Its a MTB frame but will get only road use. Thats what I worked out to establish the gain ratio I want. (No hills to speak of around here) And I already have a larger cog on the bike and prefer the larger size to maintain less wear. Either way, I would need a tiny cog that is too small to fit on a spline to get the gain ratio I want with a typ. SS MTB chainring.

I tried the Sram/truvativ GXP setup but the one piece spindle does not allow adjustment the chainline. I saw that the howitzer comes in 2 chain lines and still has external bearings. (which I like and have tools for installing)