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You might be better off, if you need to achieve a lower bottom, by using TA Cyclotourist rings with a smaller inner
I knew you’d call me a wuss :) No I’m ok with 44/24 if I can get it to work. That’s one more inch than my modern bike in big dog bottom sprocket which can get up most hills around me.
N.B. You told me I needed that adapter to stop my chainrings flexing when I’m pumping my guns.
Also the TdF is going on quite a showy build, so unlikely to tackle the alps on it :)
But yes totally agree re the heroic era and gearing, I do not know how they did it with these gears. That is a fantastic quote.
veloham-
I knew you’d call me a wuss :)
Not at all!
The first thing to consider with bike equipment is - what do you intend to use the bike for? If you're going to the Alps you need something different from riding along the Bath Road.
Yes, the adaptor makes things more rigid, which is an improvement, but using the Cyclotourist set up, especially with a small inner ring, won't cause serious problems.
clubman
If I were going Alpine pass storming I probably wouldn't take a bike with a Simplex TdF, but if you use 44 x 24, that will give a gear (700's) of about 48.6", which would get me up most passes since the roads are now so well engineered that a lot of the difficulties have been removed. How they managed on the poor surfaces which existed into the 1950's I can't understand - I rode L'Eroica (Italian version) in 2012 with a TdF, 43 x 22 bottom and found it nothing like low enough because the 'white road' surface was so loose that attempting to climb out of the saddle just caused wheelspin.
You should be aware that the TdF was never great at engaging the bottom sprocket, and 24 teeth is its extreme limit. It's essential to have the chain tight enough to pull the jockey cage almost horizontal, otherwise it fouls on the sprocket and won't engage.
You might be better off, if you need to achieve a lower bottom, by using TA Cyclotourist rings with a smaller inner and perhaps a 14-22 block. It's quite possible this may mean you can't use the big ring with the bottom sprocket (not enough chain) but that wouldn't be a great loss. N.B. I haven't tried this - I don't guarantee how well it would work.
Attitudes to gearing were different in the heroic era of the fifties- I was amused to read in an article about Charly Gaul that "he span his low 45x23 up to the top of the pass"!