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Splode posted:I've had multiple people ask me to explain what the front gears actually do and how you are supposed to use them when I've been volunteering at the local bike repair not for profit. I think having two sets of gears interacting is just annoying and unintuitive for a lot of people, particularly if you compare it to the simplicity of having only one set. I do not understand how a person can have eyes and not intuitively understand what "the front gears do". Just look at them! They are different sizes. Do you know what gears are? I mean obviously this happens, I am not doubting you, but I don't really understand how one can survive to adulthood without learning some basic mechanical intuition.
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May 2, 2024 15:45
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I think the bigger wtf there is understanding rear gears but not front ones
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May 2, 2024 15:50
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It's the interaction between the two that is the issue. In truth, a lot of people just do not understand how gear size relates to torque and speed as it's not something they've ever needed to know. But if you only have rear gears (or only front gears, but that isn't a thing really) then its easy: change the gear number up or down to either go faster or make it easier. How does it work? Who cares. With two sets, it's similar but they interact and ultimately people don't want to think about Mechanical systems when they ride, they just want to ride.
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May 2, 2024 16:01
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Too hilly where I am to give up on front derailleurs. What's not to love about a lil chain ring for climbing and a big chain ring for descents and going fast on flats. One chain ring is either too masochistic or too boring
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May 2, 2024 16:25
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As someone known as the person who can fix bikes, I've been asked several times why someone's chain makes a noise sometimes and I've had to explain again that not all gear combinations are good and some should never be used. This is difficult for many to comprehend. They think their bike has 27 speeds or whatever because that's what it's supposed to have, or something. I like having two rings on my road bike though, adds versatility. For my commute ten in the rear is plenty because it only has one steep hill but it's pretty short and I tend to attack that one standing up anyway.
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May 2, 2024 16:53
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Front derailleurs are good. They're dead simple and I don't understand how so many people complain about them for tuning/maintaining. I set mine once and then its mostly fine for a few years until I replace the cables. 1x setups often claim to have similar total gearing range than 2x but the intermediate steps are all annoyingly large and make settling into a good natural cadence difficult, especially in hilly areas. I get the appeal of the advertised simplicity of 1x but I just think the trade offs are not worth it in the real world. I do understand that "not bike people" don't care to learn how anything works and want something as simple as possible, but the trade off is huge and if you're posting in this thread you probably aren't that type of person. Related to that, I tried out an Enviolo hub on a recent e-bike test ride and for an automatic hub it worked a lot better than I expected it to especially for the low cost compared to something like a Rohloff. I can imagine the type of audience it would appeal to, the same type of person that doesn't like thinking about gears at all. But it still doesn't do anything for me, I like and want the control even on an e-bike.
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May 2, 2024 17:02
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Phosphine posted:I mean obviously this happens, I am not doubting you, but I don't really understand how one can survive to adulthood without learning some basic mechanical intuition. Back when I was wrenching, I had a customer who lubricated his brake rotors because his brakes were too loud. He's lucky he didn't ride into traffic and die. A lot of modern life is as idiot-proof as possible. People rely on cars and cell phones without having the faintest idea of how they work or how to fix them, because they're increasingly designed to be unservicable at home. Bicycles are very simple in comparison but they resist idiot-proofing. Guinness posted:Front derailleurs are good. They're dead simple and I don't understand how so many people complain about them for tuning/maintaining. I set mine once and then its mostly fine for a few years until I replace the cables. 1x setups often claim to have similar total gearing range than 2x but the intermediate steps are all annoyingly large and make settling into a good natural cadence difficult, especially in hilly areas. I get the appeal of the advertised simplicity of 1x but I just think the trade offs are not worth it in the real world. They're great on a bike with a dropper post, which is not something you'd see on a commuter bike anyway.
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May 2, 2024 17:17
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Bike commuting often involves hauling baggage, grabbing groceries and stuff, and in my case involves hauling 2 children in a bike trailer. Unless you live in a flat place, I can't imagine doing a lot of that up a hill without a small front gear. I use the entire range of my surly long haul trucker every day and I don't think rear gears get large enough to make the uphill climbs doable with all that weight. e: i should tone it down a little; it's possible but miserable alnilam fucked around with this message at 17:53 on May 2, 2024 |
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May 2, 2024 17:35
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I ran a 34t x 11-52 on my cargo bike. It was fine for getting up steep hills, with the significant caveat that I was on 24" wheels. Would roughly map to a 32 x 42 gear on a 700c, so still doable with modern 1x.
