YungBurke

2x6 fuji team. I like blowing by the middle aged men on their $1500+ road bikes that they can't ride. Almost as much fun as doing it on my mountain bike...

stringbreaker

I've been commuting and doing most of my weekend riding on this Schwinn Volare, 5 in the back 2 up front. This bike screams.

geekrunner

Our mountain bike club ( https://www.hmba.org ) puts on an annual road Century, which is coming up this Aug. 9th. It runs from Franklin, IN to Bloomington, IN and back for about 106 miles round trip. It was my first, and it was loaded with short steep climbs. I rode my Sagres last year, which had been set up with it's original 2 x 6 (14-28 Suntour freewheel and 52/42 crank) and wished I had one more lower gear. I swapped out the six cog Suntour freewheel for a Shimano 7 cog Hyperglide freewheel, and changed to a compact crank with 50/34 rings, surely to give me much lower gearing for when I struggle up the hills when I'm tired and hot. Since the conversion, I have converted to 700c wheels with 8 speed cassette with 12-26 cog range.

Before I sold my Nishiki Olympic 12, it was stock 2 x 6 with 52/42 and it was very good for all-purpose everyday riding, but for short steep southern Indiana hills, you need more low end.

geek

iab

1x3 - commuter
2x4 - old bike
2x9 - new bike

flian

AMAZING how many ignore the original question!

stringbreaker

The Volare is restored with period correct equipment (well maybe not the Brooks) so does that answer your question?

john wood

Still riding Schwinn Super Le Tour 12.2 with original 2x5 components,Also have Raliegh 3x7 and Bianchi 3x8,like them all.

650savag

Thanks grayloon! My son has been talking to me a lot about keeping a good, steady cadence but I'm not sure what my cadence should be (that's why they call us "Newbies"). Should i count the pedal strokes or each complete revolution? I have noticed when I keep my cadence steadier and shift down as I start up the hills, that the speed, power and effort seems to be much better. I usually fail to downshift soon enough or far enough and wind up at a slower cadence before reaching the top. The pedals that came on my bike are Shimanno flat pedals with the cages, and I'm still trying to learn to pull up with the opposite pedal. I'll probably need to replce those with clipless pedals and biking shoes before I start doing tri's. Any suggestions from all the great folks on this forum is always welcome! Thanks again, Dan

grayloon

I'm not sure whether it was Sheldon Brown or someone else, but the best advice I've read about pulling up is that not many really do it. The clips keep your feet in place and centered on the pedal. I pull up every once in a while, but mainly work to keep a smooth rotation going. As for counting cadence, sorry, but I've never been good at that. I have a computer with a cadence function, same as I had 15 or so years ago. If you don't want to invest in one, and it were me, I'd just drop down to the smaller ring and the second or third rear sprocket and try for an easy smooth pedal effort. You want some feeling of pressure on the pedal, not so much that it feels like you have to mash, but no so little the pedal has a tendency to come around on its own. Smooth and easy is the key for me.

Racers often have a cadence much higher. And, they may pedal in higher gears at that cadence. I've never been overly competive in cycling and don't race or do tri's. So someone else may be able to help you there.

USAZorro

Actually, none of the content in the OP is actually a question (punctuation marks notwithstanding). What's your point?

flian

OFF-TOPIC!
Well gee, the topic title sure looks like a specific question to me! (punctuation marks withstanding!)

My Point(s)?

1. Forums are set up to provide some order (categories>topics) so that users don't have to wade through every post on the site to find what interests them. In the real world of forums this is obviously idealistic and naive, but one can at least hope. (But some sites have forums that are actually moderated to keep things in line.)

2. Ideally, a reader won't have to read numerous postings having nothing to do with the topic at hand. In this topic, however, some posters are discussing having changed their original drivetrain, which is irrelevant and opposite to what the OP (original poster) asked. There are even a couple posts that are more-or-less personal messages. What's the POINT of my having to read this irrelevant material that should be posted in some other topic?

Sixty Fiver

My Gran Sports got an upgrade to 12 speeds with a Shimano 600 drivetrain (42/52), Maillard hubs with Rigida 27 inch wheels and a 6 speed Regina freewheel with a 13-24 range.

