The Get fit club!

[airshifter]

Got a new rear derailleur, front derailleur and front shifter got removed as it's no longer needed!

Fitted a dropper seat post so now have a button to press when I want to change the seat height, saves stopping and getting off and resizing every time I want to chicken out of throwing myself off a big drop, then putting it back up again

New front ring is 32t, same as previous middle one, but is a "narrow-wide" so I hear the chain is far less likely to come off when I'm pushing the bike along rough sections

Ten gears at the back still, but the 17t is substituted for a 40t so that it's a bit easier to get up the hills. Will have to try it out when I get it back and see how it goes.

In other news, went to pick the new road bike up today but it wasn't ready, was told to go back after 12pm tomorrow. Not pleased as I tried phoning them several times before travelling there but nobody picked up. Was not pleased at all!!

Maybe I'm missing something, but why do you need a front derailleur if you removed the front shifter? You're only running a single front sprocket correct?

The comment about the dropper post is funny. Maybe not having to slow down and think about it as much will keep you going and make the drop.

Those big rear rings do seem handy. I was riding with a guy one day on some trails that had some fairly steep short climbs. With that big rear ring he could keep traction much better, as using the "normal" low gear resulted in spinning more often as you had to really torque hard on the downstroke, and it would break the tire loose much easier. With that crawler gear he could stay in the saddle and pedal up most of them without any traction problems.

[Mark]

He didn't "Got a new rear derailleur" "front derailleur and front shifter got removed"

Most bikes I've seen the brake (in the UK the rear brake) is integrated with the shifter, is there now a shifterless brake in place of it?

I can understand going to a single front ring, with flat bar shifters going up to a bigger chainring always takes a lot of effort - on my hybrid I ended up just riding in the middle ring all the time (reducing myself to just 7 gears!) because upshifting chainrings was really difficult, you practically had to stop and do it two handed.

Good luck with the new road bike; meet you 7am Chester-le-Street market place, 82 mile ride into Northumberland. Don't worry I'll let you draft me all the way

[schmenke]

... front derailleur and front shifter got removed as it's no longer needed!..

Duh, of course. Silly me

[schmenke]

...
Those big rear rings do seem handy. I was riding with a guy one day on some trails that had some fairly steep short climbs. With that big rear ring he could keep traction much better, as using the "normal" low gear resulted in spinning more often as you had to really torque hard on the downstroke, and it would break the tire loose much easier. With that crawler gear he could stay in the saddle and pedal up most of them without any traction problems.

Do you know what size sproket your friend had? Mine is a 34T and I rarely use it when in the front granny-gear (i.e. 1st gear), even on the steepest of climbs. I find, as you said, the rear tire just brakes traction and I lose all forward momentum. I'll generally stay in 2nd or 3d gear and try to power up the hill, with my lungs ready to burst

[schmenke]

...I can understand going to a single front ring, with flat bar shifters going up to a bigger chainring always takes a lot of effort - on my hybrid I ended up just riding in the middle ring all the time (reducing myself to just 7 gears!) because upshifting chainrings was really difficult, you practically had to stop and do it two handed. ...

:cornfused:

Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

[airshifter]

He didn't "Got a new rear derailleur" "front derailleur and front shifter got removed"

Most bikes I've seen the brake (in the UK the rear brake) is integrated with the shifter, is there now a shifterless brake in place of it?

I can understand going to a single front ring, with flat bar shifters going up to a bigger chainring always takes a lot of effort - on my hybrid I ended up just riding in the middle ring all the time (reducing myself to just 7 gears!) because upshifting chainrings was really difficult, you practically had to stop and do it two handed.

Good luck with the new road bike; meet you 7am Chester-le-Street market place, 82 mile ride into Northumberland. Don't worry I'll let you draft me all the way

Doh... completely missed what he was saying for some reason!

I actually prefer the brake lever and shifter to be separate, as you can adjust them better for whatever angles you like. I tend to like my brake levers almost rotated so the lever is down on the bar quite a bit, and that would make shifting tricky at that angle.

As for the front chainrings, it is more effort, but with my shifters really not all that bad. I have twist shifters and they do take more rotation, but the effort isn't all that much.

Do you know what size sproket your friend had? Mine is a 34T and I rarely use it when in the front granny-gear (i.e. 1st gear), even on the steepest of climbs. I find, as you said, the rear tire just brakes traction and I lose all forward momentum. I'll generally stay in 2nd or 3d gear and try to power up the hill, with my lungs ready to burst

He was just someone I ran into on the trail, and really have no idea how many teeth the sprocket was. It seemed very large to me, but it's possible he had smaller high gears making it seem that way. I know it was substantially lower than my gearing. Similar to you I was using 2nd or 3rd most of the time and loosing traction as I powered the crank down while out of the saddle. He was spinning a high cadence in the low gear and staying the the saddle, so I think the weight transfer and consistent power allowed him to climb stuff that I would break loose on.

When we stopped I took a better look at his back tire, and I think mine really had better knobbies for the conditions. Maybe there was more of a trick to it, but he was making it look easy.

[J4MIE]

Yes sorry my, grammar, could have been a bit, improved there

Yes, the brakes and shifters are separate, so easy just to remove the front shifter. It was never hard to change mine anyway Mark, sounds really strange!

Picked the bike up from the shop today and all sorted out, well nearly, they said the mech hanger is bent slightly so might have been the cause of my previous shifting issues. Luckily I bought a new one to carry as a spare, so will switch them.

Also picked up the new road bike, just getting a bit organised then will practice unclipping a few times before heading out for a short ride

[Mark]

On both my hybrid and the MTB I hired they had the same type of Shimano shifter for the chainrings and I found it super stiff to push into the big ring with my thumb sometimes having to push so hard I ended up steering into traffic!

Probably a fault but I got a road bike before I could investigate further.

[schmenke]

...He was just someone I ran into on the trail, and really have no idea how many teeth the sprocket was. It seemed very large to me, but it's possible he had smaller high gears making it seem that way. I know it was substantially lower than my gearing. Similar to you I was using 2nd or 3rd most of the time and loosing traction as I powered the crank down while out of the saddle. He was spinning a high cadence in the low gear and staying the the saddle, so I think the weight transfer and consistent power allowed him to climb stuff that I would break loose on.

When we stopped I took a better look at his back tire, and I think mine really had better knobbies for the conditions. Maybe there was more of a trick to it, but he was making it look easy.

Did you notice if he had a lockout on the suspension? That helps on the uphills.

[J4MIE]

Went out and did about 12km, was quite worried about unclipping as practicing in the house was pretty shocking! Anyway, found it quite easy in the end. Absolutely delighted with the bike, very happy! Can see myself using it more and more, just busy now until next week Also need to look at how to carry stuff with me as I feel naked without a bag full of stuff