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May 2, 2024 17:58
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Splode posted:I've had multiple people ask me to explain what the front gears actually do and how you are supposed to use them when I've been volunteering at the local bike repair not for profit. I think having two sets of gears interacting is just annoying and unintuitive for a lot of people, particularly if you compare it to the simplicity of having only one set. Shimano have been working on this for decades with multiple tries at RapidRise where the lever direction goes the same way as the power increase on the front and rear. Never caught on. Now they agree with you and CUES is going to be on every midlevel city bike for the next several years.
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May 2, 2024 18:18
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Just got a bike with a Rohloff. It and belt drive is magic, and all I want on all future bikes. Gotta get rid of all my other bikes to fund a single-speed belt drive for commuting and another Rohloff for long rides.
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May 2, 2024 18:32
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:Why would you need to gut the shifter? Just don’t use the doubletap paddle. e: also i just discovered that the bottom pulley on the rear derailleur has a crack running down the full radius. i have no idea how that would happen or howl long it's been there, but it's a good enough excuse to swap out the cage assembly anyway! TenementFunster fucked around with this message at 22:01 on May 2, 2024 |
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May 2, 2024 20:27
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1x is fashionable right now. I see enough complaints about the Enviolo hubs on reddit (although mainly in the context of cargo bikes) that I'm pretty suspicious of them.
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May 3, 2024 03:09
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leftist heap posted:1x is fashionable right now. I liked mine for commuting. It's pretty vital to get the one rated for your use case though, using the commuter for a cargo bike would probably not help it last very long.
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May 3, 2024 12:48
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The great thing about up-to-8 speed drivetrains is they're much cheaper, so they're an easy choice for a cheap, not-attractive-to thieves city bike. You can have a 1x up front if you live somewhere relatively flat, or a 3x for an excellent range of gears on a shoestring budget. I get that many on this thread are looking for something a little more sporty/light/fun, which is fair enough. I generally want something I can park outside and it's still there later, and I don't feel guilty about not cleaning too often.
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May 4, 2024 18:07
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Al2001 posted:The great thing about up-to-8 speed drivetrains is they're much cheaper, so they're an easy choice for a cheap, not-attractive-to thieves I’d like to see stats on the distribution of what kind of bikes are stolen when a lock is used. If a moderate lock discourages pros from taking a lower tier bike or not. Just hearing anecdotally what is taken, it doesn’t seem to be flat out insurance.
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May 4, 2024 18:19
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kimbo305 posted:I’d like to see stats on the distribution of what kind of bikes are stolen when a lock is used. If a moderate lock discourages pros from taking a lower tier bike or not. Just hearing anecdotally what is taken, it doesn’t seem to be flat out insurance. Of course this is all anecdotal, however(!) if you use a u-lock and have a cheap bike, it's extremely unlikely to be stolen. The kind of thief who's committed enough to carry around something that can break a u-lock (almost always a battery-powered angle grinder irl) wants to come away with something of actual value. You can break some u-locks with very long-handled bolt cutters too, but I think they're too impractical/inconspicuous for most thieves. Cable locks and small chains can be snipped in a second so I don't count them as real locks.
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May 4, 2024 18:56
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Yesterday (02/05/24) officers from Team 2 response attended a theft in progress in Winsley- three high values bikes to the value of £20,000 had been loaded in the back of a van that made off from the scene. Following a swift investigation, the van was identified as travelling in the Bath area. With the assistance of Firearms officers and officers from our Burglary Team, the van was located in Bath. Two suspects have been arrested and are currently in custody and the bikes were recovered. Sgt DAVIS from Team 2 has said "Bikes are always attractive to thieves, no matter the value. They are easy to adapt and sell on so we would urge the public to have their bike frames stamped to make them easily identifiable and harder to sell on." Contact your NPT team to request assistance with bike stamping by emailing us at TrowbridgeAreaNPT@wiltshire.police.uk The story I heard was that one of the bikes had a tracker/air tag fitted. So how do they stamp a carbon bike?
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May 4, 2024 22:11
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