Originally Posted by
the1amradio
Well, I gave my bike the commute test today.... I pedaled it to church and back this morning (~2 mi each way) and I discovered that the gearing is okay for climbing hills, not bad on long grades or steep short ones either, though I'm certainly not spinning a whole lot, but I am also finding that I am spinning pretty damn fast to keep from coasting in traffic on flats/downhill sections. Overall, I guess it's not bad since I AM riding a SS after all. I think that this will work fine for around town stuff, it cruises fine probably around medium speeds on flat ground, so I'm not too worried.
This is good. I'm in the process of building my first SS and have been nosing around trying to gather as much info as possible BEFORE I order the parts. Started out thinking 44x18 as I'm 56, in shape, but the knees may not hold up. I, also have an old c-dale sr300 w/1x8-48x28-12, barend shifting. So, I did an experiment Friday night on the way home and wouldn't drop my gear under 48x16 for 20 miles of rollers and a couple of killers(though they're short). The last 6 miles is all 5/6% w/about 6/7 'false' crests...very disheartening, mentally. I gutted it out w/panniers loaded(about 20-25lbs extra) and realized I could go to 45-46x17 or 16 w/165mm cranks. The cranks I've got now are 172.5 I think I'll go 45x17x165mm just to be on the safe side. I've seen guys w/60x15 in town(Nashville, Tn) and while I have much respect it's JUST a little stiff for my needs. Good luck, the1amradio. Big ups on the rugby. I played a couple of games in my youth thinking my American football skills would translate, easily...WRONG! The scrum is no joke. BB players think they've got the market cornered for trash talk...10 seconds in a rugby scrum would quiet all that nonsense.
BTW, a friend of mine built up an old Ross w/homade Bullhorns and a Truvative conversion kit. He found the bike abandoned by the interstate and rebuilt it into his #1 commuter. He runs 46x16 w/some pretty stiff hills in his 50 mi rt commute.