Originally Posted by Ken Cox
Phideaux wrote:
"I'm running 52/19..."
Fifty-two X 19 comes very close to my present set-up of 47X17, which comes out to about 72 gear inches.
Fifty-two X 18 will give me about 76 gear inches; perhaps too much.
If I decide to go back to 72 gear inches, I might try it with 52X19: I have this intuition that bigger gears have more mechanical efficiency than small gears of the same ratio.
I've come to think of 72" as the best compromise for both uphill and downhill.
I should probably order a Soma 19t cog and have it ready.
52/19 is a good ratio. Its 73ish inches on my 27" wheels, and 72ish on 700c wheels. It gives a lot of skid patches (if you are into that thing), and big chainrings look cool, and wear out slower. I go about 17-18mph at 80rpm, which is a totally respectable speed for cruising at a moderate spin.
Nowhere around here stocks a full range of track cogs (that I know of), so since I have to order online 'availability' mostly relates to whether or not the place I'm already ordering something from has it, since I hate paying tons of shipping.
peace,
sam