I've ridden 2x2 fixed for touring since 2007 - first an IRO Rob Roy and now a Simple One. I've done cross country and some significant tours on both coasts with this setup.
I'm a fan of the widest spaced Surly Dingle (17/21) and when using it I match the tooth difference on a double up front (ex.: 44/40) so the wheel doesn't move when I switch between two useable gear combinations, ex.: 44/17 (high) and 40/21 (low). The White Industries Dos is as similar concept but a freewheel. Surly Dingle (fixed): http://surlybikes.com/parts/dingle_cog White Dos (freewheel): http://www.whiteind.com/singlespeedgearing/freewheels.html With the Dingle and a matched-tooth-difference double gear changes are quite fast. (You don't need to flip the wheel and won't need to adjust the brakes.) In practice, you can have a wider range or more than two useable gears going the 2x2 route, but accomplishing these things is a bit more fiddly than my set up, and w/r/t touring I resist fiddly-ness. Up front, 42/38 is the sweet spot for me for loaded touring. This gives me 68" and 49". The idea is that the high gear is for 98% of the time. The low gear is for when you're heading north in Glacier on a long day, or nursing an injury. (Or if you're less religious or dumb than me, save your knees and use the low gear whenever appropriate.) The hardest part of this setup is getting the chainline perfect in both gear combinations - if you worry about those sorts of things. Overall, highly recommended. On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:24 PM, Eric Daume <[email protected]> wrote: > I believe the QB (and by extension the SO) can handle up to an eight tooth > cog difference. So you could for instance use a 32/40 and 16/19 White > Industries hub to get four gears (I do this on my QB wannabe Surly > Crosscheck, but it's only good up to six teeth--I run 34/40 x 16/19 on that) > > Eric Daume > Dublin OH > > On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 7:22 PM, allenmichael <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Currently, I have a S1 set up "simply" with one in the front and one in >> the back. I'm not sure how many gear inches I have but it handles moderate >> hills in San Francisco comfortably and isn't too slow on the flats. I'm >> wondering though about whether I could set up the bike with two-in-front and >> two-in-back, put on a moderate load, and ride it as far as San Diego or Los >> Angeles from here. >> >> Thanks in advance. >> >> Michael Allen >> >> -- >> 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> > > > -- > 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
