On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:58 AM, Jeremy Till <jeremy.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Framebuilder Matt Chester has posted some good info on pre-derailer > Tour setups, mostly as part of his sporadic "Wednesday's Wisdom of the > Past" series: > > > http://mattchester.blogspot.com/2008/01/wednesdays-wisdom-of-past-1921-tour-de.html To quote directly: "*The machines were all much of the same type. The gears were all comparitively low from our point of view, the following being the general run for all riders: - On flat stretches, 46 chain wheel with reversible wheel carrying sprockets with 18 and 20 teeth, giving, with the French wheel* [~700c or a "Continental 27"], *gears approximately 62ins. and 70ins., although in some instances, when the wind was favourable, 77 was used, and this is the highest employed. On hilly stages a 44 chain wheel was substituted, thus giving a choice of 59in. and 66in. gears. In the mountains, a 40-tooth chain wheel was fitted, with 18 and 22 rear sprockets, giving, roughly gears of 50 and 60, and it was on the former that Barthelemy stormed the celebrated Galibier with its 1 in 6 gradient." *That is really interesting. Very low gears (by modern standards) on the easy parts and very high gears, by modern standards, on the hard parts. (What would Lance have used on a 17% slope?) That does it, for me, too. I'm going to get rid of the 15 t on the '99 Joe gofast (46X15X571 bcd wheel = 75") and substitue a 16 (70" even). If the ancients in their great wisdom were content with 70" -- and I grant you that their roads were worse than those I ride -- then who am I, old and halt, to attempt anything bigger? I just got back from a brief -- 14 m -- but exacting ride: half of it directly into a south wind at 17 gusting to 25, with a load of library books and hills on the southward leg. 66" gear on the Motobecane. Great fun, although I was near stalling on some inclines. **That** is why I like lowish bars: when you have one gear, a load, a hill and a stiff headwind, it is the hooks well below top tube that keep you going. '03 Curt Riv fixed commuter: 69" and 65" fixed flip flop. The '99 Joe gofast will have more or less the same, the wheels being 1/2" bigger thanks to the 571 versus 559 rims: 70 and 66. The Motobecane is fine with 66" even with loads. The (God willing) soon to be returned and built up grocery beater Nishiki mixty will have, I am thinking, a 36X15 (15 from the gofast) for a 65" gear. The Monocog 29er has a 64" gear which is fine for the sandy flats and brief tho' steep hills that I encounter in my off road environment. Ain't fixed gears wonderful? ** --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
