Originally Posted by
Mike Mills
The gearing on the five speed version is a bit whacked. It is the equivalent of a 52T chainwheel with the following rear cogs - 28, 23, 17, 14, 11T.
If it is possible to switch to a 40 T chainwheel X 18T cog, theequivalent rear cogs are - 37, 31, 23, 19, 15. I'm sure I would find those a much more useful set of gears.
Are the parts available? Can the hub take the torque?
P.S. - What is up with the Sturmey-Archer 8 speed hub? The lowest internal ratio is 1:1 and it goes up to 3.25:1. That's like a 52 X 5!!! It takes something like a 32 X 24 to get low gear down into the realm of a truly useful low gear.
My SA5 gives me 41.6, 49.3, 62.4, 79.1 and 93.7 gear inches with a 42t ring and 18t cog. If that turns out to be too high, I can switch to a 19t or 20t cog. The five speed simply adds a higher high and a lower low to the AW. It does nothing to address the big jump between 2nd and 3rd.
