I can’t seem to get the YouTube video to embed.
Andy’s vid:
Thanks Scott! The perspective from the trailing MTBike gives a real feel for what it’s like to Go Guni!
Andy,
That is a great video and it looks like fun. Did you used to ride the trail with a 29" muni? How much are you shifting on the trail with the 24" guni?
Scott
Yes, I used to ride this trail on my 29er. I do a fair amount of shifting. But in the last few months, I have been trying, with a fair amount of success, to ride more uphills and rocky sections in high gear. This cuts down on the shifting required. I have gotten a lot better at going slow in high gear on rocky parts (or fast in some cases). It takes a while to get where you know how to position your body to hit rocks without losing momentum or falling forward. On short uphills, I just don’t slow down like I would to shift. I hit it with some speed, and pull really hard on the handle if I start to get stuck. It has been a real revelation to see what can be done in high gear.
Nice! Looks like a really fun trail, with all the banked turns.
I was having a conversation with a riding buddy yesterday about the 1:1.5 gearing ratio on the Schlumpf hub, saying that in high gear, a 26er becomes a virtual 39er. He said he doesn’t think high gear adds 50% more wheel rotation to each pedal revolution, but maybe more like 33%. I was under the impression that 1:1.5 does mean that the wheel will rotate 50% more per pedal revolution, but now I’m not sure. My basic understanding was that if your pedaling cadence is the same in high as it was in 1:1, then you would be moving about 50% faster. Is this about right?
Your’re right. The ratio is 17/11, 1.545/1, and at the same cadence you’ll be moving 54.5% faster than on a fixed wheel of the same size (or low gear on the same wheel).
Thanks, that’s what I thought. It sure “feels” at least 50% faster!
The beginning of this video demonstrates it.
For demonstrations out in the field you can easily use the valve stem instead of colored tape.
Something VERY strange happened on my G26er ride today. Cruising along slowly in 1:1, I did a little two foot drop and as soon as I landed, it suddenly and accidentally shifted into high!
What’s weird is that I just kept going like nothing happened! I think it shifted because my new Karvers have more padding near the shift button, but when I landed I also applied more down force to the pedals to roll out, which is probably why I didn’t even skip a beat or get thrown off.
Then there was a steep uphill right after the drop, so I immediately downshifted and went on as usual. Amazing sequence of events that I could not purposely do again in a million years! Later, I moved the shift button a little closer in, and that took care of the accidental shift issue.
Ah, the old auto-shift feature! I was blazing along in high gear down a hill in India one time and didn’t see a speed bump. It bounced me into the air and I landed ok, except I was now in low gear! No way could I pedal fast enough, so I crashed (not bad though). I am pretty sure it was the nice thick padding on my Karvers hitting the button. Nice job how you recovered without thinking about it!
—Nathan
Ooh! Yeah, the dreaded High-to-low accidental shift is much scarier and potentially much higher risk of injury! I’ve tried shifting into low at too high a speed and as you experienced, could not “catch up” to the cadence required at that speed. Now I only downshift when I have slowed down to a reasonable speed.
Yes, I had a trip to Urgent Care for some stitches in my knee due to an accidental down-shift. I did a nice Superman dive onto a rocky trail. That was back when I was experimenting with the 125 holes on my cranks. Turns out that you don’t want it to be too easy to shift.
Mark your tire, and show him as you rotate it a half turn when in high gear.
corbin
I don’t have a problem with that! I wear (size 10) FiveTen’s and use 150mm cranks so I have learned to ride my 36er on my toes. I’ve never had the guts (need the extra leverage in high gear) to switch to the 125mm hole. I was going to get myself a set (Kris unveils his new cranks tomorrow) of 137s (my all time favorite length for Cokering) to ease shifting. But, I’ve heard too many horror stories about accidental downshifts (something I never have to worry about with 150s) so I don’t know. Decisions, decisions. Perhaps I’ll wait out that “rumored” lightweight 36" tire so I can get everything done at once.
The exact ratio on high gear is 17/11, which is about 1.54. So yes, your assumption is correct.
You don’t need a special mark. Just take the valve for reference.
On the risk of adding to the confusion (or introducing new confusion), there is also a ratio of close to 33% involved. If you take the high gear as the basic riding mode of a Schlumpf, then if you switch to low gear and keep the same cadence, you’ll be going about 33% slower.
Or, on a related note, if you switch from low gear to high gear but don’t increase your speed, your cadence will be about 33% slower.
I have the previous model of KH26 frame, and KH Spirit cranks on order. I am wondering if those combined with a UCM and 180mm offset would work well/safely with my KH/S hub.
I am hoping that I can just pick up a 160-203mm disc brake (160mm preferably) as my LBS and use discs on the KH/S wheel without needing a new frame. Paying $58 for the UCM and offset seems better than buying a new KH26 frame and still having the current one to store.
Kimmie, still learning this stuff.
Schlumpf with spirit disc
Basically it can be made to work
However you will likely need to do some filing on the outside of the
Right bearing housing
The bolts holding the disc to the crank are ‘likely’ to catch
Honestly I don’t know how close it will be. My stuff is on order too
However being a not very handy Andy, and with my workshop being my kitchen table. I have gone for the new 2012 frame. Which has a redesigned slimmer bearing housing so should clear without any modifications