry driver that it is confusing but the manufacturers need to keep the masses wanting something new to spend their money on.

[reohn2]

If we look at it from the angle of cadence and range,then a rider needs a range of gears to get him/her for their ability over the steepest climbs they're likely to encounter,yet won't spin out on the descents whilst at the same time maintaining an optimum cadence(OC) in the individual's comfort/happy leg spin zone.

Once the range is decided for argument's sake say 20" to 90",the optimum cadence(OC) range needs considering say between 80 and 110rpm,the gaps then need filling to accommodate the cadence range,it's that simple... ....but it ain't especially for someone new to cycling.

The individual needs to know their limits of range,it's not much use having a low gear they can climb up the side of a house with,if they don't have a gears high enough to cruise at a comfortable cadence,equally so gaps so large between each gear that they don't have the power to turn over the next higher gear which leaves them stalling are useless.Equally so the opposite way when hitting a climb and changing down from a higher comfortable gear to find they're spinning out and losing progress unnecessarily because they needed something in between the high and lower gear.
I find closer gaps in the cruising range to be very helpful on slightly undulating terrain with the three lower climbing gears further apart,I'm way past high gears straight through cassettes that leave me needing to get out of the saddle to climb so I need a wide range with varying ratio differences on the cassette,IMHO the triple chainset with a good cassette cog selection is more than capable of covering all eventualities.
Any double IMO unless relatively high or low gears aren't required doesn't do the job well enough,a close ratio double c/set compromises range whist the Alpine c/set compromises OC between chainings and so needs more thinking about when in the hills.
The problem with the triple is more duplicate ratios,but they can be kept to a minimum with a careful selection of c/ring and cassette ratio combinations,and can in fact come in useful when a front change is required without a need to change on the back or maybe only needing to change up or down one cog instead on five or six to maintain OC with an Alpine c/set.
3x9 fills that need for me offering a nice progression with a wide range.
I firmly believe 1 or 2x10 or 11sp is driven by profit and ease of manufacture,minimising range and ruining OC,OC is a holy grail I believe in for pleasurable cycling.

[fastpedaller]

re 7s cassettes; modifying 8s ones is easy enough but don't forget that the sprockets themselves are the same thickness in 9s as 8s. This means that 9s cassettes (ones without carriers, anyway) will yield sprockets for 8s and 7s for many years to come. In some cases a thin shim here and there is a good idea to make the spacing up to the desired amount but you really only need one set of spacers.

cheers

I keep all my spacers, so just use 7 of 8 with 7 width spacers. I didn't realise the 9 speed were also the same width, so that's handy for the future!

[reohn2]

re 7s cassettes; modifying 8s ones is easy enough but don't forget that the sprockets themselves are the same thickness in 9s as 8s. This means that 9s cassettes (ones without carriers, anyway) will yield sprockets for 8s and 7s for many years to come. In some cases a thin shim here and there is a good idea to make the spacing up to the desired amount but you really only need one set of spacers.

cheers

I keep all my spacers, so just use 7 of 8 with 7 width spacers. I didn't realise the 9 speed were also the same width, so that's handy for the future!

Just to clarify,the cogs are the same not the spacers.

[Spinners]

Whatever the reason; what is wrong with a nice 3 x 7 set up that, with the right block choice, gives a wide range and avoids all the above?
I am looking forward to being shot down!

Not by me. At the moment, I have a 3 x 7 commuter bike, a 3 x 8 mountain bike, a 3 x 9 touring bike and a 2 x 9 road bike.

I have absolutely no interest in 1 x 11 and also try to avoid cassettes that start with an 11 tooth (another pet hate of mine).

[blackbike]

I see that Shimano are still making a freehub to suit 7 speeds, like on this Ridgeback hybrid, Tourney FH RM-30.

Have they always made this or have they resumed production ,( death of the freewheel on low end bikes? )



https://www.evanscycles.com/ridgeback-s ... e-EV258040

Here's the freehub body for sale at EBC.

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/shiman ... -body.html

Many cheap bikes still come with screw on freewheels. Here is one

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... GwodjMUBgg

7 speed cassettes are quite common cheap bikes too, as are 8 speed. They'll never die out.

[Spinners]

BTW does anyone remember the 'Cycling Weakly' April Fool's Day spoof from about 1999 when they stated that the UCI were standardising on 7-speed Shimano with down-tube levers for all UCI road races so as to combat the increasing use of technology and the rising cost of equipment that was penalising poorer cycling nations. Classic.

[JohnW]

Is there any one else, like me, who is fed up with the path we are being lead down by manufacturers and has this subject been flogged on this forum before.
Where is the sense in having a single chain ring and a gear block so wide that it - requires massive dishing of the wheel - causes wide chain misalignment and wear - limits the range of gears. Reduced cost of production must be the goal.
Whatever the reason; what is wrong with a nice 3 x 7 set up that, with the right block choice, gives a wide range and avoids all the above?
I am looking forward to being shot down!

This has been alluded to before - along the same lines as what you're saying.

Personally, I couldn't agree with you more, and the matter of friction down-tube shifters also comes to mind (although I have been told I'm banging a worn-out drum when I've mentioned it previously).

Where is it all leading to?

[LiaFrood]

I ride a 3X5, the only problem is that the gear shift's are on the bar.
I also ride (not really) a 3X8.

They are both fine.

[reohn2]

...............Where is it all leading to?

Electronic shifting self riding bikes?

[Sweep]

I don't know that sketch but I do know that tongue brushing is what people have been doing in India and some other parts of the world for hundreds of years, first with neem sticks, nowadays with special toothbrushes.

OK, I'll bite, as it were, at the risk of sending the original thread (which I am genuinely interested in) off topic.

So.

Why?

[Sweep]

and also try to avoid cassettes that start with an 11 tooth (another pet hate of mine).

Because of excessive wear on such a low number of teeth?

[RickH]

This also what puts me off discs and never mind the wheel size.

Although if you have discs then wheel size is not so important.

Provided you have enough clearance in the frame, you can run other sizes of wheel - I run 700C w 38mm road tyres but could swap to MTB 27.5" with 2.2" off-road tyres (although I don't yet have any). The overall wheel diameter is almost exactly the same.

[Spinners]

and also try to avoid cassettes that start with an 11 tooth (another pet hate of mine).

Because of excessive wear on such a low number of teeth?

No. It's because I don't need an 11 tooth and would much prefer a slightly 'tighter' cassette.