Shiznaz

well at least for the time being I am going to be running a 16t in the back with the triple in front (42 34 24), so I should have a big choice of gears to choose from assuming the chainline works. I know I'll want to take off the triple soon enough though (I'd like to get a bash guard sort of setup ideally)

Eventually I'll find a replacement crank and I'll play around between chainrings. I can't decide whether to go Robin's double 32T style route, or pyze guy's equal total number of teeth style. Either way, I already have a 16T cog, so I would imagine 36x16 and 34x18 would be a good range to start in. Whatever unramped chainrings are cheap and available really.

I'll be using an SS specific chain tensioner so I'm not sure how much lateral play I can manage.

jeremywhitehorn

why can't we have something like this in toronto?

pyze-guy

Are you planning to use all 3 chainrings, or just picking 1? I can't see a tensioner picking up enough of the chain slack to work with the difference between 42t and 24t. Not saying it wouldn't, just having a difficult time picturing it in my mind.

I_bRAD

the triple crank/one cog bike was the one I used a deraileur on- it doesn't exist anymore 'cause I kept bolting stuff on to the bike and now it's a utility bike with a 7sp rear. I think I might even put the front derailleur back on so I can shift on the fly 'cause it's hard to hold up a loaded bike and put the chain on another ring at the same time. ANYHOW... not only do you need to run a tensioner, but I think it has to be a derailleur in order to run the 3 ring/1 cog combo- unless there's a tensioner out there that will take up 20T worth of slack!

PS- is the snow ride fixed-only? My fixed is still in the "project" stage due to budgetary constraints, but if mountain bikes are welcome I'm in!

darkmother

Any combination of cog/chainwheel that conserves the same total number of teeth will be *very* close to the same chain length.

pyze-guy

True enough. I was just trying to show off by throwing around words like magic and gears.

Shiznaz

I may have to shorten the chain, but I'll have the option of testing out each gear to give me a taste. I highly doubt any tensioner could take up that much slack. Unless I bolted on an 8 inch extension. That would be funky.

ps:

darkmother

I used to run a rear derailleur as a chain tensioner, with two cassette cogs on the back of my winter bike. I locked the rear drailleur in place with a short peice of shifter cable running from the barrel adjuster to the cable fixing bolt. Then I could turn the barrel adjuster to shift between my two gears. It worked nicely, I could get off the bike and shift to my alternate gear in a few seconds.

I_bRAD

Good idea! I thought about doing that just to fix the derailleur in the case that the limit screws wouldn't do the job- but never thought about tweaking it on the fly like that.

Shiznaz

I don't think I'm planning on making my new mtb fixed... I don't really see the point. If I'm going to be held back by such a little gear on the road I at least want to be able to coast down hills and such.

I could make a project of rebuilding my wheels with disc hubs and bolt a cog on the rear disk mount, and do the double cog and spacers on the cassette splines for 2 SS gears and 1 fixed gear. I even have a spare disk fork for the front. Would a 700c fork work alright on a 26' rigid mtb?

jeremywhitehorn

those jones bikes are crazy. i like the design of his bars but not the price. reminds me of moustache bars a little.

darkmother

This is sounding like a fun project bike. Do you have a disc compatible CX fork or something? I think a 26" MTB wheel should fit in there, the OD of the tire is comparable between the two. The clearance on either side of the tire will be the limiting factor- it could limit your tire choice to something on the smaller end of the width spectrum. On my CX forks, (kinisis and redline aluminum) it would work, except the canti stud location-some carbon forks look a little tighter though.

I need to resurect my SS/fixed MTB. It's been canabalized for spare parts-it looks at me like a beaten dog when I walk past it. So many bicycles.....

cavernmech

That bike is even sweeter in real life. It is just crawling with excellent craftsmanship. But the $7000 price tag is a bit of a turn off.

jeremywhitehorn

yes, that is a bit of a drag. jeff jones seems like a bit of an eccentric character too, which adds to the charm. seems to be picking up where matt chester left off. too bad MC isn't making frames any more, it would have been a dream ride for me.

where did you see a jones in real life?

Shiznaz

I have this fork:
https://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking...FKCROSS/FK1267
No canti studs or anything to get in the way and pretty wide. I was more wondering if the bike handling would be messed up by using a longer fork.

I can see it now, the ultimate dorky commuter winter mullet bike. Full fenders, 2 speed freewheel, 1 speed fixed, disc in front, v in back...

I think keith mentioned he saw a jones at a 24 hour mtb race or something. There was a small crowd gathered around it.

cavernmech

at the August 24 hour...they had that exact bike in the Misfit booth. After MUCHO schmoozing I got to ride it in a 25 ft circle. The welds are beautiful and the thought that went into the girder fork design is brilliant. The thing is gossamer light.

I_bRAD

What's the deal with the extra tubes at the front end of the bike? Is it just for added strength?

lymbzero

When I was just starting out with bikes I did this exact thing.
2 chainrings. 22 and 32 and a 18 and 14 cogs or something similar to that (a?)effect.
One chain. It took me forever to figure out the exact combination.

The idea was to ride trialsy style with the super low gearing..
(I like wheelies)
then the switcheroo for the ride home.

Pyze, the 2 cogs with 2mm chainline offset will work great as long as your tensioner has a good spring.
+1 to non ramped teeth.

Your images of new SS parts get me wet.

cavernmech

The whole kit and kabooble is TI. Because of the flexy nature of TI the extra triangulation provides stiffness for steering response. It flexes a fair bit for give in the rough stuff. Merlin did something very similar years ago but gave up on it due to the work and cost involved.

Sirrobinofcoxly

That's what I'm running, and it's smooth and quiet. You can perfect the chainline with the spacers, and a tweaked out derailer works fine as a tensioner. Just put in the set screws so that is stays in one place side to side.

EDIT: If you are running two in the back, you might run into some trouble. Might have to change the position of the screws when you choose the other gear, or run a simple friction shifter, and cable to it to keet it tensioned where you want it for that gear. I know I know, "SHIFTER?".

Shiznaz

If we are talking about Ti I have a question:

I had my friend I'm going to be touring with over from Hamilton last weekend and he was inspecting my bike stash. He found my XTR cassette I got at the fall bike show and immediately starting telling me it was not a great choice because some of the cogs are titanium so they will wear faster. Wouldn't the titanium cogs wear slower than the Al cogs? Do I actually have to worry?

Sirrobinofcoxly

I have heard that Ti rings wear faster, and that is why you only see them on larger cogs, because they share the chain surface more. Then why are Ti shavers the new thing? Wouldn't they become dull faster>|?

Shiznaz

bah, well you did your big ride on a crazy lightweight high zoot carbon wonder road machine and seemed to make it home without the bike exploding. I'm sure I will manage with an XTR cassette in the back.

gokiburi

the water has more time to percolate in the vietnamese one... stronger brew. and damn it's two bucks. (is it?)

darkmother

Should be fine. Most cross forks are around 400-410mm axle to crown. Modern rigid MTB forks are typically longer than that, to match 80 mm travel suspension forks. Really old school rigid MTB forks are around, or slightly under 400 mm IIRC. You are probably talking about steepening your head and ST angles by less than 1 degree, and maybe dropping the BB height by less than 1 cm. Both things are no big deal and should actually improve the handling a bit.