Crank help - compatibility issues?

[lillerj]

another question...as I use this bike just to cycle to the station and around the city I'm thinking that perhaps I don't need 3 rings at the front. Any suggestions for what I could buy to fix the gear at the front?

 

[xerxes]

If you want a single ring up front, just get a single ring chainset and remove the front shifter and derailleur. Oddly though, you'll find that single ring chainsets, aren't generally any cheaper then doubles or triples. :?

 

[lillerj]

If you want a single ring up front, just get a single ring chainset and remove the front shifter and derailleur. Oddly though, you'll find that single ring chainsets, aren't generally any cheaper then doubles or triples. :?

thanks, what size ring do you think would be good for everyday town use? I tend to use just the middle ring on my current set up.

 

[xerxes]

How many teeth do you have on the front middle ring and how many teeth on the rear cog that you mainly use on the flat?

With that, you can work your current preferred or most used gearing: http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

For example, if you currently favour a 32 front and 11 rear, that's a gearing of approximately 69 inches with 26 inch tyres.

Bear in mind, that with a single ring up front, you may want to select a chainring that puts you in the middle of the rear cassette, or at least not at either side of it so that you have no higher or lower gears than your most used one. For example, on my 1x7, "7 speed", I have a 42 tooth chainring up front and a 12,14,16,18,22,24,28 cassette on the rear and for pootling around town on the flat I mainly use the centre 18 tooth sprocket on the rear cassette. Which leaves me with three lower gears for going up hills or into a headwind and three higher gears for going down hill or if I have a nice tailwind.

 

[lillerj]

thanks, really helpful stuff.