Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 74 total)
  • Rear speeding – good idea?
  • twisty
    Full Member

    Hello,

    What do you think about rearspeeding? I’ve been doing it on and off since 1999.

    By rearspeeding I mean running only a rear shifter but not 1×10 or 1×11, I mean cobbling together an assortment of between 2 and 7 cogs and spacers from your parts horde and using an old mech/shifter (ideally a thumbie).

    Why?
    Doesn’t ruin knees as much as singlespeed but still fairly badass.
    Good way of getting extra life out of cogs that didn’t wear out with the rest of the cassette and that 7speed mech that you took off the bike when you upgraded to 8+spd because your 7spd shifter stopped working.
    Can use proper wide chain that doesn’t wear out in a single gritty ride.
    Can use any frame, don’t need horizontal dropouts like singlespeed.
    Can use just the cog sizes you actually need.
    Get to fiddle with stuff.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Er what?

    Think I’ll stick to my nice shifting 🙂

    mintimperial
    Full Member

    Get to fiddle with stuff.

    Sold! Not sure about the rest of the benefits like, but faffing with bits of bikes is reason enough to do anything, pretty much.

    Name sounds a bit like something dodgy people get up to in remote car parks late at night though, might want to think about a different term for it… 😐

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    Klunk
    Free Member

    Doesn’t ruin knees as much as singlespeed but still fairly badass

    isn’t the knee thing a myth ?

    Bez
    Full Member

    The knee thing is totally a myth. I took up singlespeeding as rehabilitation after I wrecked my knee and it worked great. You stand up more, so while you’re putting more force through the knee you don’t do so at an acute angle.

    I’ve tried “rearspeeding” (hmm) before, but since it needed an additional device to keep the chain on, I figured I may as well attach that device to a shifter and put a granny ring on.

    thomthumb
    Free Member

    worst of both worlds?

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    I find standyuppy climbing on a SS easier on the knees than sitting and spinning.

    The only time my knees suffer is both cadence/spinning out when trying to keep up with geared bikes on the flat.

    shermer75
    Free Member

    I front speeded for a short while- single speed at the back with a dérailleur, double at the front, no shifters but changed gear by reaching down and pushing the chain over with my finger. It worked but I’m still not sure if there was any point to it lol

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    sounds a bit like something dodgy people get up to in remote car parks late at night though

    Mountain biking?

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    I think you’ve invented term for something most people have probably done one way or another at some point…

    But I am not googling “rear speeding” for fear of the ‘niche’ websites it will inevitably return…

    twisty
    Full Member

    Google ‘rear speeding’ and it comes uo with a link to this thread (good job on the page rank webmasters) and a few things about traffic accidents – i think you chaps just have dirty minds.

    Maybe I got the knee thing wrong, I thought singlespeeding was hurting my knees – when going uo a steep rocky climb have to keep the weight back so the rear keeps traction so not standing up on pedals and then pulling up on handlebars and putting a lot of force through the leg in order to climb at 40rpm.

    Worst of both worlds – I dont see it that way as it is cobbling together a useable bike from a bunch of spare parts which was the original ethos of singlespeeding whilst having a bike that is a bit more useable on a variety of slope & terrian.

    I think another reason I like rearspeeding is a majority of drivechain woes come from the front mech, rubbing/rattling, chainsuck, much faff getting it aligned & adjusted right. So rearspeeding goes quite a way to achieving the simplicity of singlespeeding.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Wow … using gears at the back….
    I bet no-body had ever thought of that …. 😆

    busta
    Free Member

    If you have all the old bits kicking around I guess it has some merit, but with new bits it’s still a £50 drivetrain and you can put together a decent 1×10 drivetrain with a 10-42 cassette for under £90.

    greyspoke
    Free Member

    I’d go for “twinglespeeding” (2 at the front, one at the back) simply because there must be so many part-used 2x parts lying around. I tried a thringlespeed once.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I tried a thringlespeed once.

