The advantages of a front derailleur 3x7 setup vs modern 10-12 speeds
- Thread starter neptronix
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Chalo
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Blah blah blah. The real pay dirt is to use a narrower rear cluster (5, 6, or 7 speeds), a long chainstay, and one well-chosen front ring that sits square in the middle of the rear sprockets. My favorite is Suntour AG 14-38t 5-speed freewheel which shifts excellently with 6sp index equipment. Those are wide jumps for pedal power alone, but that's not our bag.
Normies cross-chain whenever they get the opportunity, so triple cranks are a liability for most people most of the time. One by umpteen with short chainstays is a liability for everybody all the time. If you want good chainline, you get it by limiting the width of the cassette/freewheel, lengthening the chainstays (which is helpful in a bunch of ways), and placing a single ring right in line with the center of the rear gears.
Sheldon Brown was a proponent of "8 of 9 on 7" and "9 of 10 on 7" gearing, which is a way to get the benefits I'm talking about with somewhat more modern equipment.
Normies cross-chain whenever they get the opportunity, so triple cranks are a liability for most people most of the time. One by umpteen with short chainstays is a liability for everybody all the time. If you want good chainline, you get it by limiting the width of the cassette/freewheel, lengthening the chainstays (which is helpful in a bunch of ways), and placing a single ring right in line with the center of the rear gears.
Sheldon Brown was a proponent of "8 of 9 on 7" and "9 of 10 on 7" gearing, which is a way to get the benefits I'm talking about with somewhat more modern equipment.
My BBS02 FS bike has 11-17-28 gearing spaced 8-speed with the "17", which has a straight chainline, being used most of the time. It's been going strong for at least three years. The rear hub bike has a six speed freewheel that I have restricted to the one gear necessary (also straight) and probably will last indefinitely.
ebike4healthandfitness
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- May 19, 2012
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A great point he makes at this point in the video:
