Further anxious worrying about very small rings and cogs: 36/24 X bastard 11 or 12-32 or 36

[PATRICK MOORE]

1. The stock mini 2-bys seem to have 42 outers. Do any of y'all use 36 outers?

2. If so, (a) Do people laugh at you? (b) Do you notice any additional friction?

I think I've scored steel 36 and 24, so wear ought not to be an issue, right?

--
Patrick Moore
Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact
Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html

[Michael Hechmer]

Are you trying to ride up the walls of your house?  What exactly do you need a 24/36, and how fast do you have to spin that gear to keep the bike upright?  

Michael

[Steve Palincsar]

On Sat, 2012-04-07 at 04:11 -0700, Michael Hechmer wrote:
> Are you trying to ride up the walls of your house? What exactly do
> you need a 24/36, and how fast do you have to spin that gear to keep
> the bike upright?

My Bruce Gordon Rock 'n Road Tour came with a 22x32 granny: 18.6". The
24x36 with the identical tire gives an 18" gear. A tiny bit lower, but
not dramatically so. I found that 18.6" gear a real treat carrying 40lb
worth of gear in full front and rear panniers up 2-3 mile long 12-14%
grade hills on tour in the Shenandoah Valley. And I didn't have any
trouble keeping the bike upright at all.

[PATRICK MOORE]

As Steve said, for loads and long hills and long rides. I rarely climb
in anything under a 35" or so, but if I ever (hah!) do some loaded
touring in northern NM, the consensus is that some low bailouts might
be very welcome. Further, there are some steep, short sand-bogged
hills around here for which a 20" low might be welcome.

The principal reason for a change is that, with a 36/24 X 9, I can do
99/100 of my riding in the outer ring, while with the current 46/36/24
X 7, one must switch between high and low ranges (46/36) for steep
hills and off road.

And I can put that 48 t cut down ring guard on the 46 position so that
it all does not look so wimpy.

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[Michael Hechmer]

Patrick, I have not yet ridden in NM, but we have mountains in Vermont too.  My sense is that the climbs in the West are considerably longer than in the East, but every mountain pass in VT has at least a couple of kilometers of 20-25%.  I try to avoid carrying more than a couple of pounds of gear on rides with one or two of those!  Back(dirt) roads here, where I do most of my riding, often have sections and ramps in the 20 - 25% range that are just long enough to seriously bog down in.  My Rambouillet has a White Ind crank with a 44/30 and a 9 speed 11-28.   My Ebisu touring bike has a 48/34/26 with a 12-27, but I throw a 24 on when I go to my sisters, which involves crossing White Face Mt in NY, a 5 mile climb at an absolutely relentless 10-14%, perhaps that's more like NM. With a 24" gear it takes one day shorter than forever!  Even touring on  the tandem, my wife and I don't get up to 40 lbs of gear.  Just us, the bike, racks and water gets to 400lbs, so we run a 26/32 with 26" wheels.   

Generally I prefer to run closely spaced gears for most of my riding and then switch to something more helpful when I know my old body will need it.

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[PATRICK MOORE]

Michael: interesting. I've driven through VT and NH and find the
terrain like a doll-house NM*: small and steep: little valleys and
abrupt, small hills.

* North central NM is pretty green, unlike south-of-Santa Fe; tho' not
so much as NE and the east generally. Again, the green, like the ups
and downs, is more spread out -- "diluted."

Years ago I used to obsess about gearing and insisted on a relatively
wide range (say, 30" to 100") with steps of about 5 gear inches
between each gear -- used close ratio rear clusters with front
triples. After riding fixed and ss exclusively for a number of years,
I found, when I went back to multiple gears, that I like a series of
close ratios in the middle cruising ranges (say, 60" to 75" for
pavement, 50 to 65" for dirt) and some big jumps to small and large
gears on either side. I also find that I shift far, far less than I
did years ago: interesting: I ride with my brother who, himself, is
rather blase' about gearing, and, riding behind him as I usually do
(because he sets a slow pace that I am psychologically incapable of
doing) I notice that even he shifts about three or four times for each
of my one. I tend to leave things in the, say, 70" gear until it hurts
to stand, then bail to a 40" or 35" gear.

At any rate, the hoped-for new 36/24 X 9 systems (11-30 or so for the
road, 12-34 or so for the dirt) will give me these few close ratios in
the middle while giving me ample high and low end gears for the
exceptions (tho' I rarely bother to pedal downhill, nowadays).

Man, I love climbing, at least on <= 1 mile hills of < 10% -- had fun
doing so this afternoon on the grocery-loaded 72" fixie. Downhills, I
can tolerate those.

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>> --
>> Patrick Moore
>> Albuquerque, NM
>> For professional resumes, contact
>> Patrick Moore, ACRW
>> http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
>

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