The Disapproval of ugo.santalucia
"I disapprove... you are trying to cheat the spirit of the Eroica using modern gear ratios... the all point is going through the course with period bikes, which did not have 28 teeth sprockets... typically 26 was the largest available."
Sorry I was looking at Rims on that page, not hubs.... I thought they looked too modern....
http://www.ambrosio.co.uk/ambrosio_rims_clincher.htm
To Quote from the
rules
"The adjustment of the rear wheel gears to suit the difficulty of the route is permitted"
The front Chainring is a 52/39 Golden arrow with a date code of
GK i.e. November 1982 on both chainrings and crank arms
There was also a long cage deraillier available with this group set part number RD-A105 GS designed to take a 28T sprocket..
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=F2EDDDD4-CA9F-4EA7-A200-4DC740E8E581&Enum=108&AbsPos=10
Although the short cage Golden arrow one I'm using copes fine with a 28T.
As for rear Gears/casettes the Shimano MF6207 600EX was availerble in 1984 with a choice of
12-21; 12-24; 13-23;
13-28
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=64FFD847-665B-4FAA-997F-1E1FE9DA206B&Enum=114&AbsPos=66
There was also the Shimano MF1500 spin on freewheel that was 14-28
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=056551FB-AF79-454D-A6CB-C7AD69432D0A&Enum=114&AbsPos=63
If you watch the old Giro D Italia and Tour de France etc films from the 70's-80's the bikes gearings were changed from day to day to suit the stage they were competing on and the riders preference
Whilst I agree that the rules state no SIS only friction shifters there is nothing to say that you can't use 28T rear sprockets.
As I'm over 40 unfit and currently training for the
2014 L'Eroica I agree that 39-28 may not be the choice of champions I'm by no means a Cat 1 rider who could ride a 42-20 up 20% hills for the entire 205km route.
Everybody I've spoken to even some pretty top level racers say the route is hard.
As I'm intending to
Ride L'Eroica on a 531c Carlton Carrera from 1980 and not walk I thought that a 39-28 would be a good choice to get me up more of the hills without the need to dismount.
The only advantage using a cassette gives me is a very easy choice of ratios and changes that I can change in 30 seconds whilst I'm training. If I wanted to run a full retro setup I could use a Mf1500 or a MF6207 with a spin on hub and 12/13-28
As for wheels, from the footage I've seen most of the gravel roads are pretty rough hence thinking about using modern Retro Rims instead of 30 year old "proper ones" that will have metal fatigue and age hardening.
If I'd wanted to cheat it would be very easy to build a 36-34 onto my bike and make it even easier. I'm hoping to ride the 205k event for fun and not to bring on a heart attack!!
I take competing in anything seriously I also agree that there's nothing worse than a cheat but I see no problem with doing Hours of research to come up with a bike spec from "Period Components" that makes the ride a little easier and a lot safer
John
