seatpost, crankset, derailleur(s), cables, bar end shifter(s). that's all that's left to collect and i can finally ride this sucker!
WARNING - i'm about to ramble on about gearing!
the cassette on the wheelset i'm using was replaced not all that long ago by the previous owner and while it's not as wide-range as what i've got on my other bike (11-42 10 speed), it's still pretty wide (11-36 i think, 9 speed), so i don't really want to replace it and i think i'll run this bike as 2x for now.
i do have some pretty crazy hills around here, i live on one that hits 15%, so the big sprocket on my cassette does get used quite a bit.
i just need to figure out if i want a front derailleur or not. i wasn't planning on it, i don't want to deal with a 2nd shifter and extra cable, but i was also planning on having a higher range cassette originally.
my other bike is 700c and i run that wide range 11-42 cassette with a 39t ring on the front and i can climb anything on it. this is my first 26" bike and so i'm not really sure where to go with the gearing.
if i go without a front derailleur, a 36t would give me a 1:1 ratio on the big sprocket out back, which might be fine for
most of the hills around here, unloaded at least, and then i can manually shift down to the front tiny sprocket as needed. i don't mind getting off the bike to shift, as long as it's not at every hill i encounter. if i give in and put a front shifter on the thing, i could do a 42t or something and get some more speed and not have to get off the bike ever, so i guess it's worth considering.
i know tire size comes into play too, but i don't think it matters all that much. i'm running these 1.75s for now because they are what i have and are in good shape, but i plan on going up potentially to 2.5s or so eventually, so that'll reduce the final ratio a tiny bit.
here's a couple of recent pictures since threads are boring without them. once i get a seatpost and crankset on it, i can figure out where i want my bars and cut the fork tube down. i'm pretty nervous about cutting it too short, so i wanna wait until i get the seat height right. sure looks goofy with the stem stuck on the top of the fork like that, the bars are up to my elbows!
