What is your lowest gear on your S40 build

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Crog Welly

Active Member
I ride a QX100 that has a low gear of 32 inches (34 front, 28 rear and 26" wheels).

I hardly ever use it. Starting off on flat I use either 40 or 47 inches. Try not to start up significant slope. I have used 32 gear on a very steep hill but found that often this is when front wheel is slipping when under close to max power.

Building an S40 from new frame. (Threaded brake cable housing through frame last night, very proud of myself.) I have a Bikesmith modified FSA dual crank that comes with 53/39 chainrings. Trying to decide on a rear cassette size in 11 speeds.

What is your experience with gearing for commuting, touring?
 
DocS

DocS

Guru
I have a Silvio S2.0 with a 53/39 chainring and 10/42 Rear 10sp cassette on 700C wheels.
I rarely go that low (except for a few steep hills), but it's good not to have to walk up hills (especially, when you see DF riders walking theirs up).

Blessings,
DocS
 
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super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
I have a triple 25/39/53 Q rings, and 11 to 34 10 speed on a Silvio 3.0 with 26"*42 tyres, giving 19" to 57", 29" to 89", and 39" to 122".
I spend 95% of my time on the Middle ring, 29" to 89", and only use low or high rings for slopes greater than +-5%!

The 19" is a godsend when climbing up Mt Hotham, 31 km (19 mls), 1280 m (4,200 ft) climb, average climb of 4.2%, max 12% with speeds of 4 kph just keeping balance, and no traction problems as rough Chip Seal road.
 
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C

Crog Welly

Active Member
Super Slim interesting point about road surface quality, that makes a difference: CBs riders can use lower gears on good quality roads. Do you break the sound barrier when you come back down Mt Hotham?

So what happened was I bought a Willow triplizer to use on my FSA Gossamer double crank. The extra inward facing chaining and bolts interfered with the S40 boom fixings. In the meantime bought an 11—25 cassette to marry with a 30/39/50 triple. I have a 53/39 set to use instead. Even have some q rings somewhere I think. So I can replace the cassette with an 11 28 or 11 30 or lower. I have no Mt Hotham or anything even close. In fact in more of an urban setting my routes are flatter and more populated with other road users.

Added to which I am planning on adding an electric bike conversion option to use on weekday commutes on a 14 mile route.

Hence the attraction to higher gearing. Thoughts?
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
46/36 up front and 11-36 rear 11 speed. at 1:1 I can get up a hill of 15% without too much trouble - 18% about max - as long as the pavement is smooth, dry and clean (Have done 20% for a short stretch but all conditions were perfect and I was fresh.) Any sand, sticks, moisture or leaves and 15% can get tough. Also, max grade depends on where I am on the ride. After a good warm-up and a few miles into the ride/race, 15-18% is tough but fine. After 80 miles, when the cadence is not so smooth, you can subtract a few %. Smooth and steady does the trick but is tough to maintain when fatigue sets in.

With this gearing I have only encountered a small # of hills that I couldn't handle. And honestly, on a 23% grade after 60 or 80 miles in the saddle, I think I can walk up the last 30 yards just about as fast as a DF rider can ride! Most of my regular hills top out in the 10-12% range.

If I was in a flatter area I would opt for closer cassette gearing - maybe 11-25 or 11-28. I find optimum cadence to be more important on a CB than on a DF. Not sure if that holds for all recumbents. My S40 is the only one I've ever owned. . .
 
C

cpml123

Zen MBB Master
I have 52/34 and 11-40 rear 10 speed. Lowest speed I can sustain is around 5mph at maybe 10% slope. Still working on hill climbing. Too many hills in Seattle area.

On the other hand, I am thinking of changing the 11-40 to say 15-40 by mixing a Shimano CS-6600 15-25 with my current Sunrace 11-40 cassette by changing the first 4 sprockets since I rarely use 11 and 13 gears. Do I need to be aware of any issues?
 
super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
cpml123 said:
I have 52/34 and 11-40 rear 10 speed. Lowest speed I can sustain is around 5mph at maybe 10% slope. Still working on hill climbing. Too many hills in Seattle area.

On the other hand, I am thinking of changing the 11-40 to say 15-40 by mixing a Shimano CS-6600 15-25 with my current Sunrace 11-40 cassette by changing the first 4 sprockets since I rarely use 11 and 13 gears. Do I need to be aware of any issues?
Click to expand...

YES, you need to buy a rear cassette locking ring for a 13T last sprocket, and a 15T or 13T ist position sprocket with its serated edge!
If you are in Australia this is where I bought my 13T 1st sprock, and locking ring with a 39 mm OD to suit the 13T.
http://hillbrick.com.au/ca-10-speed-13t-1st-position.html
http://hillbrick.com.au/ca-10-speed-15t-1st-position.html
 
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super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Crog Welly said:
Super Slim interesting point about road surface quality, that makes a difference: CBs riders can use lower gears on good quality roads. Do you break the sound barrier when you come back down Mt Hotham?

So what happened was I bought a Willow triplizer to use on my FSA Gossamer double crank. The extra inward facing chaining and bolts interfered with the S40 boom fixings. In the meantime bought an 11—25 cassette to marry with a 30/39/50 triple. I have a 53/39 set to use instead. Even have some q rings somewhere I think. So I can replace the cassette with an 11 28 or 11 30 or lower. I have no Mt Hotham or anything even close. In fact in more of an urban setting my routes are flatter and more populated with other road users.