It did not have it's original drive train when I found it so I used some spare bits I had kicking around the shop.

Sixty Fiver

My '57 Peugeot is rocking a period correct 4 speed Simplex block in the rear and a double up front for a whopping 8 speeds.

RobbieTunes

I think about 75% of my bikes have the original drivetrain, and they are all pretty smooth.
If I build a C&V frame up, then I get what I can find.

My overall impression is that if you leave a bike the way an engineer designed it, you'll likely be just fine.

Sixty Fiver

I am often found riding bikes with only one speed be they coaster bikes, singlespeeds, or my beloved fixed gears.

Having more than 2 gears can sometimes be quite a treat.

uke

Everything on my '77 Schwinn Varsity is original, AFAIK. Right down to the tires, brakes, and chain. It's old and rusty and somewhat heavy, but I ride it almost every day. In fact, I just got a pump with a gauge, and just boosted the tires to 50 PSI. Apparently, I'd been riding on something close to 20.

iab

1. Who are you, the thread Nazi? No post for you!!

2. The OP asked a question. You can answer yes, I have kept my original drivetrain OR you can answer no, I have changed my original drivetrain OR you can get something in between, my original drivetrain is a 2x4. That is the very nature of a question, you can get opposite answers.

Rabid Koala

1971 Paramount P-13 Chrome 2 x 5 original configuration

1973 Paramount P-15 3 x 5 original configuration

1973 Gitane Tour De France 2 x 5 original configuration

1973 Nishiki Competition 2 x 5 original configuration

1974 Raleigh Professional 2 x 6 original configuration

1991 Waterford Paramount Changed from DT shift 2 x 7 to STI 2 x 8

So.....I answer mostly yes to the thread topic question.

cudak888 

And I'd bet that the only reason you went to 8 speed in back is because you couldn't find decent-quality 7-speed brifters. Correct?

About time someone made high-quality, adjustable position 5 and 6 speed brifters for us Cranky & Vintage crowd

-Kurt

John E

Original question: "Who's still riding their[sic] orig 10-12 sp drivetrain?"

My response: Because I know from experience that I need at least 12 well-planned ratios (actually 11, since I avoid large-large crosschaining), I have updated all three of my 10-speed road bikes to 6-speed freewheels (two "ultras" and one standard, with the rear triangle spread to 126-128mm). My Bianchi started as a 12-speed, was a 14-speed for a time, and is currently a 12-speed again. My mountain bike started as a either an 18 or a 21-speed, and still is. I do, however, play around very freely with cog and chainring sizes, finding a top gear in the mid-to-upper 90s and a low gear in the low-to-mid 40s perfectly adequate. I obtain the equivalent of a 1-tooth rear cog progression by using a 2-tooth sequence with a carefully-computed half-step or 1.5-step in front. If I had redundant ratios, I would definitely need more gears.

During the dark ages (1960s and early 1970s), I made do with 10 speeds, but I had either unwelcome gaps or too high a bottom gear for some hills I encountered. The first improvement I made was to put a triple chainring on my Nishiki, giving me a 3x5 with 14 beautifully spaced ratios (49-46-43 / 13-16-19-23-26). Before that, I ran 54-44 / 14-16-18-21-24. I also liked 50-47 / 14-16-18-20-23, with a 42 substituted for the 47 for hill work, but I always missed having an emergency granny gear, which 50-42 / 14-16-18-20-23-26 gives me on my Bianchi.

bigbossman 

They'd go bankrupt trying to sell to you luddites.

cudak888 

-Kurt

hhabca

Modern Campy 10 speed ergo levers with a Shimano RD will supposedly shift at Shimano 8 speed spacing, which is pretty close to 7 speed spacing. I have yet to try it out.

top506

OK, none of my bikes.
My daughter's Shogun is still 2x6, but with a HG freewheel.
Top

Rabid Koala

The bike is equipped with Shimano 600 components. I started out with a pair of 105 7 speed brifters, but preferred the look of the 600's to keep it consistent. Plus, I wanted to go to a more modern Hyperglide cassette, as Uniglide ones are rather scarce. All in all I am happy with the change.