I didn't realize that Surly made a 17/21 (Tree Fort Bicycles has it for $37). I had wanted a 17/20.
But being forced to limit myself to the 17/19, I found that the 19 gives a gear (~63") that, really, is better for my purpose, which is a gear that is low enough to help with loads up hills or against wind, or those days when I am feeling shitty, but not so low that, when you reach a flat, you flail away uselessly. The Dingle is nice because, even with full panniers, I can stop, release the QR and shift the chain to the 19 without having the huge hassle of removing and flipping the wheel. (I use a 48 t ring and ~24.8 " tires; the 17 gives me a 70" cruising gear, the 19 a 63", the 20 would give a 60" gear, and the 21 a 56" gear.) I wish Surley made a 18/21; I could put that on the flip side for a 66/56, and have four gears: 70/66/63/56. Though at that point the reasonable question would be, "Why then are your riding a fixed gear bike?" Still, for what, for me constitutes a longer ride, say a 30 miler including the long Tramway hill and perhaps an excursion off onto the very steep Tram road proper, a 17/19 with a 21 on the flip side would be nice. Segway (tm): You see photos from the '30s of Tour de France riders on the dirt alpine roads with what are very obviously 3 or 4 speed freewheels on their derailleur-less machines. IIRC, Lon Haldeman's custom Riv was featured in a long-ago Reader; he crossed the Rockes sans derailleur with a 3-speed fw that he shifted by hand. (Tho' this list's Eric Norris rode over the Rockies on a fixie, again IIRC.) On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 1:14 PM, Philip Williamson < [email protected]> wrote: > I love that you filed away the dropout slot. It seems so much cheaper, > easier, and more immediate than having someone move them. I always wondered > why you had 17/19 dingles instead of 17/21s. > I was a big obsessor over gear inches when all I rode was fixed. Now that > I've built up another geared bike, I have a handwritten chart of possible > big rings and all their gear combinations. (I think I'm going to knock the > 48 down to a 44). > > Philip > www.biketinker.com > > > On Friday, December 20, 2013 4:50:50 PM UTC-8, Patrick Moore wrote: >> >> I've bitched and moaned on this list about the annoying position of the >> retrofit Campy 1010s on the '03 Curt (installed by local builder Dave >> Porter some 6-7 years ago), that, with my preferred ring-and-cog combos, >> leave the axle at the 1/2 or even the 3/5 point along the dropouts in the >> cruising cog, so that I am limited to another 2 teeth before I run out of >> dropout room. Since I lika-da-Dingle, this has limited me to a 17/19 >> instead of the 17/20. >> >> (Tho' I found after grudgingly installing the 17/19 that the 19/63" is >> the perfect chugging-along gear for extended hills and headwinds when I am >> carrying a heavy load.) >> >> I talked to other local builder Chauncey Matthews about re-positioning >> the dropouts, but he was reluctant to undertake the job, so after much >> fretting and internal anguish, today I took big and small rattails and a >> flat file to them and laboriously filed them back by a couple of mm. >> >> Lo and behold, a very little horizontal distance takes up a heckuvalotta >> chain slack. The axle is now within a mm of the back-end of the dropout in >> the 48/17, and there is ample room for, not only a 20, but, I daresay, even >> a 22 or 23. Not that my mighty quads need such piddling gears. >> >> I may have to file the dropouts back another mm or so to take up chain >> slack as the chain "stretches", but that should be no problem. The backend >> of the dropouts is noticeably thinner now, but there is ample metal to >> support the axle. >> >> I had to do the same thing to the '99 Joe gofast when I got it in '99, >> since I had -- thou fool! -- neglected to specify long dropouts and got >> Riv's then-current short horizontals. But the file did its work and the >> gofast can take a 5-tooth jump: I've installed a 20 t (or was it a 21?); >> the crusing 75" is a 46/15. >> >> All of this leading up to a couple of questions: >> >> 1. How much linear "stretch constitutes sufficient chain wear to require >> replacing the chain? (I use a Park tool, and I've found that, on the '99 >> Joe, when I just begin to notice that I cannot any longer take up >> sufficient slack, the tool measures close to 100% worn. So the dropouts >> make up a kind of on-bike chain check setup.) It can't be more than a very >> few mm. >> >> 2. Is it true, or is it false, that the lateral movement of the axle as >> you move it back and forth to accommodate smaller and bigger cogs, is 1/2 >> the distance that would be required if the chain were a mere single run, >> instead of being the double run it is? My head can't wrap around this one >> enough to picture the results of looping the chain versus a single line of >> chain. (That question makes sense to me, buddy.) >> >> 3. Is there a formula to convert linear axle movement to vertical chain >> deflection? That is: if I measure 1 3/4? of chain sag from the horizontal, >> then pull the axle back so that the chain is now horizontal (I know that >> this term is inexact), is there a formula that will tell me how much the >> axle will move laterally? >> >> (For Steve P.: Steve: it's *great* fun filing away energetically with >> crude hand tools at a $3,500 custom frame!) >> >> Patrick Moore, who would be at a total loss if he hadn't such trivial >> esoterica to fret about, in Burque, NM. >> -- >> *RESUMES THAT GET YOU NOTICED!* >> Certified Resume Writer >> http://resumespecialties.com/index.html >> [email protected] >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ >> >> Albuquerque, NM >> > -- > 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 [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- *FOR A RESUME THAT GETS YOU AN INTERVIEW, CONTACT:* http://resumespecialties.com/index.html [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Certified Resume Writer Albuquerque, NM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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