I'm still stuck on 5- and 6-sp freewheels, 7-sp cassettes and half-step and granny gearing on my randonneur-touring bikes.
I get 13 of 15-sp, 15 of 18, and 18 of 21 all usable with no duplicates (though I avoided the extreme cross-chain combos), an almost perfectly straight chainline on my two most-used cruising gears, and equal wear between the two larger chainrings along with a near-double Q-factor for my triple, since the tiny third ring overhangs the bottom bracket and is used only with the first 3-4 cogs. Easy, simple shift sequence and great drivetrain life for me, but really hard to duplicate with today's components. I'm hoarding my old cog-board and freewheels and use a high-speed die grinder to remove any hooks on the teeth to extend them further.
Looking at those charts, I'm stunned at the high gears...and 2nd and 3rd highest. With my bad knees and fast, light "hummingbird" cadence, bystanders would have to stand clear of the shrapnel when my knees exploded. I rarely go above 80-82 gear-inches. I'd be pining for my 15-19 gear-inch lows, but it would be difficult to fit a small enough chainring to get them.
I fitted Sherpa with a 9-sp 44/32/22 x 12-36 that worked well for me as a crossover (see below). I was hot to try it as a half-step, but never did.
Makes my Nomad's 36x17, 15-80 gear-inch Rohloff setup look even more attractive....
All the best,
Dan.
