John: Congrats on the new bike. Not familiar with the details of that model (I have an Atlantis) but Rivs share a common design philosophy. First, as much as you love your old French stuff, maybe it's time to retire it & get new stuff for the new bike. Precision manufacturing has come a long way in the last few decades & basic level Shimano stuff works better & lasts longer than 20th century European. Start with the Sugino XD triple from Riv, compatible FD, long cage RD & a 12-32 or 12-34 8 speed cassette. Your overall gearing range will be 5:1 so can do loaded tours, trail riding, commuting, etc. This stuff is all affordable, readily available, and will work friction or index. Lastly, the guys at Riv are a great resource. Rivs get built up all kinds of ways so they see a lot of creativity & are quite helpful.
dougP -----Original Message----- From: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com [mailto:rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John Ferguson Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 9:35 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch Subject: [RBW] Questions about derailleurs/chainwheels/cassettes Hi all, First time on here, and it's my first time building a bike from the frame up. I'm hoping someone here can help, as I'm a complete neophyte. I've been riding an older (cheap) French bike for the past 10 years and finally took the plunge and bought a Rivendell Saluki. Frame only, of course--I could have taken the easy way out and gotten a completed bike, but since I'm going to be traveling long distances on this bike, I figured I needed to build it myself so I know how everything goes together. I'm in the process of acquiring components; I think I have most everything figured out, except for the following: I have a Simplex SLJ5500 rear derailleur and an SLJ front derailleur from my old bike. However, I can't figure out with a high degree of confidence what an appropriate range would be for the chainwheels and the cassette/freewheel. Unfortunately I sold my old bike without counting teeth. I'm planning on taking very long rides, sometimes multi-day, and I'm hoping to enter some formal randonneur events this year. Anyone have advice for me? Anything would be appreciated; I've spent many hours trying to figure this out. Thanks! John --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---