Lunatic drivetrains
-------------------
Remember three years ago when I made a gemlog post (one of the very
few which doesn't also exist as a phlog post, due to uninsteresting
historical details) about unconventional bicycle drivetrains[1], and
I described 2x1 and 3x1 drivertrains (as in, 2 or 3 chainrings
and a single rear cog) as being "definitely the lunatic fringe
of drivetrains"?
It turns out than none other than Grant Petersen himself has
semi-recently experimented with exactly this setup, using a beautiful
vintage Shimano Crane derailer as a tensioner with a modern Shimano
singlespeed freewheel on the rear and a triple chain ring with a
front derailer, declaring it "not your grandfather's three speed"[2].
And Riv GM Will has done something similar with two chainrings and no
front derailer, exactly as described in my old post. Will doesn't
even need to get off the bike and dirty his fingers to downshift,
he can do it with his foot[3]!
Now, okay, "Grant Petersen does it!" is not exactly a refutation
of something being "lunatic fringe", but we are now talking high
pedigree lunacy, at least. I can be confident that it's a strange
idea but not a stupid idea, and that this kind of setup can be made
to work perfectly well for any of the kind of riding I'm likely
to do. If I'd followed through on those musings I might have beaten
some of the people I look up to to the punch!
But I didn't, and probably still won't anytime soon, because believe
it or not earlier this year I bought the first derailered bike
I've owned in over thirty years. I'll write about it in another
post sometime.
[1] gemini://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/~solderpunk/gemlog/unconventional-drivetrains.gmi
[2]
https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/grant-petersens-blog/june
[3]
https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/grant-petersens-blog/done-done-wrong-proably-still-doing-wrong
