Single speed off road/gravel gearing advice...

luv2ride

Hi all. I'm still enjoying my Pinnacle Arkose single speed but find its 38 X 17 gearing has me spinning out at @ 18.5 mph on flat road sections. However it does seem great on gentle inclines, and I can climb reasonably well (albeit out of the saddle) on steeper sections too. Putting a 16t on the back does seem to make me struggle noticeably more on the climbs though.

Was thinking of going to 40t chainring on the front but they seem pretty rare, but have found a 39t single speed chain ring. With the 17t rear, do you think I'd find this reduces the "spinning out" sensation on the flat a little, whilst still allowing to climb without straining my knees too much? Was never any good at figuring out the best gearing!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

How did you find the Tricross Singlecross default gearing? It was 44x17 IIRC.

bendertherobot

Assuming a cadence of 105 (as that matches your speed claim ish)

39x17 is 18.8 mph
40x17 is 19.3mph

Not much of a gain.

44x17 gives you 21.3mph.

Depends what you're doing really as huge gains aren't present but, obviously, climbing could suffer more

luv2ride

NitrousOxide wrote:

How did you find the Tricross Singlecross default gearing? It was 44x17 IIRC.

That is a good point, although mine as stock was 42:18. I also tried 16t and 17t on the Singlecross, and ended up 16t most of the time on road, but would knacker my knees on the climbs. This was primarily on the road though, and I tend to be using the Arkose on more off-road stuff. I had pondered actually going for a Shimano Zee 36t crankset when my BB died, as that seemed a very cheap way of upgrading the Chainset at the time, but wasn't sure what rear cog I'd need to compensate for 'losing 2 front teeth' :oops:

luv2ride

bendertherobot wrote:

Assuming a cadence of 105 (as that matches your speed claim ish)

39x17 is 18.8 mph
40x17 is 19.3mph

Not much of a gain.

44x17 gives you 21.3mph.

Depends what you're doing really as huge gains aren't present but, obviously, climbing could suffer more

Ah, not much in it then (as I suspected). Looks like the 40t might be the sweet spot for my riding, but can't seem to easily find one (at a decent price). The 39t is available in red anodised finish, so perhaps might simply make me go faster due to the colour?! 8)

Im still resisting the urge to convert it to 1x10, or 1x11 but I really don't "need" another geared bike. So its just trying to refine the singlespeed gearing for the best compromise. Of course, it may be that the current 38:17 is it!

bendertherobot

Luv2ride wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Assuming a cadence of 105 (as that matches your speed claim ish)

39x17 is 18.8 mph
40x17 is 19.3mph

Not much of a gain.

44x17 gives you 21.3mph.

Depends what you're doing really as huge gains aren't present but, obviously, climbing could suffer more

Ah, not much in it then (as I suspected). Looks like the 40t might be the sweet spot for my riding, but can't seem to easily find one (at a decent price). The 39t is available in red anodised finish, so perhaps might simply make me go faster due to the colour?! 8)

Im still resisting the urge to convert it to 1x10, or 1x11 but I really don't "need" another geared bike. So its just trying to refine the singlespeed gearing for the best compromise. Of course, it may be that the current 38:17 is it!

I guess a 40t narrow wide should be ok? Plenty of those around. What chainset is it going on? BCD etc?

luv2ride

Stock Chainset is a cheap Samox with 104 bcd. I checked out Uberbike and Superstar but couldn't see anything above 38t. Wanted to keep cost under £30 if possible...also thought narrow wide for chain retention, especially if I fit a rear mech in future. Have been zero issues with chain retention on it so far though, running it as single speed with a "sweet as...." chain line.

bendertherobot

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... b0s149p486

4 bolt?