This may not be the appropriate area of BF for this question, but this forum has the most discussions of the DOS freewheels (16/18t, etc.) I read about these here and other sites and I am quite curious. The way I understand it is you can use it with a dual-chainring crank, a front derailleur, and stop and manually switch the chain from one cog to another to essentially get you four different gear ratios.

My question is this: can you also use a rear derailleur with it and thereby avoid having to manually move the chain? I know some people will ask why I am talking about a geared road bike in the SS/FG forum and others may suggest building a 2x5, but I am curious nevertheless.

Thanks, and if the mods want to move this elsewhere please do.

Yes. You will have to use a shifter that is compatible with friction shifting.
Which means no indexing but that shouldn't be an issue since it's just 2 gears.

Should be a breeze to put together.

As LeukyBear stated it is possible with some frictional shifting but it would be an odd one. Though Paul of Paul Component Engineering built a 3x1 to test their Melvin chain tensioner a triple crank up front and a single speed freewheel out back (or an SS conversion kit) so odd stuff like that exists and it kind of neat.

Your mind is gonna be blown when you find out how many cogs you can put on a freewheel.

12!

Sram's eagle MTB stuff is basically an overglorified freewheel.

Ha! I’m about to swap my existing freewheel out for a Suntour 13-17 and I am running a 52t single chainring up front (Campy NR). But that’s for a different forum LOL.

I know that White Industries makes quality stuff.

Damn, that's a pretty tall spread.

I have the luxury of living on a totally flat island as well as my commute being flat.

Figured that must be the case. If it were me, I'd probably still gear down, but I have skinny spinny legs.

I might actually swap out this crankset for a super maxy with a 46t.