# Light-weight 10-speed?



## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

My normal ride is a 15.5 pound Le Champion SL, which comes equipped with Ultegra 20-speed gearing, but today I broke the cable to the cassette about half-way into my normal 32-mile ride. After some on-the-road tinkering, I got the bike going again as a 2-speed (50x17 in the big ring; 34x17 in the small ring). To my surprise I was able to keep the bike cruising at 25 mph in high gear and still get up all the hills in the lower gear -- including Cemetery Hill, the nasty mother at mile 30, which gets its name because one feels dead at the top and there is a handy graveyard beside the road.

This got me thinking. I'm old enough to have ridden 5-speeds, 10-speeds, and 12-speeds. Why do we have to have 20 or 30 gears when 10 will do quite nicely? It seems to me that I could take 5 cog-rings from my cassette, insert a light spacer, and have a 10-speed bike that is at least 1/2 pound lighter. If the manufacturer were to do the same thing, I bet the bike would be a full pound lighter and should cost less, too.

Have any of you tried the home-brew 10-speed setup? Do any bike companies sell such a super-light product?

I guess, of course, I could set my bike up as a 2-speed and save boocoos of weight.

Why do we (recreational riders) have to have all these gears - so closely spaced?


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## fleck (Mar 25, 2005)

stickfigure said:


> My normal ride is a 15.5 pound Le Champion SL, which comes equipped with Ultegra 20-speed gearing, but today I broke the cable to the cassette about half-way into my normal 32-mile ride. After some on-the-road tinkering, I got the bike going again as a 2-speed (50x17 in the big ring; 34x17 in the small ring). To my surprise I was able to keep the bike cruising at 25 mph in high gear and still get up all the hills in the lower gear -- including Cemetery Hill, the nasty mother at mile 30, which gets its name because one feels dead at the top and there is a handy graveyard beside the road.
> 
> This got me thinking. I'm old enough to have ridden 5-speeds, 10-speeds, and 12-speeds. Why do we have to have 20 or 30 gears when 10 will do quite nicely? It seems to me that I could take 5 cog-rings from my cassette, insert a light spacer, and have a 10-speed bike that is at least 1/2 pound lighter. If the manufacturer were to do the same thing, I bet the bike would be a full pound lighter and should cost less, too.
> 
> ...


So just how are you going to lose 1/2lb off of a sub 200g cassette?
it sounds like that is all you're talking about changing...

ever been climbing a hill and the gear you're in is too hard but the next is too easy? It happens a lot when you've got biger jumps in your cassette. An 11-23 10s allows you very exact gearing choices instead of a "close enough"

even if you found a way to rig 10 cogs into 5 (spaces on inside or out or some on each side) at best you'd have to put in a long limit screw to stop the movement outside your modified cassette. say you use a reccord ti 11-23, they weigh 142g. lose 5 cogs so at best case, you'll drop 45% of the weight (remember lock ring and you're gonna keep the large cog) you're down to 78g. Now add 5 carbon spacers and lets guess you're up to 90g. So thats a loss of 52g. Only 1/5th a cup of water... Do you really want to sacrifice half your gearing options for a squirt of the bottle? 

Plenty of people have built super light weight show bikes. But thats all they are, for show.


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

Hmm. Bummer. I think I'll keep my full cogset and just carry a bit less water.

Still, if the manufacturer did it, there could be some real weight savings. Then the whole shebang could be narrower, carving weight off of everything, including (perhaps only minimally) the frame. No more need for extra spacers, etc.

As to the gearing range, I stick to my belief that a nice 11-25 with just five cogs would be enough for me. (11-13-15-17-21-25). I have bigger jumps than that on my Shimano megarange mountain bike.


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## boroef (Jun 18, 2005)

i removed my inner chainring, front derailer and associated cables for a 10 speed...if that counts.

53 and a 12x25 is all you need here in toronto..


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## laffeaux (Dec 12, 2001)

stickfigure said:


> Why do we (recreational riders) have to have all these gears - so closely spaced?


Removing your gears would be lighter, but will likely not make you faster.

Tighter gear ratios are nice when trying to ride in a group (recreational group rides too). A large gap in gearing may make it difficult to hang on (especially for weaker riders), when one gear is too high to turn, yet the next one down is too low to maintain the necessary speed. Strong riders can likely make up for the lack of gears with stronger legs or higher cadences, but weaker rider likely will not be able to hold on.


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## renniej (Sep 9, 2006)

try weighing your bike also. I would guess your 15.5lb champ sl is closer to 16.5 with cages and pedals. I only say this as someone who has had a 04 fuji sl(what the champ sl is copied off of) and a 05 fuji sl. My 04 wasn't the claimed 15lbs out of the box and even hevier when you replace the 140g tires that get cut rolling out the driveway


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