Single Speed Gear Combo For Turnbull?

if your chainline is off, it will want to drop the chain, expecially with chainrings/cogs that are designed for shifting, since the teeth are shorter and ramped. Chances are it wont be a fun ride. As for a chain tensioner, i deffinately reccomend one, at least for the drive side. Deffinately tighten your skewer pretty good regardless.

 

LAME IDEA FRANKIE! #-o

1) A geared bike will never "FEEL" like a SS
2) Unnecessary weight will slow you down
3) See numbers one and two
4) Riding a bike that weighs pounds less is a better option
5) If you are that worried, swap cogs on the trail 8-[
6) Do what the rest of us have done.... Try a combo... If the gear you've chosen is less than ideal, slap a different one on in time for the NEXT ride!!!

 

Do you go to Turnbull after work often? How tall are you? Do you use SPDs? If you are on the shorter side (or willing to try entirely standing), and see a girl on a blue HT Santa Cruz Julianna, say hi and you are welcomed to try my ss with a ratio of 32:20. I'm sometimes there Thursdays (if I'm not at the Loop), just say hi, especially if we are near the bottom of the B's and you are more than welcomed to try a 32:20 up them for yourself. :wave:

 

Well, I'm not saying it's gona be a long term solution! Just a crutch until I figure out what gear I can live with.

Swap the cog and adjust chain length on the trail? You want me to carry like extra 10lbs of tools on the ride! (chain whip, crescent wrench, etc.) This is funny coming from a guy who refuses to ride with a water bottle and pump.[-(

 

I've ridden Turnbull Cyn with my 33-18. Good flat gear, spin out at about 18mph. Chin to the stem on anything steep!

 

Frankie- Take Tara up on her offer!!! :clap:

You ride her single speed... She can ride your PIMPED-OUT Ellsworth Moment!

Choose a gear.. Ride... Decide if you need another gear for the next ride!

 

all this talk means i'm loading the ss up and hitting turnbull tomorrow.

 

Thank you!! I will keep my eye out for you.

I'm 5'7" and ride a small/med so I should be able to.

I usually go to TB on weekends. I'll be at the Loop this Thursday around 6:30. Have I met you before? I remember talking to a girl with a baby blue bike last week? I ride a saphire blue Moment.

Now I'll be really embarrased if I can't turn the gears!! 8-[

 

crescent wrench? i just bring the smallest regular open end wrench that fits. Trust me, the hassle of that extra lb will be far less than what you will be dealing with if you tried your idea. And if you have a horizontal dropout, you don't need to change your chain length unless you like to run it all the way up front and you want to put a bigger cog on.
At any rate, changing your gear ratio by a tooth or 2 will not make or break you on a ride, aside from something that you're boarderline on making regardless. Just throw a gear on and ride, you'll see what i mean.

 

Why not "shifting" to that gear and leave the limit screws alone? The RD will move to line up the chain. Anyway, this will not work. Using the RD with pulleys will make it actually feel easier than a true SS. It's like pull up weight directly from a height, then try using a pulley system to hoist it up, which would be easier?

Just wont work at all with that long of a chain. It would have way too much chain slack.

A tensioner would not be necessary since you can move your wheel back to take up slack.

+1, I would take Tara up on here offer and try hers out.

 

This is not true at all

that's not really true as long as the chainline was decent.

he's talking about chain tugs designed for horizontal dropouts, not a tensioner like the Surly singulator. He would most deffinately want a chain tug because the wheel tends to move forward when you're torquing up a hill.
However, i'm guessing he has reversed horizontal dropouts, and he would need a special type of tensioner since many wont work with that.

 

Which part isn't true? The RD will stretch the chain to take up all that slack when he is in the middle ring up front and an 18 in the cassette. Don't you think that that amount of chain slap is too excessive.

As far as tensioner, I thought he was talking about a Surly.

 

i ran 32x20 on my 29er for quite a while there but recently switched to 32x21.

i tend to do longer loops (25-30 miles, 5-6k climbing) there and on back to back days and the 20t was getting a little hard to turn on the second day.

i hate walking anything there (i only have to walk china wall on the 7th loop).and, i climb stuff in reverse direction all the time (cow trail, rattlesnake, a-side in reverse) and the 20t is a handful on those "reverse routes".

3b's.....climbed it 32x21....won't do it again

start out slow and "easy" on your ss....gotta get you legs built up to it. if you go hard right off the bat, your knees may ache and take a long time to recover.

 

I ride mostly SS (just built my first geared bik e this year).
I'm partial to 34x22 for everything on 26". Holy Jim, Santiago Oaks, Aliso, El Moro, San Juan... it doesn't matter.

I can manage a 34 x 20 on 700C wheels but I certainly notice the 15% difference.
For 'Cross racing I run a 34 x 18

Sure, I get my ass handed to me on the flats, but I ALWAYS catch up on the ups

 

This is a descent trail!



j/k


We got bitched at by some solo rider as we were climbing up Rattlesnake last week on the weekly turnbull ride. None of us saw any signs. :?:

 

He said climbing in reverse wouldnt that be descending?:?:

 

that fool was a douche anyway....

"wha'eva! i climb what i want beeetch!"

turnbull... whittier side. 5:30-5:45 PM on the single...

 

I ment as far as the pulley reduction theory.
But as far as the RD goes, plenty of people haves used one as a tensioner without issues. You don't need the full chain length of a 9 speed drivetrain, you can cut it down drastically. The deraileur can be nearly horizontal.

 

I know some have used the RD as a tensioner, but he was talking about leaving it as is and just tightening down the limit screws. That would leave way too much chain and the chain line would be off.

We as far as the pulley reduction, you're probably right there since it does not go through a series of pulleys to matter.

 

I see lots of single cogs for sale but labeled "BMX". They look to have the Shimano free hub splines but can I use those? The teeth spacing may not compatible with regular MTB chains?

I have the old 8-speed XT drive train with integrated shifter and brake lever which cannot use V-brakes. Can't wait to get rid of those levers so I can at least run V-brakes.