Originally Posted by
55 Traveler
Can any of you guys comment on 3 speed gearing? I'm running an AW with (I think) 48 front to a 20 tooth sprocket and find the cruising ratios awkward. I'm generally looking for something in between middle and top. That probably makes sense since I gravitate to a 75" gear on my ten speeds (in the flat with no wind) and the AW works out to about 86" for top and 65" for 2nd.
Any experiences with 4 speeds (FM and FW)?
David
48/20 is a pretty high gear, depending on wheel size. Most of the older 3sp's have a 46T chain ring and an 18T cog, and most of us replace the latter with a 22T (which is readily available) or something bigger if we can find it. That doesn't do anything for the steps between the gears, but lowering them all helps a lot.
The steps between the gears of an FW are slightly smaller, which is definitely better though the difference is pretty subtle. The steps between the higher three gears of an FM are so small I often can't decide whether the hub shifted correctly or not. I had an FM hub for a while, didn't really like it, and traded it to a friend. But several months later I changed my mind and got it back... and haven't ridden it much yet.
If you are generally looking for something between 2 and 3, I'd say change the cog --this is really easy to do-- to either 18 or 22 and see how that feels. I'd recommend the 22. If you can pick up an FW or S5 hub it is pretty easy to switch out the guts of the AW for the guts of the other; you'll probably need a different trigger shifter as well. The guts of an FM hub do not fit the AW shell.