Hybrids - any thoughts on these..?

In news:[email hidden],
Zoobax <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

oops, forgot:

Edinburgh bikes do a hybrid with 8 gears, which seems a pretty
sensible number to me - 21/24/28 seems like just too much!

Do you think it'd be possible to reduce the number of gears on my
choices?

I'm not sure how suitable bikes with a restricted number of gears are for
everyone. I got one with a seven speed hub gear for my about town and
touring riding a year ago and I'm not 100% sure I'm totally satisfied with
it, and I thought I knew what gears I liked riding in. Mind you, I knackered
the shifter yesterday, so now it's a singlespeed, which is definitely far
too few.

Anyway, the thing to remember is that you have 21-27 gears, but you don't
have to use them all. You do need a low gear for hills (presumably you have
to go up into town if your LBS is Alpine Bikes), ideally low enough that you
can turn the pedals with very little effort when going up normal hills (but
turning them quite fast so there's a fair bit of work going on), and you'll
need a middle gear for cruising around on the flat, and you doubtless want a
high gear for bombing down hills or sprinting.

The main thing that's going to be left out with a smaller number of gears is
the bottom range (partly because bikes with a low top gear don't sell well,
even if it's easy to ride them to 25mph), which will probably be a problem
for the knees, especially in a hilly place like Edinburgh.

Anyway, lots of people do cycle around with not many gears, but it's
probably best to let you know it's not an automatic choice and the standard
range on an MTB/hybrid is all useful.

A

Zoobax said:

oops, forgot:

Edinburgh bikes do a hybrid with 8 gears, which seems a pretty
sensible number to me - 21/24/28 seems like just too much!

Do you think it'd be possible to reduce the number of gears on my
choices?

You could get the bike supplied with fewer gears (eg. with a single
chainset*) or get it modified afterwards.

But I recommend having a go with all those gears if you do any hilly
cycling. It's great to have a truly wide range without excessively large
jumps between gears. 27 gears is not as ridiculous as it first sounds
because quite a few of those gears shouldn't normally be used (because the
chain is too crossed-over in them and the ratios are duplicates of others
anyway). Don't have to be terribly awkward to use as you can leave it in
the middle chairing most of the time if you like.

* Leave front derailleur on as it will stop the chain from coming off --
something that can otherwise happen when you have lots of sprockets at the
back.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

But I recommend having a go with all those gears if you do any hilly
cycling.

See threads concerning topography of Norfolk for the definition of
"hilly"...

Quoted message said:

It's great to have a truly wide range without excessively large
jumps between gears. 27 gears is not as ridiculous as it first sounds
because quite a few of those gears shouldn't normally be used

On a touringish setup I reckon you get about 2 and a bit rear changes
for a front change, giving you an effectiove 14 gears with a /big/ range.
My cargo bike has 8 (widely spaced) and that's good enough for Dundee
which has Real Hill (tm), probably same ballpark as Edinburgh (I lived
in Marchmont for a year and got about by bike, that's not a wild guess)
with 50 Kg of coal on board; unless you're in a Big Hurry and want
optimised close racing gears I really can't see you'd need more than 8
as long as they're the right 8. And nor do EBC, which is why their
Courier moddel practically designed for the place has 8 gears on a
single chainring.

Less money spent of transmission, less maintenance, less chain dropping
fiascos. Makes sense to me.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

My cargo bike has 8 (widely spaced) and that's good enough for Dundee
which has Real Hill (tm), probably same ballpark as Edinburgh (I lived
in Marchmont for a year and got about by bike, that's not a wild guess)
with 50 Kg of coal on board;

Have you been up the Hilltown with your 50 Kg of coal? Big respect if
you have!

--
Best regards
Richard

http://www.ceresgames.co.uk/

Richard Lucas said:

Have you been up the Hilltown with your 50 Kg of coal? Big respect if
you have!

Wrong side of town for me. I don't think you'd need to respect anything
if I tried, apart from capacity for stupidity... ;-) It normally goes
up Blackness Road or Scott Street with the coal load, which are Actual
Hills but rather gentler. I haven't felt the need to go via West Park
Road either, for some reason... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Richard Lucas wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Have you been up the Hilltown with your 50 Kg of coal? Big respect if
you have!

Quoted message said:

Wrong side of town for me. I don't think you'd need to respect anything
if I tried, apart from capacity for stupidity... ;-) It normally goes
up Blackness Road or Scott Street with the coal load, which are Actual
Hills but rather gentler. I haven't felt the need to go via West Park
Road either, for some reason... ;-)

Or to admire the view from the Law while you're at it?

Roos