Originally Posted by Camilo
This is an honest question. You obviously want more than one gear, but it seems awfully fussy and impractical to change gears like you do. Why is this better than having, for instance, a single chain wheel with a 5 speed rear cassette w/ derailleur? Is it just that you don't want a derailleur? I'd have to be convinced that the amount of fussiness and maintenance of a common rear derailleur w/ friction shifter is significant compared to this bike.
Again, this is an honest question. It seems like a fun and cool project, I just don't understand why.
Well, it has a lot to do with my mentality. Yes, I hate derailers. I think they are fussy high maintenance (vs fixed/single speed) devices with too much to go wrong. I wanted to do a geared hub but that didn't work out. So I started applying a solution that used the parts I had in my garage and that was *just* as reliable as any fixed gear or single speed set up. Its not like I change gears often. So far, 4 times in 2 weeks. If I get a huge hill, it takes less than 1 minute to change to the 38/30 from the 48/18. I'd rather do that than have defailers, er, derailers. I ran a 1x5 set up for a while and really was not impressed. To me, this is simple, reliable, and above all, affordable.
You're talking to a guy who wants a 135mm fork so I can also carry around my fixed gear wheel in the front so that I can swap them whenever I want. When I was into 4 wheeling I had an old Land Cruiser with NO electronics in it. Points ignition even.
I am a technological minimalist.