Final summer season, for sad causes, I grew to become the custodian of a bicycle by Richard Sachs, who’s (say it with me now) the Karl Farbman of Bicycles:
Whereas over that point I’ve made some adjustments to it (seatpost and stem for match, wheels due to wheel stuff), I’ve shunned making extra substantive alterations–not as a result of I’m making an attempt to keep up it as some sort of memorial, however extra as a result of every little thing has been working actually properly and I’ve been having fun with it very a lot as is. Additionally, while you begin tinkering there’s all the time the hazard you’ll be tempted to accumulate new stuff, and whereas I’d by no means utterly forswear the acquisition of recent bicycles and elements, I’ve been doing my finest to tackle new stuff merely to reinforce the superbly good bikes I have already got.
Nonetheless, in the event you endure from The Sickness, irrespective of how good the bike you’re using could also be, you’ll be able to’t hep eager about methods to make even it higher–and within the case of the Farbman, my ideas have turned repeatedly to that single-ring drivetrain. What I like about it’s its simplicity; it really works reliably and properly, and if I had been utilizing this bike to race cyclocross it might be excellent. Nonetheless, I’m not utilizing this bike to race cyclocross, and at this level in my life I can just about assure I by no means will once more. As a substitute, I’m utilizing the Farbman as what individuals lately would possibly time period an “all-road” or (egads) “gravel” bike, and in that capability I do miss having multiple chainring, since on the street having to toggle your approach although a bunch of gears reasonably than simply make a entrance shift can really feel just a little pointless, like taking a number of baby-sized steps as a substitute of 1 large grown-up step.
One other situation with the drivetrain has been that the vary is a bit slim for common street using. It may use just a little extra on each the excessive finish and the low finish, and with a single ring drivetrain like this you’ll be able to have both/or, however you’ll be able to’t have each. Due to gravity, including decrease gears is extra of a precedence than including larger ones, and the derailleur can deal with a bigger cassette than what’s on there, so a easy resolution could be to alter the cassette. Nonetheless, I don’t have such a cassette available, I’m making an attempt to not get new stuff, and in the end just a few extra tooth aren’t going to make that a lot of a distinction anyway.
Then there’s the SRAM shifter. I definitely don’t hate it, and I do get why some individuals want SRAM over the others. (When SRAM street shifters first got here out my buddy modified all his bikes to them and by no means seemed again.) Nonetheless, of the Massive Three built-in street bike shifters of this period, mechanically and ergonomically SRAM are my least favourite. (As for Shimano versus Campagnolo, for me it’s too near name.) The oddest factor to me about SRAM shifters is that, due to the entire “double-tap” factor, in the event you’re in your lowest gear and also you unintentionally attempt to downshift (as you generally do while you’re on a really steep climb and also you’re beneath duress), the system will truly upshift as a substitute, which is the very last thing you need while you’re on a really steep climb and beneath duress. My buddy was a kind of preternaturally clean riders who hardly ever made technical errors on the bike, so for him it was most certainly a complete non-issue, and even an ungainly rider reminiscent of myself solely makes this error perhaps each 10 rides or one thing. So whereas I may definitely maintain utilizing the SRAM shifter indefinitely and be completely joyful, while you’ve acquired bins stuffed with different varieties of shifters as I do you’ll be able to’t assist eager about altering them.
Nonetheless, till now I’ve not modified the drivetrain to handle any of the above, and that’s for need of 1 easy half:
See, the Farbman has high tube cable routing, and as a way to use your commonplace situation bottom-pull derailleur you merely bolt considered one of these items to the seat tube (there’s a mounting level already there for it and every little thing), loop the cable round it, and that’s it.
However I don’t occur to have the half.
So why not simply spend the measly $8.99 for the half and alter the drivetrain? As a result of I’ve The Sickness, and I’ve made a bizarre dedication to not purchase new stuff for my present bikes every time doable, all so I can fake I’m not being wasteful and due to this fact justify the longer term acquisition of a brand new bicycle. So with out this half, which might be the literal lynchpin for a double- and even triple-ring conversion of the Farbman bike, I’ve shunned doing so till now.
Then, this previous weekend, I spotted that, whereas I’ll not have the pulley thingy, I do have a top-pull derailleur. (Once I was clearing out my buddy’s bike stuff, I offered or donated nearly all of it, although I nonetheless have just a few odds and ends–together with, because it seems, one or two top-pull derailleurs.) So 14 months after turning into the Farbman’s caretaker, I figured I’d lastly reconfigure the drivetrain.
With the entrance shifting situation probably solved, the issue wasn’t a scarcity of elements; it was a surfeit of them. I’ve acquired all kinds of shifters and cranks and derailleurs, so I began pulling stuff out and mixing and matching. How ought to I method this logic drawback? Did I need friction bar-end shifting? Built-in shifting? Ought to I simply transfer the Campy drivetrain over wholesale from the Discount Basement Bike? Because the top-pull derailleur was technically for a mountain bike system it won’t work completely with an built-in Shimano shifter on a double crank, so both the Campy or a minimum of a entrance friction shifter appeared like the best choice. Perhaps I’d even go triple and do a entrance bar-end and rear STI factor. I even weighed a Dura Ace STI lever and a brake lever/bar finish combo to see what the burden distinction was–not as a result of it issues, however as a result of I used to be curious:
Seems the distinction is negligible:
Lastly, after contemplating all the varied permutations, I narrowed it all the way down to entrance and rear bar-end shifters, a Silver3 crank arrange as a triple, and two low-normal rear derailleurs (low-normal pairs very properly with bar-end shifters):
In the end I selected the OM-1, not solely as a result of it matched the crank, but in addition as a result of its chain wrap capability could be an ideal match with the cassette and crank and even let me maintain utilizing the identical chain:
I budgeted about two hours to do all this work and it ended up taking a minimum of six, however regardless of my finest efforts to screw up every little thing went collectively very easily, and I used to be even capable of re-use the bar tape:
That’s a Silver derailleur, and a Silver crank, however as a lot as I favored the thought of a Farbman with an all-Rivendell drivetrain these usually are not Silver shifters. As a substitute I used these:
These are particular, as a result of they’re 10-speed Dura-Ace shifters with a friction mode, which few individuals understand ever existed:
In fact the OM-1 derailleur is supposed for use with friction shifters, so I’m clearly utilizing the Shimano shifters in friction mode, proper? Fallacious! Rivendell don’t tout this, however unofficially the OM-1 works with listed shifters too:
And sure, that’s the chain after I cleaned it.
What can I say? I used to be severe about not getting any new stuff.
Anyway, it’s solely been one journey thus far, however every little thing is operating easily and the brand new configuration appears like a significant enchancment:
With the perform of the controls distributed evenly throughout bar I now really feel like I’m sitting behind a correct workstation::
The bike was a pleasure to journey earlier than, but it surely’s actually too good a motorbike to not have All The Gears:
Perhaps at some point it would lastly cease raining and I can journey it once more…
