You are reading a single comment by @number6 and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@number6
if you're using friction shifters you've a wide world of options - if i were using friction i'd go for a good quality suntour rear mech - cyclone , cyclone 2 (very nice -very light), VGT, XC pro and ltd and more
they go for pennies because they don't match shimano indexing but are quality all the way through - and will nicely match a retro tourer. also they'll run 7, 8, 9 speed chain no probs - meaning you can change wheels / speeds later if you want (but if you ever want to go to indexing later you've got to replace it all)
if you run a 7 speed on the rear (small shim in behind the cassette to fit on 8/9 speed hub - or in front if you're not running a 11t sprocket.) you can get super cheap strong chains. they seem to hike up between 7 and 8 speed 9 and 10 seem to be very expensive.
tiagra will run an 8 speed chain no probs - i used a gs200 rear mech on my tourer - 2nd to bottom of range (60 grams heavier than the xt equivalent but same geometry the jockey wheel was a little wobbly and i replaced but apart from that - perfect. )