52telecaster

24-42-45

Velo Mule

Ok, that is neat as heck. I think I know how this connects the big to the small. I'll let you reveal what it is whenever you would like. You got my interest.

I see you have been exploring triples @52telecaster and coming up with wicked good things.

I'm already anticipating the gearing on this. It look like a half step plus granny. Brilliant again. And the nice thing is that the 42 is no problem to find.

bikemig 

You don't need to be a tad weak to know that a quality cold forged 110/74 bcd crank beats the heck out of 144/whatever bcd your campy has any day of the week . . .



That said, the design on this looks interesting and it's a good way to repurpose all those campy cranks you may have stashed away somewhere . . .

52telecaster

Red clover triplizer with a 45 on the outside. This gives a 7+% half step which works nice with a 13-15-17-21-24-28 freewheel. I wish the 21 was a 20 but it's close enough to turn a grand record into touring bike territory.

nomadmax 

Work smarter, not harder.

52telecaster

​​​​​​Man I hated when my boss would say that. When u did actually work smarter he never understood it.

Velo Mule

Nice job @52telecaster . 17 perfectly good gear ratios staying within a simple shift pattern.

52telecaster

Notice how that 21 makes it dip? I'm sure I can't feel that but I know it's there!

Bad Lag

That is a Red Clover triplizer, is it not?

mech986 

Nice work. Could you show the back side with the chainring bolts in place on the granny? Did you have to get a longer / wider spindle and what length? How much clearance to the chain stay?

ehcoplex

Very cool. I did something very similar with the Stronglight 93 on my PX-10. 45-42-30, with a 13-28 7sp freewheel. My first 'half-step + granny' setup, and I really like it. How does the Cyclone FD handle getting from the granny to the middle ring? The SLJ double FD on mine can do it, but it isn't always exactly smooth- I often end up over-shifting up onto the big ring then dropping it back down...
I've got a Holdsworth to build up with a Cyclone set and Campy crank, so it's very good to see a 45t 'inner' will work as the big ring (going to see if I can get away with 42/46 double and a 13-32 FW on it, but likely will end up triplizing eventually). Red Clover is great stuff, breathing new & useable life into old gear and saving aging knees at the same time!

Kabuki12

I LOVE Campy cranks but they are limited and pose a problem for a lot of us.The tripilizer is a solution but unless you have something like a Phil BB where you can set the crank out for the chain line, then you need a different spindle. I have a couple with the rare TA 41 small ring but that doesn't help that much, especially when the NR/SR rear derailleur only handles a 28 tooth low on the FW. I am going with a Sugino 110BCD crank for my touring bike and putting a Cyclone GT RD with a 32 tooth low FW . I have the parts so why not?

This was my "donor bike " I bought just for the wheels for my Raleigh Pro and now a source for getting low gearing on my touring bike

JohnDThompson 

I triplized a Stronglight 93 as well, 48-42-28. Campagnolo Record (pre-CSPC) front derailleur handles it fine.

nomadmax 

Please tell me about the device you're using to keep the bars/front wheel straight.

Velo Mule

Yes, I set up the spreadsheet with formulas so that I could easily sub out the chainrings and with the 20 tooth chainring the line is perfectly smooth. With 21 it comes awfully close though.

A really nice progression from 20 to 93 gear inches with an off the shelf freewheel or cluster and the trick here being the Triplizer to get that small front chainring.

Kabuki12

That is made by Feedback Sports and I bought it at REI in Oxnard for $20 a few years ago . It works on just about any bike. I can turn the handle bars and lock it in any position. Joe

pastorbobnlnh 

If your freewheel is a Suntour Perfect (not always marked as such), I have plenty of 20T sprockets I can provide. If it is something else, let me know the make and model and I'll do my best to assist.

BTW, the Red Clover 144BCD triplizer was modeled directly from the TA one I have installed on my 1971 Schwinn Super Sport. Jon borrowed it when he was developing his with his machine shop. So glad it is serving you well!

52telecaster

It is!

52telecaster

The stronglight that was on the bike had a long enough bb axle already. This one cheats a little toward the bike which is how I prefer it. I have a little space left. I thought I would need to change bb but got real lucky on this one.

Very tight clearance. But it clears.

I'm not averse to sanding the bolt heads but it wasn't necessary here.

52telecaster

The cyclone is working great. I can over shift is coming from the 24 but you use the granny so rarely that I don't worry about it. My thing is just knowing I have the security of really low gears.

52telecaster

Why not indeed. Make the bike work for you! I use 110 bcd on my 720. It's a champ!

52telecaster

Bob, that is an extremely generous offer but I will just ride as is now. My legs would probably benefit from a change in cadence now and then. I am so glad you got the triplizer thing going on 144. Weak old men everywhere ty!

52telecaster

Man that's beautiful.

sd5782 

I bought at a bike swap a TA tripilizer with the intent of perhaps using it on a pretty 144 bcd Superbe I have. Turns out the TA is for an odd 135bcd Campy. I guess I will have to keep an eye out to purchase a bike using that crank to put it on. Good reason for a purchase.

Velo Mule

I screwed up. This has 20 usable gear ratios, not the 17 I posted above. Duh! I seemed to have left a few combinations out and the graph still looked good! Here is the correct one:



The nice thing about half step gearing like @52telecaster 's project is the even steps that allow fine tuning to conditions and and to make a bigger jump, you just need to shift the rear derailleur. I am hoping that the spreadsheet below illustrates the beauty of this system.



Compare this to a standard 13 - 28 rear cog with 42 - 52 chainrings:

You will notice that although there are 14 combinations available, there are some ratios that are so close to each other that we would consider then to be functionally the same. This standard gearing gives us 10 distinct ratios.


This is not bad, many of us use this or something similar. Both my Traveler and LeTour have this type of set up with a 5 speed freewheel. We get used to it and even me, the gearhead that I am, just learn to live with it.

Half-step gearing is what many touring cyclists use, you can see why.