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Help selecting lowest gearing possible using sram red or similar
Hi. I had cancer 6 years ago and have never really recovered my fitness levels and its quite possible , i never will. Ive lost my right eye as a result and feel quite nervous when cycling on roads these days , as i cant see behind me so well anymore when making a manoeuvre. Having said that, I still want to ride my bike and feel i deserve spoiling myself by getting the sram etap electric groupset , but as my fitness has gone, I would like to ask what is the very lowest gear ratio i could fit to my bike using sram . I currently have a shimano ultegra triple chainset fitted , but would like to change to a compact or subcompact version with a large rear cassette, so that the ratios i get would be as good ( or even better) than with my triple. In the past, I have cycled up Alpe Duez twice, Les Duez Alpe, Col de Galibier , Mont Vontuex and many other big mountains in France and Italy and while i think those days are over, I would still like to spoil myself with an excellent quality groupset, My Merlin Titanium frame is brilliant and light, but is not really ssusitable for a shimano D12 system without having cables clipped all over the place, whereas with the sram, as the battery is mounted on the components, I would not have untidy wring as I would have with the shimano set up. So any advice on the lowest gear ratios I could hopefully achieve would be much appreciated. Many thanks . Jimmymerlin
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11 comments
I've got 32 front 11-46 rear on my cyclocross bike, with SRAM Rival. Lots of steep hills locally, so great for going uphill - it will climb up a muddy wall. A bit under geared going downhill - on the road. For road, next time I might go to XD hub and use 9-46.
I don't have a problem with gaps between ratios - my legs can turn at different cadences without causing a nosebleed, but I confess I'm not a finely honed timetriallist.
If budget isn't an issue, then as recommended here AXS 'mullet' with 9-52 on the back and your choice of chainring up front is the way to go.
AXS Force/Rival/Red Front + Eagle rear aka "AXS Mullet" gives you the lowest possible gears at the expense of going to 1x.
You can get as low as 52r x 30f if you can fit Eagle cranks. Lower if you get non SRAM chainrings.
Force Cranks will go down to 33t front ring.
You will need a new Dub BB too.
Some ideas here :
https://advntr.cc/bike-tech-sram-mullet/
Google Sram AXS Mullet for more options the other good news is that it's an officially allowed product by sram.
It will probably cost you over £2k but if it restores your joy in biking it's worth every penny IMO.
Your other option for similar or less money would be an Ebike conversion kit. Swytch and Vekkit have had good coverage on the ebiketips road.cc's sister site. Brighton ebikes do a nice mid-mount option for nicer weight distribution.
Given you have a Merlin frame depending on whether you think it's sacrilegious or not you may even be able to get them to properly convert it to fit a mid mount motor!
I use a rear view mirror because of right side vision limitations. I've got one on each of my bikes and a bike feels naked without one. I bastardised an Mirrcycle MTB mirror to come up with the one below just by cutting off the shaft that would normally fit into the MTB bars. They do make them for drop bars, but I felt that they compromised the construction of brake levers because they were designed to be a part of the lever. If you fall with them, there's a possibility that you can damage the lever because of the attachment method, whereas mine are just securely attached by cable ties. I use the same attachment method for Ultegra or just brake specific levers.
The Mirrcycle mirrors are available in Australia from
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/psh-mirrycle-mtb-bike-mirror-mirrycle/?utm_...
This is the rough idea of of the design. Later versions don't have the arm going over the handlebar, so instead of it being 60mm as shown on the drawing, it's only short as shown in the pic above. I've been using this for over 25 years and had no problems and the cable ties don't impede the gear change mechanism. .
Thanks for the reply and the photos. This is the mirror I use at the moment, but its not all that good...... but better than nothing. I like your idea and did you make the bracket yourself for fixing to the brake hoods ????? I have recently found this website :- https://hindsight.store/ that says it supplies bike glasses that enable you to see whats behind you because of the clever design of the lenses they use. Not tried them yet, but was thinking of giving it a go in case it helps. But first, I will give your idea a try. Many thanks for the advice. I'm waiting an eye op where they will stitch my eyelids together permanently to try and ease the discomfort I get evry minute of the day , so just hoping it works ! Cheers Jimmymerlin
You should try the Cateye BM45 bar-end mirror - I've been using one for a few years. It's the best combination of being easy to adjust whilst riding (on a clear bit of road obviously) so that you can get it in exactly the right position and yet it also stays put so that you don't have to keep re-adjusting it (unless you knock it with your knee or lean the bike against something).
(generic photo - not my bike)
Great piece of advice HP! I've been considering something like this for some time- I just needed someone sensible's personal recommendation. I've ordered one.
Got one of those a couple of weeks ago after you mentioned it. Handy when someone is really close behind.
First 2 trips I was looking at it too much though and not looking forward enough !
I made the arm myself out of aluminium.
I had a look at the bar end mirrors, but I didn't want to have to look down so far and away from what was happening ahead. This configuration solved the problem.
I also considered the helmet/glasses mounted mirrors, but with only vision in one eye, I didn't want to run the risk of the mirror or arm potentially causing damage to my remaining eye in the event of a fall/collision.
This mirror configuration only requires adjusting when it's bumped with a bit of force, and the bigger mirror makes it easier to see what's behind. The security of the cable ties is quite surprising and holds the arm quite firmly.
Good luck with your op!
Sram Rival AXS 43/30 with 10/36 cassette if you want to keep it all Sram, if you can get it.
Of course, Jimmy you will need specific freehubs on your wheels for SRAM 12 speed.