I’m looking at getting a Hilsen soon (probably 58cm 650b) and I want to go friction only shifting with Silver Shifter bar ends (probably on Albas). I decided on Riv’s Sugino 46-36-24 triple up front. From everything I have read, 8 speed is the way to go for friction, and 8 is enough for me. I’m not a racer so I don’t need to precisely match the cadence of the peloton. More important for me is to have a wide range of gears. So for the rear, I’m looking at the Shimano Acera HG41 8 Speed MTB Cassette, 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-34T. I like the 11T for fun downhill runs (I admit that I don’t really NEED it). The 34T is so I can get my old body up over the hill. I would only use it with the 24 up front for when I climb a really nasty hill. The 8 tooth jump between 26 and 34 probably makes the 34 less than desirable for normal use, but that’s fine as I’ll reserve the 34T for use only with the 24T front chainring as an “emergency wimp-out granny gear”.
For the front derailer I’m looking at the Riv recommended Shimano Deore XT front derailer (FD-M781X6) – 17160 (Shimano's part number FD-M781X6 or M781AX6L or M781AX6S). For the rear, I’m planning on the Riv recommended Shimano Deore rear derailer – 17138, (RD M591 SGS). 1st Question: Are these the best derailer picks for my application, or should I look at something else? 2nd Question: I read that swapping the rear derailer pulleys is a good thing for friction shifting because the wobble designed into the top pulley (to make index shifting work) has a negative impact on friction shifting. But then…I would be putting a wobbly pulley in the lower position (when a non-wobbly pulley is called for). Should I just spring for another set of pulleys (about $10) so I could put “lower pulleys” in both positions? Would this avoid potential problems, or would I just be wasting money? Thanks, Doug Williams -- 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 post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
