I’ve just put a Shimano Hollowtech II drive train on my A. Homer Hilsen frame. I’ve seen a few Hollowtech II installations on this forum, and, boy, would I like some comments and advice.
When I retired I went out and bought a Sam Hillborne. I live on Silver Comet trail and I like the feel of steel, and the “light touring, some gravel, do anything” Rivendell philosophy really appeals to me. This was a great decision and the Sam is an excellent bike; heavily ridden for 4 years. I got a road bike (lugged steel) that had a square taper bottom bracket. I replaced that with a Shimano Hollowtech II Sora system, and the difference was significant. It felt “better”, in stiffness, positive shifting, transmitting pedal force to the bike, you name it. Subjective, yes, but the reason for this post. So I got an A. Homer Hilsen frame. I built it up in the usual Riv style with Tektro 559 brakes, Albatross bars, Nitto post/stem, and Velocity Atlas 650b wheels. Then I installed a Shimano Hollowtech II M590 drive set. Questions: My AHH seems to not able to make up its mind if it is road or MTB. While it uses the road standard 68mm bottom bracket, rear axle spacing is MTB (135mm). The front chainline on my Sam was 45mm - road. Rivendell sent me the Sam with a 2-speed front and Claris road bike derailleur. I removed the guard and added a third ring. That made the chainline 47.5mm, so I put in a Shimano Sora FD-3030. I run front chainrings of 46-36-26 on the Sam. When I built up the Homer, the M590 bottom bracket specified a spacer combination to make it MTB spacing (73mm, 50mm chainline), and again the road derailleur was struggling. In this case I rearranged spacers to move the entire BB and crank 3mm left to solve the chainline problem. Thoughts? Has anyone found other solutions to the road/MTB front chainring alignment? I realize that on derailleur bikes a chainline is a theoretical concept…but it affects front shifting. And I didn’t want the road chainrings. The latest Shimano Deore stuff seems to be heading towards 10-speed and 175mm crank arm length. My Rivs don’t like a 175mm crank due to the low bottom bracket, so I’m stuck with 170mm. But are folks putting 10-speed equipment (cassette and chain) on a Riv? If so, what problems have you run into? [lack of shifters?, etc.] Along both of those lines, the Shimano “Trekking” groupsets (T6000 & T8000) are 3x10-speed systems that seem geared between MTB and road. 3-speed with front rings of 48-36-29. Has anybody tried one of these on a Riv? Does anyone have experience with the Shimano Hollowtech II Deore equipment as to durability? I may like the feel better than a Suguino XD2/square taper set-up, but those seem relatively bulletproof, and I can get chainrings in a lot of places. Do the new Shimano front cranks take the abuse? I know this is all heresy. Rivs are supposed to look like 1980s Japanese road bikes with bigger tires - hence the Silver and Suguino chain rings and friction shifters. But what I really like is touring - asphalt roads, cinder towpaths. The feel of the Hollowtech II system is real for me, and I’m not as concerned with classic looks. Besides, an AHH looks pretty good with black highlights. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1b136da0-cb92-4139-8d0f-5efa23af4cec%40googlegroups.com.
