Please educate me; single, double, triple chainset

[legrandefromage]

After rattling on, as an aside, I have seen my chainrings get smaller for general use. But theres still 3 at the front, my new climbing favourite being a gorgeous TA 42t 110bcd 34t 24t combo giving me loads of options for going uphill.

And besides, I loooove triple chainsets, building, polishing, the fun of finding stuff that works together.

Sugino porn:

 

[Muddy paw]

I'll leave this here for Muddy Paw

Wow that looks massive legrandefromage but i'm loving that green on the big sprocket and that granny ring looks tiny in that setup :shock: ..

Right i don't want to look a complete numpty but what do TA and BCD mean as i've never really come across them before other than knowing they refer to the chain wheel ? .

Yes i just think of those that stick to the easiest gear except fo the inexperienced that is as just plain lazy and as you quite rightly pointed out it just creates rapid wear and must be more tiring on a long trip out ..

 

[legrandefromage]

Bolt Circle Diameter

TA

http://specialites-ta.com/?___store=en& ... re=default

 

[Muddy paw]

Ss has appealed to me for along while due to it's simplicity and that's all i had when i 1st got into cycling until i discovered the joy of gears and going faster ..

Funnily enough chain rings unless you use the wrong type of chain for them very rarely cause issues unless the chainline is out ..

SS gets you fitter; when you get on a geared bike you see the benefit. What surprised me is that I learned to corner better. Of course it isn't faster, what is surprising is that it isn't very much slower. I miss out most on those long gentle downhills when you pop it onto a 42 ring and just cruise along at 20-25mph.

Interesting and very valid point you make on chainrings - removing the simplest parts of the system and instead adding to the finicky complicated setup at the rear. :facepalm:

Frankly I just don't get the advantage to have a reduced gear range.

Yes i must agree with you regards getting fitter by just using ss but i think it does more so if your using a reasonable gear set up as a continuos easy low gear setting must be pretty tiring and less beneficial than say a 13x 36 which is roughly what i had and i travelled for miles on mine and loved it ..

Regards better cornering on a ss set up i think that's mainly down to learning to pace yourself better ..

 

[Muddy paw]

Bolt Circle Diameter

TA

http://specialites-ta.com/?___store=en& ... re=default

Thank you legrandefromage so now i feel a bit of a numpty not realising what BCD was :facepalm: as for TA if it had been SL i'd of realised earlier that it was the manufacturer but thought it related to just the specification :roll: but at least it all makes sense now ..

So the BCD is actually the measurement from across the crank arm from outside edge to outside edge of the bolt holes for the fixing position of the chainring ..

 

[hamster]

Yes i must agree with you regards getting fitter by just using ss but i think it does more so if your using a reasonable gear set up as a continuos easy low gear setting must be pretty tiring and less beneficial than say a 13x 36 which is roughly what i had and i travelled for miles on mine and loved it ..

Regards better cornering on a ss set up i think that's mainly down to learning to pace yourself better ..

If you run 36-13 you would never get up any hills! I'm talking off road here, where something around 2:1 is typical. But even a standard road SS/ fixed setup is around 42-17. The easy low gear means that you learn to spin fast and get supple. But agreed, its not ideal for long stretches of tarmac - I just cruise along at 13-15 mph.

As to cornering, I knew that was going to scrub off speed I can never regain, so learned to brake less and corner better. I don't think that's pacing as such. :?

 

[Muddy paw]

In the bike shop and out and about, I noticed a lot of granny ring riders that left the chain in the granny ring and just used the rear. My neighbour's daughter for instance and plenty of inexperienced riders with little or no mechanical sympathy or knowledge, simply leaving in the 'easiest gear' to pedal.

Even with steel rings, stuff was worn out very quickly (lack of basic maintenance leading to that awful black paste wearing everything down) and after handling the latest XTR cassette, everything seems alarmingly thin for UK mud. But then does anyone ride in mud anymore? Is it all trail centres with us 'normal' cyclists now the new 'weird'?

As I've said before and plenty of others have said the same thing;

Cycling is a terrible business model. With minimum of maintenance a bicycle can last decades - that is terrible for share holders and dividends

Just keep that in the back of your mind when eyeing up the next trend magazines scream and shout about (I'm stocking up on quality 26" tyres before they disappear!)

Trail centre hmm , what's one of those ? as tbh i've never seen one for real as i love the freedom of being out on natural trails and riding in all weathers with the exception of strong winds that is and as for riding in muddy conditions i thought that was all part of the fun of being off road ..

As for XTR parts and such like being alarmingly thin i wouldn't really know as i'm still using old lower grade parts although i'd still like the chance to try out XTR as the closest i've got to that is some very nice 1992 XT bits which i'm still yet to fit to my Raliegh ..

Yes minimum or basic maintenance can help a bike last a heck of along time if done properly so yes i can see that it holds no long term benefit for dividend and share holders and i can only imagine that will affect parts costs too ..

People screaming about stocking up on tyres seems quite funny even though obviously their are those out there that are probably doing it right now :facepalm: and although that's bad for business's it's one of the reasons why certain retro parts are still available for us today so from a business point of view it's bad but not for those who want retro parts
..

 

[26er]

Just keep that in the back of your mind when eyeing up the next trend magazines scream and shout about (I'm stocking up on quality 26" tyres before they disappear!)

Same here. Just went down to check and had to stop counting at 33...

:facepalm:

 

[Muddy paw]

If you run 36-13 you would never get up any hills! I'm talking off road here, where something around 2:1 is typical. But even a standard road SS/ fixed setup is around 42-17. The easy low gear means that you learn to spin fast and get supple. But agreed, its not ideal for long stretches of tarmac - I just cruise along at 13-15 mph.

As to cornering, I knew that was going to scrub off speed I can never regain, so learned to brake less and corner better. I don't think that's pacing as such. :?

My 1st off road riding was done on that set up but mainly local so nothing really to steep tbh as most of my riding was on the tarmac as the bike was originally a 3 speed BSA Fire Bird road bike with drop handle bars which i swapped for cow horns as we called them back then ..


I think the fastest i ever manged was while drafting behind a bus :facepalm: as it was possible when timed right to sling shot past the bus as it pulled in at stops so 30mph was possible but it wasn't a clever thing to do but generally i don't think i cruised at more than 11mph as most of my rides out seemed to involve hills so hardly saw any flat runs unless i was heading out towards the Peak district .

Well i don't suppose any one would call what i did as pacing as such but i very rarely stopped pedalling and tended to keep
a smoothish rhythm unless i was on a tight corner that is ..

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

If you have never been to a trail centre then you should as they can be a lot of fun. Riding bikes is good so why limit where you go?

As for 1x, I never really saw the point and was in no rush to go in that direction. to me the weight saving was negligible and I'd never had a problem setting up a front mech. I'd considered going double and bash on my big modern full suss but since the third chainring worked I'd never got round to it. the thought of limiting my gears for no real benefit seemed like a stupid idea.

However, I have just got a fancy pants new bike that's 1x. It's only SLX so replacement parts don't cost the earth and having taken an interest in the gears I actually used on my 3x10 set up for the last 6 months I think with the correct front ring I can probably cover my normal range. I had no real intention of going 1x but it seems most bikes of interest to me are now being designed to not be front mech compatible so that sorted that.

Having read quite a lot about it I still can't really see why you'd mate a hard tail 1x only but on a full suss it allows more freedom to put the pivots in the best place and solves some of the weaknesses of rear suss. Certainly not the best thing since sliced bread but also worthy of consideration in my opinion.