Wide Range -- 17 speeds

Hi!

I use:

24 / 35 / 51 x 11 / 13 / 16 / 19 / 24 / 28 / 34

chain rings and cogs on my Thunderbolt recumbent.

I've noticed that small/small and large/large combinations are
excluded by most designers due to rear derailer jockey cage overtravel
and chain misaliagnment and have confirmed the overtravel happens on
my bicycle, while the misalignment does not since this recumbent has a
long chain line.

I fitted a "low-normal" rear derailer....

Ruling out 2 of each extreme combination, from 3x7=21 choices I now
have a "17-speed" bike with around 650% range. How peculiar. 17
speeds....

My next project, since the cables are routed bare and parallel on the
long OSS (Over Seat Steering) column, is to make two small blocks of
metal with set screws and holes to actually "lock out" those
combinations. We'll see how that goes in a follow-up post here.

'Nuff said..

Doug Goncz
Replikon Research
Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394