After ramming my beautiful loaded touring bike into the garage (it was strapped onto the top of the car), I have nothing left but an 80s double-chainring Italian racing bike to get me in to work. It has an 11-21 6-speed freewheel, which means I attack hills or blow out my legs going slowly. I'm looking forward to getting my new Bike Friday New World Tourist, but it won't be here until June.
In the meantime, since I'm on a racing bike now, I may as well engage my fellow hill cyclists in the Silly Commuter Race. I have an FCN (Food Chain Number) of 15, which I think puts me just below Yehuda Moon. Woo!
3 comments:
Neale, can you put a mountain bike crank on that frameset? 44-32-22 chainrings make even a corncob seem manageable.
I'm not sure the front derailer goes down far enough but I suppose it's worth a shot. I was actually considering replacing the freewheel. Shimano makes a 6-speed Mega-Range with a huge 34-tooth inner cog, and then suddenly I'd have a nice cooshy ride in. And it's only $14! Or I could just replace a couple gears on it. But all of that is more work than just hoofing my fat butt up the hills :)
As long as you have enough derailleur capacity in either case. Swapping out the cogset would be cheaper than chainrings.
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