Added to which I am planning on adding an electric bike conversion option to use on weekday commutes on a 14 mile route.

Hence the attraction to higher gearing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I did a lot of filing around the bottom bracket, and to the inside of the Crankset, to allow the crankset middle ring to line up with the to 7th gear (17T) of the rear cassette, so 25 kph at 92 cadence, with a straight chainline!

Are you going with a Electric driven or non driven hub, or a Bottom Bracket motor?
 
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super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Crog Welly said:
Super Slim interesting point about road surface quality, that makes a difference: CBs riders can use lower gears on good quality roads. Do you break the sound barrier when you come back down Mt Hotham?

So what happened was I bought a Willow triplizer to use on my FSA Gossamer double crank. The extra inward facing chaining and bolts interfered with the S40 boom fixings. In the meantime bought an 11—25 cassette to marry with a 30/39/50 triple. I have a 53/39 set to use instead. Even have some q rings somewhere I think. So I can replace the cassette with an 11 28 or 11 30 or lower. I have no Mt Hotham or anything even close. In fact in more of an urban setting my routes are flatter and more populated with other road users.

Added to which I am planning on adding an electric bike conversion option to use on weekday commutes on a 14 mile route.

Hence the attraction to higher gearing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
No sound barriers speeds as both times it was raining, so the rain/hail, hitting my face below a lowered MTB helmet, limited my speed when riding to Cooma.

I initially had 700*23 Continental 4000S tyres at 110 psi that would slip if ANY moisture was present, on hot mix, on grades higher than 5%.
I then changed to Schwalbe Ultremo Zx 700*28 at 90 psi, with MUCH more grip, so 10% became to grip limit on smooth worn out chip seal roads with rain!
If I had a smoother pedaling stroke, AND more power , then 15% to 20% would be friction limit, depending on the road surface!
It's amazing how one small swig, can stop you dead in your tracks!!!!!
 
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C

Crog Welly

Active Member
super slim said:
I did a lot of filing around the bottom bracket, and to the inside of the Crankset, to allow the crankset middle ring to line up with the to 7th gear (17T) of the rear cassette, so 25 kph at 92 cadence, with a straight chainline!

Are you going with a Electric driven or non driven hub, or a Bottom Bracket motor?
Click to expand...

Gear hub motor in rear wheel (rear cruzbike that is). Got the kit from GoCarLite.

https://gocarlite.com/

Its the basic kit in which pedal assist sensor is cadence based not torque based. Want to see how it works out before I invest anymore.
 
C

Crog Welly

Active Member
super slim said:
No sound barriers speeds as both times it was raining, so the rain/hail, hitting my face below a lowered MTB helmet, limited my speed when riding to Cooma.

I initially had 700*23 Continental 4000S tyres at 110 psi that would slip if ANY moisture was present, on hot mix, on grades higher than 5%.
I then changed to Schwalbe Ultremo Zx 700*28 at 90 psi, with MUCH more grip, so 10% became to grip limit on smooth worn out chip seal roads with rain!
If I had a smoother pedaling stroke, AND more power , then 15% to 20% would be friction limit, depending on the road surface!
It's amazing how one small swig, can stop you dead in your tracks!!!!!
Click to expand...

Slim that's what I have found too, if you lose 1/3 of a turn of your pedal stroke to slippage its can be all over. Tired Pedaler routinely commutes over steep hills. His technique is to just keep pedaling and not to hesitate
 
super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Crog Welly said:
Gear hub motor in rear wheel (rear cruzbike that is). Got the kit from GoCarLite.

https://gocarlite.com/

Its the basic kit in which pedal assist sensor is cadence based not torque based. Want to see how it works out before I invest anymore.
Click to expand...
https://gocarlite.com/electric-t50-cruzbike/
So its like this??
Is the non drive (DF front wheel) hub have internal gears and a one way clutch?

This is better than a direct drive hub, as there is a 15 to 30 watt permanent magnet motor resistance, if the battery is flat, and you are working hard AGAINST the motor!!!
 
B

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
On my Silvio2 I have 38 t ring and 42t cog. Twice recently the hill where I regularly use this ratio got rained on. I got a bit of spin but I reached the top. I think I am like Tired Pedaler. When I first got the bike, wheelspin used to be so bad I did not want to stop. On the way home from work in the dark, approaching the huge terrifying roundabout, I would just charge, shooting out into the traffic and praying. If I lost my nerve and grabbed the brakes it was a terrible ordeal getting going again. Now I hardly notice the occasional bit of spin. I am glad I persevered with this bike.
 
C

Crog Welly

Active Member
bladderhead said:
On my Silvio2 I have 38 t ring and 42t cog. Twice recently the hill where I regularly use this ratio got rained on. I got a bit of spin but I reached the top. I think I am like Tired Pedaler. When I first got the bike, wheelspin used to be so bad I did not want to stop. On the way home from work in the dark, approaching the huge terrifying roundabout, I would just charge, shooting out into the traffic and praying. If I lost my nerve and grabbed the brakes it was a terrible ordeal getting going again. Now I hardly notice the occasional bit of spin. I am glad I persevered with this bike.
Click to expand...

Yes. My commute home starts with a steep ramp exit from an underground carpark. I have to charge and then take my chances with whats waiting at the top. This is why I want an electric motor so I can stop and restart of steep slopes. Helps that the motor powers the downhill wheel on a climb.
 
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