Thread: How to get lower gearing on a Shimano 10 speed touring bike

touring discussions usually wander around the subject if the askee sez he's new at it. the ten cog chain is usually thought of as inadequate, an 8 cog chain more durable. From there the discussion goes to index shifting eg what your bike has and the Ergo, an Italian not Japanese company and the ancient durable but sssslow friction shifters which are levers for each deray. There may not be detents like a fretless guitar, the 5-8 rear cogs...

On Nov 22, 8:33*pm, datakoll wrote: are Ergo shifters superior to Shimano's *??? Hell yes. Now let us turn to page 27 in the hymnal... The thumb buttons on Campy can be very uncomfortable. I flirted with apostasy until I found a handlebar that gave me a place to put my hands where the buttons weren't poking me. I still should change because my favorite hand position is "around the grips" and those buttons are smack...

On 22 Nov, 02:53, Fred wrote: On Nov 21, 2:37*pm, " wrote: On Nov 21, 1:08*pm, datakoll wrote: figure friciton shifters vs the Ergo or hi end Shimano during road bike speed competition. Every shift loses uh 10 feet ? how many shifts per comp ? ground never made up. Same goes for touring except the ground loss is in energy lost as 2 miles lost over a day is not much. But add the hill factor, if yawl have a hill prob errrr course - in...

Hi Fred, We hope you haven't scrapped the new bike. Large bottom end cogs may be out of stock now at season's end but be back in the spring at Loose Screws and Harris. Buy two, the spoke protector and seat tube nubbin maybe not the deda the other one that's adjustable with a hose clamp. But with the 39, take a look at fattening the cluster's middle with cogs suiting your pedal power and chosen terrain, maybe up or down...

On Nov 21, 2:37*pm, " wrote: On Nov 21, 1:08*pm, datakoll wrote: figure friciton shifters vs the Ergo or hi end Shimano during road bike speed competition. Every shift loses uh 10 feet ? how many shifts per comp ? ground never made up. Same goes for touring except the ground loss is in energy lost as 2 miles lost over a day is not much. But add the hill factor, if yawl have a hill prob errrr course - in ground not made up as speed...

On Nov 12, 7:23*pm, Brian Huntley wrote: On Nov 12, 6:24*pm, JG wrote: I crossed the country when I was much younger and spryer. *Sixty pounds is way too much for most people. *I'd be more worried about _descending_ an 8% grade with that!-) *You want to avoid steep climbs when touring and usually you have choices. Actually, that's less than 3mph, and getting dicey... It's doable, though. Many, many touring bikes have a low gear...

On Nov 18, 7:30*pm, datakoll wrote: THE monodog has a 42-?-22 with the 22 connected to a 34T low cog. Your rig prob shifts better than the $100 8 speed shimano on the Dog but the shifting tho magical and necessary for off road or gravel road is bottom end, mechanical. For road touring, the friction shifter allows 'playing' the shift as 'playing' a stringed instrument. Then less complexity, almost fool proof with the...

On Nov 12, 2:03*pm, landotter wrote: On Nov 12, 3:55*pm, Hank wrote: On Nov 12, 11:17*am, Bill wrote: Your present low gear is what is referred to as a "29-inch" gear. That is fairly low. Another approach (rather than replacing anything) would be to just keep the setup you've got and keep riding it as is. *When you get in a little bit better shape, you won't have any trouble keeping that 29 turning on the hills. *...

Fred wrote: On Nov 21, 2:37 pm, " wrote: On Nov 21, 1:08 pm, datakoll wrote: figure friciton shifters vs the Ergo or hi end Shimano during road bike speed competition. Every shift loses uh 10 feet ? how many shifts per comp ? ground never made up. Same goes for touring except the ground loss is in energy lost as 2 miles lost over a day is not much. But add the hill factor, if yawl have a hill prob errrr course - in ground not made up...

"Just sayin', the "10 speed" thing isn't just "for selling", and with a smaller inner ring, might work for the OP just fine." --D-y I tend to disagree, for a number of reasons. I crossed the US with a carefully choose wide-range ½ step (49-44x13-31). I ended up not bothering with the double shifts in the climbs and really used only 7 gears. All things being equal,...