Can I remove middle gear lever thingy?

Richard53

I grew up when a single chainring and five cogs at the back were the norm. Admittedly the 5-speed cluster was a bit narrower than modern 6-7-and upwards clusters, and the chain was a lot beefier, but chain retention was never a problem and it took me round most of the Yorkshire Dales.


Having said that, I have a big ring, a middle and a tiny granny ring now, and I wouldn't like to be without any of them

glennevis

Herbalus wrote: »

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

Yes you can remove the lever, cable and front mech and the chain will stay where you put it because it is the rear derailleur which provides the tension that keeps the chain in place. That is the cheapest option.

somersethillbilly

Richard53 wrote: »

Having said that, I have a big ring, a middle and a tiny granny ring now, and I wouldn't like to be without any of them

Me too, and I even have a 34 tooth cog on the freewheel, it never hurts to have a "Bail Out" option
Especially on the Porlock - Lynmouth - Porlock rides.

warehouse

I'm with the OP. My commute is flat, (canal towpath), so need only 2 gears out of 27. Ever tried to buy a mountain bike with 2 gears?

somersethillbilly

warehouse wrote: »

I'm with the OP. My commute is flat, (canal towpath), so need only 2 gears out of 27. Ever tried to buy a mountain bike with 2 gears?

Sounds like a candidate for Single Speed.

Richard53

somersethillbilly wrote: »

Me too, and I even have a 34 tooth cog on the freewheel, it never hurts to have a "Bail Out" option
Especially on the Porlock - Lynmouth - Porlock rides.

28 front, 32 rear, I'm like a windmill in a hurricane, but I never have to walk

somersethillbilly

Richard53 wrote: »

28 front, 32 rear, I'm like a windmill in a hurricane, but I never have to walk

Same, 28 front but 34 rear....Porlock Hill is the steepest A-road in the United Kingdom, approaching 1 in 4 (25%) in places, there is an alternative Toll road (almost as steep, but prettier through woodland). So a low gear is essential

esuhl

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

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

I don't get it at all. I have a fairly standard 3x9 (27-speed) MTB set-up and, regardless of whether I'm on road or off-road, I make use of all the gears! My legs just aren't efficient enough to work with anything less!

I occasionally see these ultra-lightweight fixed-speed road bikes and I'd love to have a go on one, but I can't see it being very practical, except in very specific circumstances.

Anyway, it always seems to be the rear gears that are tricky to fine-tune, so I don't see the benefit of having just a single chain-ring at the front unless you're somewhere really flat (like Holland) and want an ultra-lightweight bike.

Johnmcl7

You don't lose range with a single chainring setup as you have a wider cassette at the back to make up for it, the newest ones have a massive 10-50 range on the cassette and there's range expanders to allow people to fit larger cogs to cheaper cassettes to extend the range. You then don't need to worry about changing gear at the front as well, you simply need to go up gears or down gears which is partially why people like it.

With regards to single speed, I did fancy building a single speed fat bike initially as it goes well with the fat bike simplicity but when I tried sticking with one gear, I couldn't. At endurance mountain biking on courses with huge climbing there's usually a top three solo finish from single speed, rigid rider who will have done 24 or so laps...I've no idea how they can do that fitness wise and for their wrists.

I did consider running my town bike single speed and can see why less range is needed, it's just if the bike had more range I wouldn't bother removing the derailleur, shifter and cabling.

John