Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

The thing is, the FD shifts like lightning between the halfsteps - it's as quick as any RD. It's really not doing a lot of work to make the small lift. On Tuesday, July 2, 2013 8:31:48 AM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote: > > ... > Halfstepping: a very efficient system if you know how to shift quic

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

That Fuji: very nice build -- congrats. I wonder if my daughter, just turned 12 and in a period of indifference to bicycles, will regain her interest in a few years. Halfstepping: a very efficient system if you know how to shift quickly and reliably. If I had need for more gears than the few I rou

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

Except I don't think that I have ever, ever shifted my bicycle like a car, 1-2-3-4 ect. Then there is the point where cross-chaining is more of a big deal on a triple and not really that important at all on a double. Nothing on a bike is really hard or complicated, but I think a 2x10 is most defi

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

Agree, wide range and sufficiently small gaps with 10 cogs; 2X10 should give you almost as much range with as comfortable a progression as a 3X8. I bumped up to 9 from 7 on the Fargo when I went from 46/36/24 to 38/24 and the range is almost as big and the gaps almost as small and -- here is the c

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

On Mon, 2013-07-01 at 09:09 -0700, Mike Schiller wrote: > It's the access to wide range cassettes that's made triples somewhat > obsolete. Using a 44-28 or 46-30 crankset with a 11-30 up to a 12-34 > cassette gives one a pretty good range on a road or country bike. > Heavily loaded touring bikes b

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

On Mon, 2013-07-01 at 09:05 -0700, Anne Paulson wrote: > If brifters don't work well with triples (don't know if that's true) Jan certainly seems to think so: http://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/trouble-with-sti-triples/ > that's an argument against brifters, not an argument against triples

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

I think the argument is that with bigger clusters on the back it makes sense to keep the complication located in one place. Less movement = less complication. This obviously is an argument for 3x8 or 3x7 setups over the 2x11 or 1x11 setups that are dominating the high end of the market as well.

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

It's the access to wide range cassettes that's made triples somewhat obsolete. Using a 44-28 or 46-30 crankset with a 11-30 up to a 12-34 cassette gives one a pretty good range on a road or country bike. Heavily loaded touring bikes being probably one of the only exceptions although it kinda d

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

If brifters don't work well with triples (don't know if that's true) that's an argument against brifters, not an argument against triples. On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Steve Palincsar wrote: > On Mon, 2013-07-01 at 08:11 -0700, Montclair BobbyB wrote: >> Eric: Wow, that's surprising coming fr

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

On Mon, 2013-07-01 at 08:11 -0700, Montclair BobbyB wrote: > Eric: Wow, that's surprising coming from Dirt Rag... Actually (if > this is where they're going with that argument), I'd reply with "The > only thing dumber than a 2x10 on a road bike (maybe other than a 2x11) > is a 2x10 on a mountain b

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

Eric: Wow, that's surprising coming from Dirt Rag... Actually (if this is where they're going with that argument), I'd reply with "The only thing dumber than a 2x10 on a road bike (maybe other than a 2x11) is a 2x10 on a mountain bike"... The triple was always intended to support a wide range o

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

Nothing wrong with gears or using gear calculators to plan your set-up. Versatility is a good thing. Just like purpose-built is another good thing. Not every bike needs a 26-inch gear, just like every bike doesn't need a 105-inch gear. (My buddy's Santana tandem has a 126-inch gear) I rode 30

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

I like a challenge; to paraphrase Sheldon Brown, "If you wanted it to be easy, why are you riding a bike?" However, I just geared up a bike to ride with workmates, and I like it. My first try with the bar-end shifter le

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

It's horses for courses. There are many different reasons for riding, and pushing a relatively big gear up a hill or, more generally, adapting your riding to the arbitrary limitations Of your machine is one of them--albeit, I daresay, an odd one/ But it is one that appeals to me. Patrick Moore

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

I don't see it as a contest. The bike is a tool to get me where I want to go, and should be versatile enough that I don't have to consider the terrain or road surface or other conditions to be limiting factors. I don't get the whole "how often do you need a granny gear?" thing. It doesn't ma

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

This is interesting. My own take on the bike-to-rider "contest of mastery" is that I like to adapt myself to the bike's limitations and to the circumstances -- terrain, wind, gear, load, etc. I'd rather learn to grunt a 40 lb load up a mile-long hill than to create a gear system that will let me ex

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

I don't get it. There are lots of steep roads. They're fun to ride, but for many riders, they're hard to ride. If you can ride them with a double, compact or otherwise, more power to you. But if you need lower gears to ride them, your choice is to skip those fun rides, or walk them, or equip your b

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

I saw that comment too, in what incidentally seemed to me to be pretty much a waste of an issue. In any case, I found myself thinking of it again yesterday while riding some steep stuff at about 9500' ASL. So thanks Eric for reminding me to go dig out my old triple and look at replacing my mounta

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

And yet, in the latest issue of Dirt Rag (a mountain bike focused magazine), the mechanic column had a quote along the lines of "the only thing dumber than a triple on a mountain bike, is a triple on a road bike." Seems like a lot of folks are thinking that way. Now, for non-loaded touring, on th

Re: [RBW] Re: Overheard on Sierra to the Sea

People who ride compact doubles chose those bikes. Sometimes just riding by them on a steep hill in your comfortable triple is enough to make them rethink whether their gearing is what they want. People sometimes buy the bike for the fitness they wish they had, instead of the fitness they actually