Skip the front derailer?

(Jeff) said:

I live in a flat area (Chicago) and use my bike for
exercise rides of 15-40 miles. I have a hybrid type
bike and I have sort of run out of gears. The gear I
use most lets me go 18.5 mph at my preferred cadence.
I'd like to push it up a bit, but the next gear has a big
jump of 2.5 mph to 21mph and I just can't push that
one. So I am thinking of changing chainring and/or
cassette to get closer spacing.

I really don't need more than 7 or 8 gears, if they are
the right gears (in fact I only use 3 at the moment, not
counting the one I can't push). Is it possible to buy a
single chain ring and position it so that there is an
acceptable chain angle to all of the gears in the cassette?
Or is this too "non-standard" to be an option?

You can do that, but leave the front derailleur on the bike to keep
the chain from derailling.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mark Hickey said:

[email hidden] (Jeff) wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I really don't need more than 7 or 8 gears, if they are
the right gears (in fact I only use 3 at the moment, not
counting the one I can't push). Is it possible to buy a
single chain ring and position it so that there is an
acceptable chain angle to all of the gears in the cassette?
Or is this too "non-standard" to be an option?

You can do that, but leave the front derailleur on the bike to keep
the chain from derailling.

Mark is right. I have a BMX with a 7-speed cluster and one ring on the
front. I had to add a front der to prevent repeated chain drops. With
the derailleur in place, everything just works.

You don't need to connect a shifter or cable to a front derailleur being
used as a chain guide. Just attach it to the frame and use the limit
screws to position it.

The hardcore one-ring option is to go mountain bike style, with
heavy-duty chainguides including tensioning rollers to bring the chain
in tighter and full guards on both sides of the ring. But I don't think
you're doing 6' drops on a bike with 7" of rear-wheel suspension travel,
are you?

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Jeff said:

I really don't need more than 7 or 8 gears, if they are
the right gears (in fact I only use 3 at the moment, not
counting the one I can't push). Is it possible to buy a
single chain ring and position it so that there is an
acceptable chain angle to all of the gears in the cassette?
Or is this too "non-standard" to be an option?

Thanks,
Jeff

A well-known Scottish bike shop does just that on a couple of their city
bikes. There's a couple of extra bits round the chainwheel to stop it
getting unshipped.

http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/catalogue/detail.cfm?ID=19065

Jules

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 08:56:25 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mark Hickey said:

[email hidden] (Jeff) wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I really don't need more than 7 or 8 gears, if they are
the right gears (in fact I only use 3 at the moment, not
counting the one I can't push). Is it possible to buy a
single chain ring and position it so that there is an
acceptable chain angle to all of the gears in the cassette?
Or is this too "non-standard" to be an option?

You can do that, but leave the front derailleur on the bike to keep
the chain from derailling.

Mark is right. I have a BMX with a 7-speed cluster and one ring on the
front. I had to add a front der to prevent repeated chain drops. With
the derailleur in place, everything just works.

....but there are bikes out there with only one chainring and no front
derailleur, nor any other chaintensioner but the rear derailleur...and
they still work.

Quoted message said:

You don't need to connect a shifter or cable to a front derailleur being
used as a chain guide. Just attach it to the frame and use the limit
screws to position it.

The hardcore one-ring option is to go mountain bike style, with
heavy-duty chainguides including tensioning rollers to bring the chain
in tighter and full guards on both sides of the ring. But I don't think
you're doing 6' drops on a bike with 7" of rear-wheel suspension travel,
are you?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Luigi de Guzman said:

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 08:56:25 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mark Hickey said:

[email hidden] (Jeff) wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>counting the one I can't push). Is it possible to buy a
>single chain ring and position it so that there is an
>acceptable chain angle to all of the gears in the cassette?

You can do that, but leave the front derailleur on the bike to keep
the chain from derailling.

Mark is right. I have a BMX with a 7-speed cluster and one ring on the
front. I had to add a front der to prevent repeated chain drops. With
the derailleur in place, everything just works.

...but there are bikes out there with only one chainring and no front
derailleur, nor any other chaintensioner but the rear derailleur...and
they still work.

A good point. I suspect one thing those bikes have going for them is
relatively long chainstays. The BMX LX has rather short chainstays to
start with, which suggests it puts the chain through some rather extreme
deflection angles by normal standards.

But as David Millar can attest, proper setup of a TT bike (which
probably has longer chain stays than the BMX LX) with just one ring also
calls for a chain guide. Of course, these days he has bigger things to
worry about than chain management during the TdF Prologue.

Back to the question at hand, you can try it both ways. There's no
penalty except possibly a dropped chain. I discovered the need for a
derailleur on the BMX LX empirically.
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The hardcore one-ring option is to go mountain bike style, with
heavy-duty chainguides including tensioning rollers to bring the chain
in tighter and full guards on both sides of the ring. But I don't think
you're doing 6' drops on a bike with 7" of rear-wheel suspension travel,
are you?

