bulldog1935
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Since I've already picked on Lou about his drivetrain, a lesson to learn about swapping gears.
if you're wide in the rear, you want narrow in the front, and vise-versa.
Again, here's my half-step + granny - wide rear, narrow front. I was lucky in having the TA 47T chainring around (they're hen's teeth - I have a running e-bay search with e-mail alert, and another has never turned up).
When I started the bike, went through the gear calculator exercise using the fixed TA ring bundle, and trying different freewheels, first what I had around, the IRD, SunTour winner-5, and Ultra-6. Stuck with the 13-28t IRD - it was perfection with the TA ring bundle I already had.
Wide range, narrow steps, all under 10", Zero duplicates - this is the single-best drivetrain I have ever ridden - does everything and more than anybody's new 2 x 11.
(If I ever had to replace the 47T chainring, would go 46/42T half-step, and pick a different freewheel - this is the near-perfect example on my '74 International)
A well-designed drivetrain should have a couple of gear choices between 70" and 80" - this is where we do our flat riding.
I can and do ride all day long on the 71" and 79" gear half step (one rear cog). On the ride just above, I'll make all my steep climbs on the 57" and 63" half-step (another rear cog), and I'll drop to granny when I leave the pavement for the single-track to the BBQ stand.
All the other gears are for longer and loaded steeper climbs, which I do use in the TX hill country, including getting home - 400' climb with 14% grade.
This bad example shows what happens when you go wide in the rear and wide in the front
(throwing out the granny)
Instead of 10 gear choices, there are only 7, and where we normally ride and live, 70-80", there aren't any gears at all, and the two steps up and down from that range are 15" and 20" apart.
So if you had this drivetrain, except for having a few climbing gears, you would find yourself using only 65", and all your friends with more gear choices leaving you behind.
This will work for a grocery-hauler, but is unacceptable for group rides. (It's wasting a bike to get a 38" climbing gear)
if you're wide in the rear, you want narrow in the front, and vise-versa.
Again, here's my half-step + granny - wide rear, narrow front. I was lucky in having the TA 47T chainring around (they're hen's teeth - I have a running e-bay search with e-mail alert, and another has never turned up).
When I started the bike, went through the gear calculator exercise using the fixed TA ring bundle, and trying different freewheels, first what I had around, the IRD, SunTour winner-5, and Ultra-6. Stuck with the 13-28t IRD - it was perfection with the TA ring bundle I already had.
Wide range, narrow steps, all under 10", Zero duplicates - this is the single-best drivetrain I have ever ridden - does everything and more than anybody's new 2 x 11.
(If I ever had to replace the 47T chainring, would go 46/42T half-step, and pick a different freewheel - this is the near-perfect example on my '74 International)
A well-designed drivetrain should have a couple of gear choices between 70" and 80" - this is where we do our flat riding.
I can and do ride all day long on the 71" and 79" gear half step (one rear cog). On the ride just above, I'll make all my steep climbs on the 57" and 63" half-step (another rear cog), and I'll drop to granny when I leave the pavement for the single-track to the BBQ stand.
All the other gears are for longer and loaded steeper climbs, which I do use in the TX hill country, including getting home - 400' climb with 14% grade.
This bad example shows what happens when you go wide in the rear and wide in the front
(throwing out the granny)
Instead of 10 gear choices, there are only 7, and where we normally ride and live, 70-80", there aren't any gears at all, and the two steps up and down from that range are 15" and 20" apart.
So if you had this drivetrain, except for having a few climbing gears, you would find yourself using only 65", and all your friends with more gear choices leaving you behind.
This will work for a grocery-hauler, but is unacceptable for group rides. (It's wasting a bike to get a 38" climbing gear)
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