Thanks Patrick, I rode this bike this morning to church in the snow with temps in the low 30's. My daughter was on her late 80's steel mountain bike with her electric bass guitar strapped to her back. We have a 15% hill a block from our house that we have to climb so I leave it in the 50 inch gear and ride it all the way. We only average about 10-13 mph so its fine. Kind of relaxed riding plus we don't like getting all sweaty and shaky as we have to play music. The second version of my bike had a 40 tooth and a 18 tooth ACS freewheel that gave me a 60 inch gear and I rode that for quite a while before the final two speed version. Grant and the gang really did their research choosing a 48 and 60 inch for the QB (essentially what I have) as it allows even an old fat guy, with a bad knee, to climb some decent grades and the 60 inch is decent on flats if you aren't trying to race or something. My Technium being epoxied aluminum and steel causes me some concern as far as tube cracking but I am fairly gentle with it and it has probably around 2000+ miles on it most being in single speed mode. For now, I plan to braze some track dropouts on another old lugged steel Raleigh and ride it with these parts until I can somehow get a QB. I understand the racing mindset you speak of and it was something I had to force myself to change. I did a 18 mile loop a while back using my 50 inch gear only as it had a bunch of hills for the first 7-8 miles and I just spun the 50" at around 13 mph the rest of way to let my legs recover. Surprisingly my time wasn't much different from my geared touring bike. I found I climbed faster but I coasted on the downhills and relaxed on the flats. Riding a geared bike, I find myself hammering a higher gear on the flats so I am forced to climb with a lower gear on the hills plus I pedal more on the downhills. The overall effect is that with a limited gear bike you use up your energy climbing a higher than normal gear (faster) instead of hammering along on the flats and gearing down on the climbs. I am not sure how to label it other than to say I use my energy differently.
On Jan 25, 7:24 am, PATRICK MOORE <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 8:11 PM, charlie <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Patrick, > > > It is in the 'single speed garage' section and is bike #91. You'll > > have to click on the most updated version. It is also featured on the > > left column of the page about the second one down or so. I think I > > have this right. Let me know what you think. I am planning on > > converting another lugged steel frame made for these parts until I can > > afford a QB. > > http://www.cyclofiend.com/ssg/2007/ssg091-charlesvail0607.html > > That's rather nice. It looks much like my Technium (sold a few years ago) > except mine was red and black and may have had longer stays; at least I had > no problem with panniers and size 10 shoes. I shod mine with some 35 mm > white fatties for a very nice, cush ride. Wish I'd kept it. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