    Deviant

    twisty
    Full Member

    It is about cost of ownership.
    I am talking about using all the old 17T-32T sprockets (i found when i bought a new cassette only the 13T/15T was worn out) for commuting and hacking round the woods.
    A decent 7/8spd chain costs only £10 and surely lasts quite a bit longer than a 10spd one?

    For serious riding i am not sure I’d want a 10-42T casette, isn’t the wraparound loss for a 10T something like 7%?

    twisty
    Full Member

    It is about cost of ownership.
    I am talking about using all the old 17T-32T sprockets (i found when i bought a new cassette only the 13T/15T was worn out) for commuting and hacking round the woods.
    A decent 7/8spd chain costs only £10 and surely lasts quite a bit longer than a 10spd one?

    For serious riding i am not sure I’d want a 10-42T casette, isn’t the wraparound loss for a 10T something like 7%?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/shimano-deore-610-615-10-speed-transmission-groupset/
    For cost of ownership you could go a long way before that was expensive – full 10sp double/triple for 160 quid. Never had longevity problems with 10sp and in reality having all those gears indexed and running smoothly must be nice 🙂

    Get to fiddle with stuff.

    If this is what you want then great but there are some really good functional drivetrains out there at good prices

    For serious riding i am not sure I’d want a 10-42T casette, isn’t the wraparound loss for a 10T something like 7%?

    No issues here, my 11sp has done 2100km of tough riding so far and I’m through one chain that I picked up for a bit over 20 quid. I’m expecting to get up to 5-6000km on a couple more chains and then maybe look at replacing the cassette.

    Twodogs
    Full Member

    badass

    Really

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    I dont see it that way as it is cobbling together a useable bike from a bunch of spare parts which was the original ethos of singlespeeding

    Was it? I didn’t know that.

    mrhoppy
    Full Member

    Doesn’t ruin knees as much as singlespeed but still fairly bad[b]dumb[/b]ass

    FTFY

    Andy-R
    Full Member

    I dont see it that way as it is cobbling together a useable bike from a bunch of spare parts which was the original ethos of singlespeeding

    Was it? I didn’t know that.

    I must be doing something wrong then, as I seem to spend more on singlespeeds than on geared bikes.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    You ride a Brompton AICMFP 😉

    twisty
    Full Member

    I don’t see it that way as it is cobbling together a useable bike from a bunch of spare parts which was the original ethos of singlespeeding

    Was it? I didn’t know that.

    I must be doing something wrong then, as I seem to spend more on singlespeeds than on geared bikes.

    Singlespeeding, like many things in life started out with a few people doing something themselves for not much money because it was cool and grew into an industry with lots of people spending lots of money on products because the marketing tells them that it is cool.

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    Twisty, if you enjoy it – surely it’s all cool.

    twisty
    Full Member

    Twisty, if you enjoy it – surely it’s all cool

    Yeah it is all a bit of fun. Am a bit surprised though that it appears the same people who think running just a 17T at the back on a bike is the best thing since sliced bread, think that putting a 14T and 21T either side of that cog in a vertical dropout frame is somehow offensive.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    I don’t think 8s chains last much longer – certainly I’ve seen tests stating 10+speed actually last as well.

    You 7 speed mech works on up to 9s (mtb) and 10 (road).

    Try using your gears better if you wear out 2 cogs out of 7+!

    I’ve tried a few set ups like this, CBA anymore, gears or not please (bar trying to get 3s on the Brompton).

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    think that putting a 14T and 21T either side of that cog in a vertical dropout frame is somehow offensive.

    More pointless I think, especially given how cheap it is to run a 10sp setup with a range of gears.

    njee20
    Free Member

    For serious riding i am not sure I’d want a 10-42T casette, isn’t the wraparound loss for a 10T something like 7%?

    No, you’re right, for serious riding a random mix of shit from the spares box including three 17t sprockets and two 19s is far better… 😕

    twisty
    Full Member

    Try using your gears better if you wear out 2 cogs out of 7+!

