My orange Quickbeam came set up as a "2 speed" with 32-40-chainguard chainrings on a 74/110 triple (still has those) plus an 18t freewheel. I immediately made it a "3 speed" with a 17/19 Dos Eno freewheel. The chain is too slack for the 32/17 to work, so only 3 options: 40/17 (99% of my riding), 40/19, 32/19. I later added a 22T freewheel to the flip side of the flip/flop hub, which will work with the 32, but not the 40, so I have an extremely inconvenient 4-speed.
I rarely take it out of the 40/17, but the headwinds this morning made me wonder if I should have used the 40/19. All of that was much cheaper and easier than getting an internally geared hub, and if I did go for an IGH, I'd get a modern 7 or 8 speed anyway. On Sunday, June 18, 2023 at 1:57:29 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote: > There have been threads recently about 2- and 3-speeding Quickbeams and > SimpleOnes using multiple chainrings, front derailleur, and rear chain > takeup device. I'm curious why people don't use Sturmey Archer AWs? The AW > has (per late '90s study by the Human Powered Vehicle Association) as > little drag as a clean, well set up derailleur system, and an IGH preserves > the simplicity and clean aesthetic of a ss or fixed gear, barring a small > cable and shift mechanism. > > Pray, why the choice of multiple rings, fd, and rear tensioner? Is it the > big jumps in the AW gearing? > > Long ago (1990 IIRC) I set up a beater Schwinn 3 speed as a poor man's > mountain bike (my companion's Diamond Back was recent with only 6 rear > cogs) with a 36 to ring to give, with the 18 t AW cog, 69", 52", and 39" > gears, and it did good service on 1 well-remembered ride on very hilly jeep > tracks -- and an aside: the Ashtabula crank was a miracle of cheap and > durable manufacturing compared to the cottered system. > > But 69"-52"-39" is a very useful gear spread. > > -- > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/044e7a57-a8d9-43ca-aee4-fdc770706178n%40googlegroups.com.
