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Op maandag 6 mei 2013 20:38 schreef buzz1291 het volgende:[..]
Dan kun je je afvragen waarom je met een 50 binnenblad wil rijden. Niet nagerekend, maar ik denk zo dat een tandje lichter achter ook bijna het verschil is tussen een 54 en een 50 voorblad.
Dat is de oude half-step gearing. Die werkt idd niet perfekt bij 50-54 voor.
Sheldon Brown hierover:
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Half-Step Gearing
In the days of 4- and 5-speed freewheels , 8- and 10-speed bikes were commonly set up with chainwheels that were very close in size, for instance, 46/49, or 47/50. When used with typical freewheels of the era, the difference between the two front gears was about half as large as the difference between adjacent gears on the freewheel. (One reason for this was that early front derailers couldn't handle much more than a 3-tooth difference reliably!)
With half-step gearing, the larger shifts were made with the rear derailer, and the front was for fine tuning. This allowed an 8- or 10-speed set up to have a reasonable range with fairly close spacing of the gears.
Half-step uses all possible combinations, including those that run the chain at a fairly severe angle with a bad chainline. This was kind of marginal for 10-speeds.
Another disadvantage of half-step is that every other shift in the normal sequence is a double shift (front and rear derailers simultaneously). A great many cyclists bought into the concept of half-step or half-step-plus-granny gearing based on reading about it, but then found the complicated shift pattern inconvenient in practice. The many double shifts were especially difficult with the downtube shift levers prevalent at the time. Cyclists would then use the gears as if the bike were set up with crossover gearing, and wind up enduring unpleasantly large rear jumps.
Modern shift patterns use larger jumps on the chainwheels to select general ranges of gears, and fairly closely-spaced 7-or-more-speed clusters for the fine tuning. This simplifies the shifting pattern, allowing constant adjustment to different grades in rolling terrain, with only occasional need for a double shift. However, it is often necessary to "fish" for the right gear after shifting chainwheels, and the jumps are not as nicely-spaced as with half-step.
With today's improved equipment, half-step deserves another look, and it will be discussed again later in this article.
Half-Step Plus Granny
A variant on the half-step system is "half-step plus granny." This refers to a setup with a triple crank, where the larger two chainrings are close in size, for half-stepping, and with a much smaller "granny" chainring, typically in the 24-28 tooth range. The idea is to use the half-step gears for general cruising, and to have the granny chainring as a "bail-out" gear for the serious hills.
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Half-Step, a Second Look...
[This section added by John Allen...]
Today's better chains, cassettes and indexing make half-step systems worth a second look
Today's narrow, flexible chains and narrow-spaced cassettes handle the chain angles fine with the 6 or 7 sprockets of a half-step system. A narrow-cage racing front derailer accommodatesthe small step between the outer and middle chainwheels. This derailer shifts better than derailers that must be used with wide-step triple chainwheels. An 11-13-16-19-23-28-34 tooth 7-speed cassette and (for example) 24-42-46 tooth chainrings achieve an extremely wide range with even, narrow steps. Shifting only the rear derailer gives reasonable steps when accelerating, unlike with a a multi-range system. There also is less dishing of the rear wheel than with an 8- or-9-speed cassette, advantageous on a frame with narrow dropout spacing. The outer and middle chainwheels are centered over the cassette, even when a granny chainwheel is used, increasing cornering clearance and reducing the "Q factor".
You can always tell by the position of the levers how to shift to the next gear, without looking -- except, of course, with brake lever shifters that return to the same position after every shift. Indexed bar-end shifters or top-mount shifters are the ticket with half-step, making double shifts easy. The front lever usually isn't indexed, but positioning it by hand works fine, with only two or three steps.
Half-step gearing is most suitable for road riding, especially in flat terrain, where long distances must be covered in the same gear, allowing fine gradations to get closer to the "ideal" gear for the particular wind conditions. Half-step doesn't make much sense for choppy up-and-down off-road riding.
A half-step system today is definitely a tinkerer's project. No manufacturer offers an appropriate cassette -- so, it is necessary to mix and match sprockets. 7 sprockets can be installed on an 8/9/10 speed cassette body with a spacer, but only a shorter, older 7-speed cassette body lets you reduce dishing. 8-speed Shimano bar-end shifters (which work with 7-speed spacing and a slight alternate cable routting) may be a special-order item. 8-speed chain works with 7 speeds,, it is widely available, and it is more robust than 9-speed chain.
It is to be hoped that some manufacturer will make all the needed equipment available, as SRAM and Sturmey-Archer have done with hybrid gearing.