    If i’ve worn out a 15t doing a bunch of flattish commuting then how do i use my gears better. Spin my legs manically at 120rpm? Buy a huge front chainring to pose with my big manly thighs? I’d rather rebuild the cassette to 7spd spacing replacing the worn 15T with a £5 DX sprocket and rearspeed like a boss.

    No, you’re right, for serious riding a random mix of shit from the spares box including three 17t sprockets and two 19s is far better…

    Sorry it would appear i have been confusing. I am not proposing rearspeeding for serious riding, by serious i mean stuff where i am trying to be fast – like a race or riding with people who are fitter than me. I want a good range of gears so I can keep a more optimum cadence and i also start to think about stuff like would I rather be driving 40T/13T at 94% drivechain efficiency rather than a 32T/10T at 88% efficiency.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I want a good range of gears so I can keep a more optimum cadence and i also start to think about stuff like would I rather be driving 40T/13T at 94% drivechain efficiency rather than a 32T/10T at 88% efficiency.

    Sorry but eh what??? How are you measuring “drivetrain efficiency” and WTF is it? Not trying to be shouty but seriously not sure what your point really is. Try that dirt cheap 10sp I linked to

    ads678
    Full Member

    Singlespeeding, like many things in life started out with a few people doing something themselves for not much money because it was cool and grew into an industry with lots of people spending lots of money on products because the marketing tells them that it is cool.

    Really?? Surely ‘singlespeeding’ started about the same time bikes were invented?!?

    Stevet1
    Free Member

    rearspeed like a boss.

    Love it, can I have a sticker with this on please.

    Milkie
    Free Member

    twisty
    Full Member

    Sorry but eh what??? How are you measuring “drivetrain efficiency” and WTF is it? Not trying to be shouty but seriously not sure what your point really is. Try that dirt cheap 10sp I linked to

    The formula set out in http://www.ihpva.org/hparchive/pdf/hp50-2000.pdf isn’t a bad place to start. Drivechain efficiency is literally how much of the power you put into the crank goes into driving the rear wheel vs being lost in moving the chain and turned into heat by friction etc. Think about the last couple of links being pulled off the rear sprocket by the cranks, the pins/rollers of links are both under load and articulating which causes friction. For larger sprockets the angle of articulation is quite a bit less, hence the losses are less.

    twisty
    Full Member

    Love it, can I have a sticker with this on please.

    I am not in the business of manufacturing stickers but how about

    http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/category/labels-and-stickers.aspx?couponAutoload=1&GP=7%2f14%2f2016+12%3a06%3a05+AM&GPS=4010373438&GNF=0

    Really?? Surely ‘singlespeeding’ started about the same time bikes were invented?!?

    If you ignore all the years that people were pushing bikes around with their feet, and then the further years that people spent with the cranks attached directly to the front wheel, and making the front wheel larger and larger to get mechanical advantage before the discovery of the ‘safety bicycle’ and then if you ignore that people didn’t call it singlespeeding back then and that I was referring to the much more recent phenomenon of singlespeeding when people actually started calling it singlespeeding then yes, 10/10, A*, give yourself a proud pat on the back for being such a clever pendant.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I’ll file that one….
    Happy enough with my chain melting drivetrain efficincy 😉
    Feels like we are heading down Chris Porters mechs and chains are bad…

    busta
    Free Member

    How about 7 speeds, where every sprocket is a 17t. That way you could spread the wear evenly and your cassette would last 7 times as long. You could still call it a single speed because it would only have one gear ratio.

    twisty
    Full Member

    Could but that is a hellava lot of redundancy. Better to run two identical chainrings up front and two identical sprockets on the back driven by two chains.

    Sundayjumper
    Full Member

    I don’t get it. You’re talking about cobbling together (e.g.) a 1×5 setup ?

    I’m not sure which in world it’s “badass” to run a pile of mismatched crap that doesn’t really work.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 74 total)

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