Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I mentioned above (in 2012) that I used a one and a half step system with a road triple and after market 24T granny. But when I did the Pacific Coast two years ago I swapped the 52 for a 46 to give me a 46/42/24 front with eight speed 11/12/14/16/18/21/16/32 for half step with granny. I was happy with the gearing but I did not find the half step with granny to be as big an advantage as I had hoped. The Pacific Coast route has too many ups and downs with changes of grade that are big enough that the change of slope requires shifting several gears at once. That said, I plan to use that gearing of future trips with my derailleur touring bike.
For around home use, I am using the one and a half step plus granny with a 52/42/24 road triple with an after market 24T granny. But touring, the 46T will go back on. The reason I prefer the 52 for around home use is that there are several long shallow downhills that I pedal down at high speed, I need the higher gearing for that.
The attached photo is the crankset with 46/42/24.
You were in on quite a bit of my investigation into how I wanted my gearing to work and very big influence on my final gearing.
So you ended pretty close to what I had, on the bike you did the half step on. I went 45/42 and you did 46/42 I almost did that as finding a 45 I could afford I went with the Chop Saw Ring. I had planned on if it worked cutting some fancy shapes into the big blank ring, but as time went on I grew to like the look of it. I still might do something one of these days to it.
You are right the half steps buys you nothing on changing grades where you need about 2 to 6 half steps for a shift. I have never used mine yet where I run thru all the gear combinations sequentially. Mainly I am on the 42 and skipping around on the back on rolling terrain.
I find the half steps really nice on flatter ground where I want to correct for slight changes and wind. Sometimes in those cases half of a shift is the ticket. The even nicer use for the 45t ring and one I didn’t even consider until I was riding it a bit was in the tallest 3 gears the straighter chain line made a big difference for me.
101 GI was more than tall enough for me as I’m getting older if I spin out on a downhill I’m happy to coast. I can see if you have the use for taller gears leaving the 11t and the big ring for the 1 ½ step. When I had my 120 GI I seldom used it and mostly just to keep my legs warm on a long downhill at a slower cadence than normal.
It is all about compromising to suit the individual’s strengths and desire. What I like best about is in normal riding around here the granny gear is just there for the occasional climb. Many rides it never gets used. All the rest of the shifts are effortless. If I see I’m going to be coming up to a point where I will be using the 3 small cogs I flip it to the 45t ring and then shift around on the 5 outside cogs and end up with the straighter chain line. When I do have to shift down to the granny it is nice to have a range of the inside 6 cogs that doesn’t force me to have to shift up and down between the center ring and the granny I get up to 35 GI when on the granny without any problems and 18 GI when I really need it.
Getting it right for yourself and where you ride is the key.