Steve writes: "In the terrain I ride most, I'd stay on the big ring all the way down the block until I was forced to shift -- and I would be forced to shift every time it got steep, ... I'll be looking for a gear lower than 38 inches, something in the mid to low 30s."
In which case I am surprised you are happy with that 36 tooth middle ring. With that, only your two biggest cogs (w/ 32.4" and 36") meet your criteria. Were I in your shoes, I would drop the middle ring size by 4 teeth thereby moving that 36" gear down a cog to the 24t. But of course I am not you, and the great thing is we all get to ride what we like. On Thursday, August 22, 2013 4:02:18 PM UTC-7, Steve Palincsar wrote: > > On 08/22/2013 06:41 PM, William wrote: > > 40 x 26 is plenty. Run the numbers with any normal cassette. Compact > double is all most people need. You need a triple carrying or hauling lots > of weight, and maybe need it for serious off road riding. But if you lay > out the numbers, an intelligently selected compact double gives you > everything you need and nothing you don't need. > > On Thursday, August 22, 2013 3:32:06 PM UTC-7, Michael wrote: >> >> Would it take a triple crank? >>> >> >> I am just thinking that a 40t x 26t. double crank seems like it needs a >> middle ring. >> > > > > 40 53.8 % 26 11 98.2 > 63.8 18.2 % 13 83.1 > 54.0 15.4 % 15 72.0 > 46.8 13.3 % 17 63.5 > 41.3 11.8 % 19 56.8 > 36.9 10.5 % 21 51.4 > 33.4 9.5 % 23 47.0 > 30.5 8.7 % 25 43.2 > 28.1 12.0 % 28 38.6 > 25.1 14.3 % 32 33.8 > 21.9 > > > OK, here's the 40/26 with an 11-32 10 speed cassette. The range is just > fine: 22" low, 98" high. Can't be bettered. But what happens inside the > range? > In the terrain I ride most, I'd stay on the big ring all the way down the > block until I was forced to shift -- and I would be forced to shift every > time it got steep, because 39" is not enough for me on 9-10% grades. What > happens then? Let's say I go from the 40 to the 28T chain ring. Now I'm > in a 25" gear, and that's so low I'm going to think I dropped the chain. > I'll be looking for a gear lower than 38 inches, something in the mid to > low 30s. Whatcha got? > > Upshift 4 and you get a 37", just about the same as where I was. Upshift > 3 in back and I get a 33. I can live with a 33 -- but can I live with > having to upshift 3 each time I cross over? I don't think so. That 54% > difference in the chain rings means you can't ever just shift the front and > keep on truckin', the jump is just too much. Unlike, for example, the > 10-tooth difference between my 36 and 46T chain rings. There, if I'm > feeling lazy or the terrain is steepening fast, I just shift the front and > go from a 52" gear to a 40.5 -- something you can live with -- or I can > upshift 1 and get a 46, next in sequence. > > What about up at the top end? 98" is a nice top end, in fact it's what I > have now. But where's that 88.7" I have? Missing. Next gear is 2 teeth > down, an 83. That's a hole I'd trip on often. > > For reference, here's my gearing with a 9 speed 13-30 cassette: > > 46 36 24 > 95.5 74.8 49.8 88.7 69.4 46.3 82.8 64.8 43.2 73.1 57.2 38.1 65.4 > 51.2 34.1 59.1 46.3 30.9 51.8 40.5 27.0 > 46.0 36.0 24.0 41.4 32.4 21.6 > > > > > > > -- 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/groups/opt_out.
