On 10 Jul 2005 17:42:40 -0700, "Ron Ruff" <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>I hope that the 110 bolt circle becomes the new road standard, with a
>good selection of rings available from 34 to 55 teeth, so you can get
>just what you want. A 34-48 or 36-50 just makes more sense for average
>riders in hilly areas... at least with the commonly available cogsets
>that start with 11 or 12 teeth. I rarely even use a 53-13... if I'm
>going over 35 mph, then it's downhill and I can just tuck and coast.
I agree that the 110 bcd should become standard, but think that
cogsets have to designed by the manufacturers to accommodate the
smaller front rings, be they 34-48, 34-50, or 36-50.
Personally, when I switched to 34-50, I found that losing the 53:12
high gear was a problem and often ended up over spinning in 50:12.
The solution, using a 9 speed Shimano system, was to build a custom
cogset. First, using SRAM cogs I had in lying around, I swapped the
12 and 13 cogs from a 12-26 set with the 11 and 12 from an 11-23 set,
for a custom cogset with an 11-26 span. With this, I had both a 50-11
high gear (a tad higher than my friends running 53:12) and a 34:26
super low gear (way lower than friends with 39:25 or even 39:26 [SRAM]
or 39:27 [Shimano]).
When that cogset wore out, I decided it was not economical to buy two
new cogsets and mix and match cogs, and set out trying to find
individual cogs to build a new custom. Nashbar sold individual SRAM
cogs, but was out of stock for what I wanted. Harris Cyclery sells
individual Shimano cogs, but also sells a custom cogset called "High
and Wide" , 11-28. The 28 is used in this set instead of 27 because
Shimano does not sell a free 27 - 27's only come attached in clusters.
That was a decent compromise - there are issues with the 4 tooth
jumps in the big cogs, but you can live with them.
Recently - Saturday, in fact - my right shifter **** the bed after 3
years and many 1000 miles of use. Perfect excuse to upgrade to 10
speed in order to eliminate the 4 tooth jumps, right (as you really
only need to replace shifter, chain, and cogset)? Wrong. Nobody
makes an 11-25, 11-26, or 11-27 10 speed cogset. I can't find
individual 10 speed cogs anywhere. In order to end up with an 11 -27,
I will have to buy 2 cogsets and mix and match.
I think that once 110 bcd does become the norm, and 50 or 48 teeth are
the "big" ring, cogsets that span from 11 to 25, 26 and 27 should be
available in order retain a high gear and keep the super low gears
that are the whole point of compact rings, as well.