The timeless appeal of 7-speed gearing

[horizon]

My geared bike is 2x8-speed Claris, and I feel no need to have more gears.

My folder has the same with a gear range of 27" - 108". It's very OK (except for luggage lugging up hills) but I do miss a triple. I think I'd rather have a 7 - 3 set up than an 8 - 2. I find the constant switching between two chain rings irksome when really i just want to be somewhere in the middle. But like i said on the folder thread, I don't know the whys and wherefores of the choice of set up.

[Annoying Twit]

My geared bike is 2x8-speed Claris, and I feel no need to have more gears.

My folder has the same with a gear range of 27" - 108". It's very OK (except for luggage lugging up hills) but I do miss a triple. I think I'd rather have a 7 - 3 set up than an 8 - 2. I find the constant switching between two chain rings irksome when really i just want to be somewhere in the middle. But like i said on the folder thread, I don't know the whys and wherefores of the choice of set up.

I typically stay on the big cog at the front, except for occasional steep hills. (I live in Leicestershire. Significant hills are rare.) Yes, I'm probably crossing my chain more than I should be doing.

[bigjim]

On that Sunday ride I rarely moved from the middle ring and only strayed into the outer ring on thefaster flats. The inner ring was not used as it is designed for loaded touring. There was no chain rub on the outer when dropping down on the big cog on the back.
That spread of gears seemed to be compatable with the other riders who were mostly on full carbon and 10/11 speed doubles. i normally ride with STIs. The DT indexed gears nebver bothered me and I can't remember even thinking about them. The triple 7 speed is a very pleasant ride. One guy I was chatting to was running a single chainring with a 42 cog on his rear cassette. Said he loved it.

[leftpoole]

Hello all!
I’ve four bikes and I’m on 9 gears two bikes have triple chainset sand the other compact doubles.
I’m stocking up on 9 speed equivalent including cassettes and chains etc.
Best to all,
John


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[GuyBoden]

Problem, 7 Speed cassettes have all jumped up in price this year......

[Samuel D]

Problem, 7 Speed cassettes have all jumped up in price this year......

Can you give an example of a before and after price for a specific cassette?

[amediasatex]

Problem, 7 Speed cassettes have all jumped up in price this year......

He’s right they’ve all seeming jumped about £1-£1.50 more, average for a Shimano 7sp HG40/41 seems to now be about £12-£14 it’s an outrage I tell you...

Still some good deals about on some ratio options for about £11-£12 though

[GuyBoden]

Problem, 7 Speed cassettes have all jumped up in price this year......

Can you give an example of a before and after price for a specific cassette?

I have an online account with Decathlon, so I have all my past order history as evidence.

[GuyBoden]

Problem, 7 Speed cassettes have all jumped up in price this year......

Can you give an example of a before and after price for a specific cassette?

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[Annoying Twit]

So that's the B'Twin 12-28 7 speed cassette gone up from £8.50 to £9.99.

[Samuel D]

I wonder who makes that cassette. A Decathlon own-brand chain I bought turned out to be a KMC.

Anyway, the pound took a pounding after the Brexit vote, and prices went up accordingly a bit later. So this could be normal inflation. I haven’t noticed much change in euro pricing, but then I haven’t been trying to buy 7-speed cassettes, the Shimano 13–26T of which is the most interesting to me.

Long term, perhaps the main worry is the availability of 7-speed freehubs. At a tenner a cassette, the stubborn 7-speed cyclist could buy a stash of those today while they’re available and cheap.

[bigjim]

I wonder who makes that cassette. A Decathlon own-brand chain I bought turned out to be a KMC.

Anyway, the pound took a pounding after the Brexit vote, and prices went up accordingly a bit later. So this could be normal inflation. I haven’t noticed much change in euro pricing, but then I haven’t been trying to buy 7-speed cassettes, the Shimano 13–26T of which is the most interesting to me.

Long term, perhaps the main worry is the availability of 7-speed freehubs. At a tenner a cassette, the stubborn 7-speed cyclist could buy a stash of those today while they’re available and cheap.

7 speed freehubs should be around for a while as new hybrids are still being equipped with these.

[Samuel D]

Shimano 7-speed cassettes have among the most rational tooth-counts of any they have made. You can get almost any largest sprocket you desire without having to waste gears on 11T and 12T cogs at the other end. Here are some varieties of the CS-HG50-7 in ascending largest sprocket:

13–26 (13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26)
12–28 (12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28)
13–28 (13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28)
13–30 (13, 15, 17, 20, 23, 26, 30)
14–32 (14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28, 32)
13–34 (13, 15, 17, 20, 24, 29, 34)

Too late! We’re a year on and most of these cassettes are gone.

[Brucey]

I bought a couple of 13-28 7s cassettes a few weeks ago. They cost me very little.

I would imagine that 'commodity' 7s cassettes (like the ones I bought) will be available for many years to come, but that the more obscure ratios will go NLA. Not a big problem; the sprockets that make those cassettes special are not the ones that wear out first (for most people) and can be sourced from other (eg 8s or 9s ) cassettes anyway. I don't see lack of cassette availability as being anything more than mildly irritating in the future tbh.

….in the meantime SJS have 13-26 cassettes in stock.

cheers

[bgnukem]

Agree totally with the sentiments on this thread. I've never gone over 9-speed (which seems to last well enough) and never intend to, though this tends to involve having to stockpile older quality '90s-'00s Shimano gear which chancers are increasingly asking silly money for

For me, the choice of transmission recently has been governed by the choice of triple chainsets for square taper bottom brackets, and that seems to mean basically the Spa Cycles XD-based triples. These seem to work great with 7/8-speed chains but I've had issues with 9-speed chains falling between the 'rings.

Am currently building up a Spa Aubisque-based bike and hoping to use such a triple with a 9-speed transmission (have some 9S pod shifters to use) but using an 8-speed front mech. I'm guessing it might end up as an 8-speed bike after all. Sorting indexed front shifting out seems to be a 'mare these days - maybe friction front shifting with indexed rear is the final solution!