Old 07-26-21, 06:12 PM
  #12  
ShannonM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Humboldt County, CA
Posts: 848
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 430 Times in 286 Posts
Originally Posted by Kapusta
But really, the only reason to do this is if you already have the RD. If you need to buy one, there is no reason not to get an RD with the proper capacity. This is especially true if you want the bike truly idiot-proof. Because idiots WILL cross chain, and a bunch of noise from the RD is not going to stop them.
Yep.

For example, I'm putting a 45/42/30 x 14-16-18-20-23-26 half-step + granny on my '85 League Fuji. Why? Because of the NIB 1980 Superbe rear derailleur I put on the bike when I got it. (Was a single-speed and I hate 'em.) That derailleur is a thing of joy and beauty, and I already had it so of course I used it. But it imposes limits. I'm already breaking one of them, the 23T max cog. With Suntour dropouts, which have a longer hanger, it's fine, and I could almost certainly get a 28 in there, but still... TANSTAAFL. With 45/30 and a 14-26, I'm at 27T of chainwrap, which is only 1 more than the 26T rating. This I'm confident will work fine, and just be a bit slack in the 30x14, which I'm unlikely to shift into even by accident.

But that's a odd case, and I'm an odd dude.

--Shannon
ShannonM is offline