Regular readers will recall how I stripped a tooth or two in our Sram
3x7 fited to our pino tandem. That's a 3x7 that Sram don't recommend
for tandem use, and that Hase don't fir to their Pinos anymore. And
that Dave Kahn said last time I fixed it "But don't you have the
problem that the repaired hub is just as not recommended for tandem
use as the original?"
Well quite.
Last Sunday's TC ride, which saw the triumpant trial of the new drink
bladder thing also saw tinging noises coming from the rear hub. I
stuck it in second (direct drive) and nursed it along, walking up
anything remtely steep. Which would account for us getting to lunch at
gone two.
So I'm looking at options to replace it.
A. Retrofit a Rolhoff. 6-700 quid. Ouch.
B. Fit a triple crossover chainset (as Pino have now). However,
the stoker's RH crank has a built in freewheel. For this to workwith a
crossover chainset it would need to become the LH captain's crank- the
ratchet won't work if it was the stoker LH crank. (The freewheel
allows independent pedalling). This would mean a RH crank fitted on
the LH side with possible pedal undoingness. I'd also have to fettle
some kind of bracket on the LH of the Pino boom to hold the chain tube
in place.
C. Suggested by a fiend in the TC. Fit a 4 ring chainset (as
purveyed by the BoB). This will do away with the need for a crossover
chainset, keep the stoker freewheel out of the spray from the front
wheel, avoid the need to faff around with chain tubes.
Does anyone here have one of these 4 ring chainsets? How wide are
they? How is the fourth ring fixed on?
Tim