Not quite, but the pavement quality around Chicago makes it feel that
way sometimes 🙂. I have a hybrid called a Fuji Cambridge.

Thanks to all who mentioned the issue of the chain coming off - that
hadn't occurred to me. I was watching my DVD of the 2003 TdF a few
nights ago and saw Millars prologue problem. He seemed like an
appealing guy, too bad about his current situation.

I really don't know what they were thinking when they set up the gears on
my bike. Not only are there huge jumps at the top, but there is a ton of
overlap between the large and middle chain ring. And the granny gear is so
low you could go up the side of a building (not needed here in flatland).
Out of 21 gears there are only about 4 that are of any use to me.

Jeff

(Jeff) said:

Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The hardcore one-ring option is to go mountain bike style, with
heavy-duty chainguides including tensioning rollers to bring the chain
in tighter and full guards on both sides of the ring. But I don't think
you're doing 6' drops on a bike with 7" of rear-wheel suspension travel,
are you?

Not quite, but the pavement quality around Chicago makes it feel that
way sometimes 🙂. I have a hybrid called a Fuji Cambridge.

Thanks to all who mentioned the issue of the chain coming off - that
hadn't occurred to me. I was watching my DVD of the 2003 TdF a few
nights ago and saw Millars prologue problem. He seemed like an
appealing guy, too bad about his current situation.

Don't mean to change the subject, but where does one get a DVD of the 2003
TdF?

-B

(Jeff) said:

Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The hardcore one-ring option is to go mountain bike style, with
heavy-duty chainguides including tensioning rollers to bring the chain
in tighter and full guards on both sides of the ring. But I don't think
you're doing 6' drops on a bike with 7" of rear-wheel suspension travel,
are you?

Not quite, but the pavement quality around Chicago makes it feel that
way sometimes 🙂. I have a hybrid called a Fuji Cambridge.

Thanks to all who mentioned the issue of the chain coming off - that
hadn't occurred to me. I was watching my DVD of the 2003 TdF a few
nights ago and saw Millars prologue problem. He seemed like an
appealing guy, too bad about his current situation.

Oops, shoulda looked first: http://tinyurl.com/3fvo6

Let me amend, then. What is your opinion of the DVD?

-B

Quoted message said:

Let me amend, then. What is your opinion of the DVD?

-B

For the record, in case anyone else is wondering, I bought online from
World Cycling Productions. DVDs arrived in just 3 days.

Its great, assuming of course you like bike racing. It is compiled and
edited from theoriginal OLN coverage, as opposed to being a
retrospective type thing where the announcers already know what
is going to happen. I think this makes it more exciting. I was
actually in Lourdes, France when the 2003 Tour passed through, and
got to see some of the hoopla. But I didn;t see any racing or even
get to see much of the TV coverage (I was there on general vacation
and this was a coincidence).

They sell a 2-DVD set (4 hrs) which I have, and also a much longer
version with 6 or 8 DVDs. I thought 4 hours would be plenty but
it turns out I kind of wish I had sprung for the longer one. A lot
happens in a 21 stage race and it can't be satisfactorily compressed
down to 4 hrs.

I also have 4 hr versions of the 1999 and 2000 TdF, which they
sell as a package for a nice price. The 1999 one is neat. On the
first big climb Lance starts at the bottom as a promising guy who
is a neat story due to the cancer, and by the top he is obviously
a legendary talent.

Jeff

(Jeff) said:

Quoted message said:

Let me amend, then. What is your opinion of the DVD?

-B

For the record, in case anyone else is wondering, I bought online from
World Cycling Productions. DVDs arrived in just 3 days.

Its great, assuming of course you like bike racing. It is compiled and
edited from theoriginal OLN coverage, as opposed to being a
retrospective type thing where the announcers already know what
is going to happen. I think this makes it more exciting. I was
actually in Lourdes, France when the 2003 Tour passed through, and
got to see some of the hoopla. But I didn;t see any racing or even
get to see much of the TV coverage (I was there on general vacation
and this was a coincidence).

They sell a 2-DVD set (4 hrs) which I have, and also a much longer
version with 6 or 8 DVDs. I thought 4 hours would be plenty but
it turns out I kind of wish I had sprung for the longer one. A lot
happens in a 21 stage race and it can't be satisfactorily compressed
down to 4 hrs.

I also have 4 hr versions of the 1999 and 2000 TdF, which they
sell as a package for a nice price. The 1999 one is neat. On the
first big climb Lance starts at the bottom as a promising guy who
is a neat story due to the cancer, and by the top he is obviously
a legendary talent.

Jeff

Since those appear to be out of print, you wouldn't be interested in
loaning a sample copy to a fellow biker for a nominal fee would you? Uh,
just for 'review purposes', mind you. <g>

-B