On 05/14/2017 07:51 AM, Daniel Jackson wrote:
Would someone make a recommendation for a rear 9 speed cassette to work well
with the silver tandem crank on the hubbuhubbuh?
We live in very hilly terrain and commonly run as low as 18-20 gear inches on
our own touring bikes. Is gearing for a tandem any different than a single?
Yes. On a tandem you can use a much higher high gear than you can on a
single. You will actually be able to spin out a top gear like a 54x12
or 50x11, and not just once every time Haley's Comet comes around, but
regularly. You can go downhill like gangbusters: I hit 65 mph indicated
on a computer one time, and once no computer but 50 lb of loaded
panniers going downhill to the Rt 340 bridge at Harpers Ferry passed a
line of a dozen cars going easily 10 mph faster than they were going
(and believe me, nobody goes 55 there no matter what the speed limit
signs say). (Stokers were screaming out loud both times: once in
abject terror, once with joy.)
But you pay for that going uphill. You'll definitely want a low
granny. I don't know about 18" though - in a 24 x 34 T gear (19" for a
700x32 wheel) at 60 RPM you'll be doing 3.4 mph. Some tandem teams find
it very difficult to balance at only 3.4 mph. On the other hand,
stalling and falling over is not only painful (a guy I knew did that on
his tandem and broke his arm as a result) but your stoker will never let
you live it down; and stalling is definitely more likely to result in a
fall on a tandem than a single.
One other thing: you lose (and gain) momentum faster on a tandem than a
single. When you crest a hill and start going downhill, it's definitely
"push the piano off the top of the Chrysler Building" time but once the
grade starts increasing you lose momentum much faster than a single.
What that means to you is, those 1-tooth-difference oh-so-close gears
that feel so nice when you're riding your single are piddling little
wastes of time on a tandem. 2 teeth apart is a nice close shift on a
tandem, and when you start to climb you'll want bigger bites than that.
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