I had two rings and a two-speed dingle cog on the S3X for a while, but didn’t actually use the lower set of gears. The 3 speeds do give a pretty good spread, but I’m thinking it would be cool to have 6 gears, for climbing Mt Diablo, or something. A 40″ gear for grinding up, and a 96″ gear for the ride down. The only time I rode the Quickbeam up Mt. Diablo, I huffed up in a +50″ gear, and spun a freewheel on the flip side for the ride down.
I think I’m going to set the Quickbeam up with two chainrings (44/40) and two cassette cogs (13/17), with 40mm tires.
- Big gears, 44×13 = 93″ – 69″ – 58″
Large downhill gear (just “going down hills,” not “DH Downhill”), cruising gear, gentle rises - Small gears, 40×17 = 64″- 48″ – 40″
spinning/climbing gear, most climbs, steep offroad.
With gears, as soon as you get a little bit, you want it all.
