Hezz

Thought some of you might want to see my unusual winter bike that I am using this year. Built inexpensively out of an old thrift store mountain bike and left over bike parts. It is turning out to be a very nice winter ride. A simple and hassle free transmission with two bailout gears that can be changed in about 1 minute if necessary.

The rear cassette was a throw away I got free at the LBS. I tore it apart and rearrainged the gears and cut some of the unused ones down to save weight.

I have the following gear combinations 36/14, 32/18. 22/28. So the chain is always the same length for all combinations and requires no tensioner. You just loosen the rear will to change a gear. But normally I use the 36/14 all the time on pavement. Which works for me when wearing lightweight hiking boots and platform pedals.

So you treat it like a single speed with it's ease of use. The lack of shifters on the bars makes more room for my winter gloves. I have been able to ride longer distances in the winter this year because I have two bailout gears I can rely on if I get too fatigued far from home.

Hezz

Just some more pictures of the drivetrain. I had just got back from a ride when I took these pictures. The bike was covered in mud so I hosed it down. So it was still wet in the pictures. It was a rather warm 36 F temperature on the ride. Warmer than it has been for the past three weeks.

jakub.ner

Great job. Too bad you had to leave the smallest locking sprocket on.

Hezz

Ya, I needed that to hold this cassette on. It does not look very clean but it does the job. I was too lazy to grind all of those other cogs way down. I was pretty much forced into using a cassette that had the three sizes I needed. You could also do an 18,22,32 rear cassette combination if you needed lower gearing to push through snow.