We had a similar conversation back in February and, among the topic discussed was, why 3X1 instead of 1X3? Bill pointed out that commercially available 3 speed fws of good quality with huge tooth gaps are hard to find, whereas anyone can find a triple crank.
But I keep coming back to theoretical efficiencies: IIRC, the gearing effect of tooth jumps in back are more or less double what they are in front. So the question is, how to get just 2 or 3 big jumps in back without a IGH. Question: I've never followed BMX, but IIRC I've read of 2-speed BMX freehubs; was that really a thing? If so, perhaps that would be the ideal low-cog-count/big-ratio-jump system. And then there are those packages of spacers and ss HG-freehub-compatible kits that allow you to use just 1 -- or a few -- cogs on your 7-8-9-etc.-speed freehub. Long ago I asked Phil Wood & Co. if they'd build me a fixed hub that would accept 3 sprockets. They replied, "Sure! Figure on about $400" -- this in circa 2000 dollars which per the DoL Inflation Calculator is ~$740 in 2024 monopoly money. With horizontals or track ends and a good steel internal cam QR you could have yourself a very good time without the need for a lousy (and FWIW considerably less that I paid for my TF hub). A 44 X 17/20/24 would give you 70", 60", and 50", a good spread with relatively unobtrusive hardware and bulk. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfguoFy_SF2OG%3DDm5HyaX1xqNzSOX%3DGeC6RK696anaqLR%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com.
