1 x 5 ?

[Yammer]

The progression of my riding and hardtail has made me constantly refine my drivetrain.

Back in the day 3 x 8, then 3 x 9, then 2 x 9 w/ bash guard and DRS chain guide, currently 36:17 singlespeed with bashguard, and now I'm thinking 1 x 5 w/ bashguard SRS chain guide.

My hardtail has taken on a strictly urban, freeride & Theo composition (I have a 5" full suspension for all other trail riding).

I want to minimize the drivetrain complexity, while giving me enough gear ratios to be comfortable off road and enough top speed to run from the campus police.

Does anyone know how to acomplish this? It seems like traditional cogsets would be ramped for shifting between the cogs on a 8 or 9 spd cassette.

Thanks, Pat

[JayPee]

What hub are you running in the rear? I'm running a 1x6 setup for XC and love it.

In short, you'll need to take apart a cassette or two to get the spacers and cogs you'll need for your desired range. Stack those on your freehub with the appropriate spacers in-between them and use the rest of the spacers to take up unused space on the freehub body. Re-adjust your rear-der and make SURE you set the limit screws so that you can't overshift into the spokes or off of the body.

One problem I've discovered when you start stacking individual cogs that aren't all bolted together in a complete cluster is that they start to dig into your freehub body. This is especially an issue if the freehub is made of aluminium or titanium. I was experiencing this until I finally said to hell with it and started buying Surly cogs. They have a wider base that does not dig into the freehub body. The base is also the correct width for 9-speed spacing so that I can simply stack the cogs without using any spacers.

[Yammer]

I've got an Atmolab wheelset, not sure what the material is, but I can check. So if I go Surly cogs then I should be able to set this up? Does it matter what ratios I stack next to each other, in other words will that effect the shifting smoothness?

Thanks, Pat

[JayPee]

I've got an Atmolab wheelset, not sure what the material is, but I can check. So if I go Surly cogs then I should be able to set this up? Does it matter what ratios I stack next to each other, in other words will that effect the shifting smoothness?

I like Surly cogs because they're stainless steel and burly. They're not exactly the lightest or cheapest cogs out there, but I'm confident that they'll last longer than I will. One thing to remember is that since the Surly cogs are designed primarilly as a single-speed cog, they're not going to shift as fast as a regular multi-speed cog. On mine, I really don't notice it. As far as ratios between cogs, remember that the larger the jump in number of teeth between the cogs, the more difficult it is for the chain to move between them. I've gone as high as 4-teeth between Surly cogs with no real issues.

Here's a fairly good thread about the whole topic over at RideMonkey. (http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137565&highlight=drivetrain)

[Yammer]

One more thing.
Is there a place that will measure your torque?
I'd like to be able to do some calculations on my oupt and drivetrain ratios.

[Gus]

So I used to have a 1x7 on my Trek 6000 and loved it.....but then I wised up and found that was still 6 too many :D but as I was reading the thread and this has nothing to do with my bike and the way I had it set up....I would agree that surly is the way to go STEEL. Also I consider myself to be a pretty good home mechanic but what the hell is a dishless hub ? I have never built my own wheels therfore have not heard this before. Any ideas (I read it on the link you supplied at ridemonkey)

[Tegra54]

One more thing.
Is there a place that will measure your torque?
I'd like to be able to do some calculations on my oupt and drivetrain ratios.

http://www.cycle-ops.com/c-11-power-meters.aspx?skinid=2

if you got ~1000 burning a hole in your pocket :crazy2:

as far as the 1x5 idea, what are you looking at using for a shifter? an old school non-indexed shifter? I was looking into doing a 1x3 or a 1x4, but ended up just doing a 1x9 because i thought it would be easier to just use an existing cassette (not breaking anything apart) and existing indexed shifter that i had lying around

[Yammer]

So I used to have a 1x7 on my Trek 6000 and loved it.....but then I wised up and found that was still 6 too many :D

Yeah I really liked the SS setup I am running right now. No chain slap, didn't need a chain guide, no derailleurs, no shifting.

There were several times already that if I did have a rear derailleur on the bike, I probably would have broken it.

But I started running into its limitations, I can't go fast enough without pedaling like crazy, and off road my 36:17 ratio is sometimes too high. I need the best of both worlds so I need some gears.

[JayPee]

So I used to have a 1x7 on my Trek 6000 and loved it.....but then I wised up and found that was still 6 too many :D but as I was reading the thread and this has nothing to do with my bike and the way I had it set up....I would agree that surly is the way to go STEEL. Also I consider myself to be a pretty good home mechanic but what the hell is a dishless hub ? I have never built my own wheels therfore have not heard this before. Any ideas (I read it on the link you supplied at ridemonkey)

Dishless is why I'm using a 1x6 setup on Hadley hubs. When you build up a multi-speed drivetrain, the hub have to be "dished" to one side of the wheel in order to provide room for the cassette.

Sheldon Brown provides a good description of dish here. (http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_da-o.html#dish)

With single speed hubs, dish is eliminated and provides for a stronger wheel. Some single-speed hubs have room for multiple cogs, therefore giving you the best of both worlds.

[steef]

Yeah I really liked the SS setup I am running right now. No chain slap, didn't need a chain guide, no derailleurs, no shifting.

There were several times already that if I did have a rear derailleur on the bike, I probably would have broken it.

But I started running into its limitations, I can't go fast enough without pedaling like crazy, and off road my 36:17 ratio is sometimes too high. I need the best of both worlds so I need some gears.

Well, you can always get a flip flop hub for the rear. I'm running a 2x4 on one of my bikes with 36/48 and 13-21. It's perfect for getting to the trails and riding them.

[manual63]

I heard the Surly cogs are offset, thicker to one side, so they can be stacked and spaced perfectly for 9 speed indexing. Someone should verify this, but it's what I know.

[steef]

From the surly site:

The footprint of the cogs (where they fit onto the FH) is wider than most SS cogs so they don’t dig into the FH and get sloppy. This is especially important if your FH body is aluminum or titanium. The wide footprint serves 2 purposes: anti-dig as mentioned, and they’re 9 speed drivetrain spaced, so you can stack them up for several gears (orient them the same direction on the FH body for this purpose). Because they’re designed as single-speed cogs first, they’ll shift a bit slower than a regular cluster, but we’ve had good results running several cogs. Like a single but want a bailout or catch up gear? Here’s your answer. Compatible with all 6, 7, 8 and 9-speed chains. Available in all sizes from 13T–22T

[JayPee]

I heard the Surly cogs are offset, thicker to one side, so they can be stacked and spaced perfectly for 9 speed indexing. Someone should verify this, but it's what I know.

I stated this in the 2nd post. So, yeah, it's been verified.

[edit]

I recently re-adjusted my rear-der and shifting is now comparable to shifting with "normal" 9-speed cogs. (those with ramps, etc...)