Next to all these thousands-of-miles-per-year proper cyclists, I'm very much an occasional cyclist. But we did snap a chain on the tandem last year. I guess there's more force going through it.
Thankfully we were just setting off, so we turned back into the drive and went for a run instead.
Single chainrings are increasingly popular mainly on gravel and mountain bikes but it's creeping into road bikes aswell. Apparently studies have found that the wear is very minimal and manufacturers are starting to spec them. (anything new gets people spending money)
Personally I think they look wrong with the huge cassette on the back.
One step beyond.
I agree and had thought similar with earlier posts. Surely some of the wear would be on the extremes of the cassette to the front derailleur? Without that, does more wear happen on the chainring? Either way, it's wear to the chain.
I did look at putting a single chain ring on my 29er as I already have a dinner plate of a gear on the back. However I've max'd out the gears on a couple of times so dropping the large chain ring in favour of something in the middle is not going to work. And of course, it just looks wrong!
Something new sells, yes but only to people with more money than sense.
This single front ring and huge cassette combo seems to be de-rigeur on e-MTBs. Maybe this is where the trend is coming from?
Simon Blease
Monmouth
So continuing with my daft questions, and having now spent getting on for 500 miles 'gaining' experience on my new gravel bike, I'm now thinking of adding to my biking repertoire with an alternative, gnarlier wheel/tyre/rear cassette set up that I can pop on and off, depending on my intended route for the day. To be fair the bike is already pretty gnarly, but I like the idea of being able to mod/twat about with the bike at my whim.
I appreciate that most of you guys are more geared up for pure road biking stuff but any steerage you can give me would be great either way. I don't want a mountain bike by the way (at least not yet anyway) but do like the idea of making my existing bike more flexible
My new set up would be with 650b wheels (27.5 inch), wider tyres and maybe a lower set of of rear wheel cogs
My bike frame is 'medium' and with the 700c wheels attached I'm just tall enough to fit comfortably and stand over the crossbar without knackering myself. I've got everything set up well and am really comfortable in the saddle. I am quite small though, at 5 ft 7, so I figure that the 650b wheels will seem a super fit for me, giving me small drop in height and making for a more compact unit. With their smaller circumference they'll also effectively act as a lower gearing I'd guess. I have quick release wheel fittings so I'll need to make sure the new wheels are compatible with this (and maybe need some kind of QR conversion kit?)
My existing tyres are 40mm but, with the new wheel size, I'm thinking of some 42mm gravel bike tyres. I think the bike will have sufficient clearance for these (the spec says up to 50mm on the front and 44mm on the back) but I understand that tyres can come up wider than their spec so I may have to be careful with tyre choice
I now understand a point that had originally appeared complete gobbledygook to me in that I can fit a new lower rear set of cogs to my new back wheel, using a CS-HG50-10 Shimano cassette, which gives me a 36-tooth sprocket - two extra sprockets than what I have at the minute I'm thinking/guessing which can only come in handy around here
Having done a shed load of internet searching, I've found a possible set up of what might fit the bill:
Shimano CS-HG50-10 11-36t cassette
Fulcrum Rapid Red C24 gravel wheelset
WTB Resolute TCS Light Fast tyres
Tell me why I'm being stupid and what if anything I've missed
Thanks
Last edited by Fellbeast; 11-05-2021 at 11:46 AM.
You're at the top of a steep and slippery slope Stolly!
Simon Blease
Monmouth