ruirui

as the title says.. i do have an itch and it's getting worse. i'm so tempted. the type i'm looking for are like the verge X20, and those that are very similar to a road bike but in 20" wheels.

the thing that's holding me back is since the wheels are smaller, would it take more effort to pedal to keep up with my friends on regular road bikes?

i know it depends on the engine.. but in general, anything about the gear combinations/ ratios that can allow me to keep up and not fall too far behind. at the same time, give me the massive gear to help me climb without putting too much pressure on my knees (recovering from injury)?

please help~~

BruceMetras

What part of the Bay Area are you in? If San Rafael is convenient, give me a shout.. I just took in a nearly new, few month old Dahon Mu SL on trade.. pm me for details if interested.. generally, if you are keeping up with your buddies now, you'll be keeping up fine with a performance folder assuming it fits you about the same as what you currently ride, and your riding position is just as aggressive.. I do a group ride once a week over about 20miles with a tri-group for fitness.. my recorded times and average heart-rate readings are about the same with my Moulton as they are with my 700c Ti-Merlin..

brakemeister

of course that moulton of yours rock .....

About the X 20 ..... currently almost vapourware ...all I get by the end of the month are presold ......

thor

ruirui

bruce, i'll send you a PM in a bit.

thor.. any chance on getting hammerhead?

rodar y rodar

If you have a few minutes, I recommend Invisible Hand`s excellent article on Bike Fridays. It covers a good bit about speed and gearing, and 99% of what he says there will apply equally to the Verge as to Fridays:
https://washingtonwheelman.blogspot.c...ke-friday.html

You can gear a small wheel pretty well, but every solution has it`s catch. A few things to keep in mind:
If you use a very wide range of chainrings, and want a long cage RD to take up all that slack, that cage is going to hang REALLY low with a 20 inch wheel.
Capreo is actually very wide ranged. If you match one up with the right rings, it might cover the range you`re looking for.
Dual Drive will probably give you the very widest range possible.

All those methods have plusses and minuses. I.H.`s blog article gives a good rundown on the details.

ruirui

thanks for the interesting read... that's some good info!!