Can I remove middle gear lever thingy?

Herbalus

My bike has 3 big gears in the middle and 8 at the back. I only ever use the middle 'big' gear in the middle and want to remove the mechanism that changes it, 1) to make more space on the handlebars, 2) if I kept it I'd need to fix it and it's not worth it (cheap runaround, it's an awful bike, but it is still a bike and nobody will steal it haha).

Can I just remove the mechanism and leave the chain on the middle chainring? Will it stay there?

Keep_pedalling

You should be able to do that by adjusting the upper and lower stops on the front mech, but try this before removing the shifter.

Richard53

If the middle chainwheel is lined up with the middle of the gear cluster at the back (it should be - look from the front of the bike to check), then you should be able to remove the mechanism completely and the chain will just remain on the middle chainwheel. Remove the mechanism temporarily and check it works OK before removing the handlebar lever, though.

Johnmcl7

I think you'd be at risk of dropped chains with no chain guide at all, it's popular now on mountain bikes to have just a single ring at the front with no derailleur and no chain guide but these use a specially designed chain ring and a clutch on the derailleur neither of which you have. For normal cycling although I guess it probably wouldn't be so much of a risk as the chains not being bumped around the place but seems a bit extreme just to free up a small amount of space on the handlebars.

John

cubegame

Instead of trying to work out how to remove the front shifter mechanism you should concentrate on learning to use all three chainrings.


Sticking to the middle chainring is unnecessary and will eventually cause undue wear to the whole drivetrain as you'll be running in a stressed alignment more often.

elverson

As above. Unless you only ride on completely flat roads you should need to use all three at the front / eight at the back at some point.

Herbalus

elverson wrote: »

As above. Unless you only ride on completely flat roads you should need to use all three at the front / eight at the back at some point.

Thanks for the responses all. I use it to commute in London, so yes it's predominately flat. Strava says I climb about 24 feet per mile that I do. I basically only use middle chain ring with middle rear cog plus one either side.

And as to the wear, this is very old bike I picked up at a jumble sale for £20 so it basically all needs replacing anyway. It's running on GT85!

Cash-Strapped.T32

Can't see a problem tbh - I pretty much live on the big ring up front, and only shift using the rear mech...

Then again my drivetrain is worn as hell, it's an '08 mtb that has done more miles than I care to think about, and I mainly use it for in/out town commuting so I'm not worried about unduly stressing the chain or sprockets...

I don't really see what it would achieve, but no harm in doing it (unless you can't then reattach the front mech if you change your mind...?)

glasgowdan

A single front ring is great, road or mtb. I'd maybe go for a 42t ring for mostly flat commuting, and an 11-28t cassette, or whatever you've already got on.

Best way to do it is to get a narrow wide ring for the front and a set of single speed chainring bolts, bin the gear shifter and granny/outer rings and enjoy much simpler cycling. My road bike has a single ring and doesn't hold me back.

Cash-Strapped.T32

glasgowdan wrote: »

A single front ring is great, road or mtb. I'd maybe go for a 42t ring for mostly flat commuting, and an 11-28t cassette, or whatever you've already got on.

Out of pure interest - what benefit does running a single ring up-front give over having a choice of two or three?

Ok, the additional ring(s) and mech might add up to a few grammes, but is that such a deal-breaker? Or is there something that I'm not seeing?

Like I say, I live on my big ring so it's not an argumentative question - but I know I'd rather keep my other two rings in my back pocket so to speak in case I ever find myself in a situation where I'd need them. I understand this might be slightly less likley on a purely road bound commuter bike. :cool:

Johnmcl7

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

Out of pure interest - what benefit does running a single ring up-front give over having a choice of two or three?

Ok, the additional ring(s) and mech might add up to a few grammes, but is that such a deal-breaker? Or is there something that I'm not seeing?

It's a fair question

Single chainring proponents generally cite three advantages, it's lighter, it's simpler and better chain retention. For new frames it frees up frame designers as a front derailleur can be a hindrance particularly in full suspension designs.

That said I don't get the hype with single chain rings and I do have a 1x11 Sram GX1 bike with a 10-42 cassette on it as the frame design doesn't allow space for a front derailleur, my other current MTB is a Shimano 2x10 with 22/26 on the front and 11-36 on the back. I'm not keen on the GX1 drivetrain, I can only single shift up the way (whereas I can single shift on the front derailleur if I quickly need to drop or gain gears), the cassette is extremely pricey and quick links are a pain as well. Having the bar space for the dropper post control is handy as when underneath it's protected from when the bike is upside down but that's a minor benefit.

I like my 2x10 as I don't see an extra shifter as complicated (particularly when the bike has no dropper or any suspension at all so no worries with the controls), the part are cheaper, I've yet to have a front derailleur fail (unlike rear derailleurs) and even if it does I just lose some gear range. I've also not had issues with chain retention even in terrible conditions and can't see why I would when the system is properly adjusted.

That said I seem to be about the only person not keen on single chainring groupsets.

John