Bikes with no front derailleur
 

For those who noticed my posts about my bicycle projects, I did those partly to see what bicycle parts I'd like. Well, lately I came to a conclusion that some may find odd. My flat-bar road bike with Tiagra/Deore level components could lose the chain if I dropped to the smallest chainring with rapidfire shifters. And my mountain bike which has Ultegra bar-end shifters on Paul Thumbies in friction mode can also lose the chain if I drop to the smallest chainring. If I remember correctly, this has occured usually when I have the chain on the largest cog and making a left turn (but sometimes in a straight line). My trick eventually to solve this problem is to only choose the smallest chainring when I'm on the second largest cog. So far so good but the fact remains that I still find it unacceptable this could happen to either high quality components or even thumb shifters in friction mode. So my conclusion is maybe bicycles with no front deraileur may be more reliable.

Even though I don't intend to sell my bikes immediately I decided to do some research on bikes that have a single chainring so you wouldn't have to use a front derailleur. To save people time I decided to post the list here:

Opus Classico Lightweight
Devinci Cartier
Bianchi Iseo Disc
Louis Garneau M1
Specialized Alibi & Roll
Kona Coco
Raleigh Redux
Masi Caffe Corsa
Trek Lync 3
Haro Beasley
Silverback Starke 2
Miele Verona
there are some others I found on web sites or older models like...
Vitus Dee 29 City & Mach 3 Urban
Diamondback Haanjo Metro Gravel
SE Boilermaker 2.0
and in Canada at Canadian Tire they have the CCM Delson

I understand everyone will have their personal choices here but 4 that I find more interesting are: Opus Classico Lightweight, Devinci Cartier, Bianchi Iseo Disc and Louis Garneau M1. I'd have a hard choice deciding between these 4 although they have different tire sizes. The Opus Classico Lightweight has 30c tires and only weighs 22 lbs. That obviously would be a pretty fast bike. The Devinci has 27.5 x 1.75" tires. I read 650b bikes are fun to ride and 1.75" tires I find are the largest size I'd want to survive rough surfaces. The Bianchi Iseo Disc has 35c tires. If I want to go fast but don't want to be too afraid of rough terrain, I think 35c is the ideal size. The Louis Garneau has 29 x 2.30" tires. The fat tires would mean you wouldn't need suspension forks and the 29" tires would be faster than 27.5" tires. I also has Shimano parts almost everywhere from the hubs to the brakes.

In the end though, I wish one of these would have V-brakes instead of disc brakes or caliper brakes. I don't know why a lot of manufacturers are insisting on disc brakes. This is partly because my average speed on good days is only going to be 10 mph so I don't need disc brakes. And besides, a lot of lower-cost bicycles have mechanical disc brakes, not hydraulic. Some say mechanical disc brakes are no better than V-brakes. And for all the negative comments I've read about disc brakes, I don't know why these are even used on lower-cost bicycles.

My overall preferences for those wondering: aluminium (sloping top tube) frame & (rigid) fork, V-brakes, 35c (low resistance) tires, single chainring square taper crankset (with chainguard). And preferably eyelets for front & rear racks and semi-aggressive frame geometry. I also wouldn't mind 650b wheels even at 5'8" since I find I feel either too tall with 700c wheels or too short with 26" wheels.

I'm with you on the 1x idea. Note that many of the non-listed bikes have 2x in base level, and have 1x at the higher end.

But don't you think manufacturers have to make bicycle brakes for riders going faster than 10 mph?
You always can convert your existing bikes to 1x and keep the rim brakes. The problems you describe sound like a setup and adjustment problem. Or just a bad design and component selection and match.

I recently bought a Raleigh Redux 3. I changed the chainring from 40 to 36. It has all the gearing I need and the 2.0 tires have worked well for some serious Mt Biking in the Sonora Desert. I am very happy with it's versatility. I too didn't feel the need for hydraulic brakes but I must say they are quite enjoyable.

Yeah, maybe at least once in my life I could try disc brakes. But I might start with a bike with mechanical brakes because I don't know anything about bleeding hydraulic brakes.

Just looked at gear calculators and it looks like a 32T chainring crankset with 11-34T cassette might be way more realistic for a hilly area like mine.

I have a 2 speed geared crank, the chainring stays in place, the crank-arms can turn at a different rate than the chainring as the gears are in between them..

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Now there is a 3 speed geared crank set, the Efneo GTRO, it is a 28t physical chainring, its other 2 gears are overdrives
as if a 40 and 50t..

Out for a few years Patterson Metro, again a 28t low, 1 overdrive 1.6x , for a 45t equivalent. both cable shift to the bars.

So Hybrid match is good... they're aftermarket, you wont see them on those OEM parts lists..

but a good bike shop can change them at point of sale..







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