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- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!unipalm!uknet!strath-cs!cen.ex.ac.uk!cs92mjd
- From: cs92mjd@cen.ex.ac.uk (M.J.Davis)
- Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
- Subject: Re: Mathematics of gears and why 24-36-46 is bad
- Message-ID: <C1GzM8.AKq@cen.ex.ac.uk>
- Date: 26 Jan 93 16:39:44 GMT
- References: <93019.193822ASLXG@ASUACAD.BITNET> <C15M40.Loz@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
- <C15uwz.39t@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> <C19CDM.M1p@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk>
- <16B5E13651.EPLUS17@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu> <1k1v10INNelh@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
- Sender: cs92mjd@cen.ex.ac.uk
- Organization: Computer Unit. - University of Exeter. UK
- Lines: 33
- In-Reply-To: haverl@cats.ucsc.edu's message of 26 Jan 93 00:01:36 GMT
-
- In article <1k1v10INNelh@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> haverl@cats.ucsc.edu (Carl A Haverl) writes:
-
- >When I replaced the cranks on my mountain bike, the gearing changed
- >from 26-36-46 to 24-36-46. With the new chainwheels and chain, shifting
- >from the smallest chainring was very difficult. I generally had to
- >overshift into (if not onto) the largest chainwheel and then back the
- >chain off onto the middle ring. Shifting performance didn't not improve
- >or "wear in" after several months of daily commuting (800ft vertical).
-
- [stuff deleted]
-
- >The solution? Going back to 26-36-46 solved my problems. Since
- >gcd(26,36)=2, I have 26/2=13 different shift positions off the small
- >ring so one of them is bound to line up well. Also, gcd(36,46)=2
- >so there are 36/2=18 different shift positions off the middle ring to
- >the larger ring.
-
- >Other good possibilities would be 24-38-48 or 24-34-46, etc.
-
- Are you totally sure about this? I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but
- I would have thought that some component manufacturers multi-million dollar
- reaearch budget would have spotted this one. But then, since a certain r&d
- department came up with biopace and STI, perhaps not. Anyway, by way of a
- counterexample, I run 24-36-48 (strange but true) without this problem (at
- least not that I've noticed).
-
- If you really want to do some gear-related mathematics of this sort, have a
- crack at working out my friend's 24-35-47 chainrings :-). No, I'm not
- kidding, that's really what they are.
-
- This all sounds suspiciously like Jobst Brandt's department...
-
- Mikey D
-