Urbanus Magnus

It has been quite the while since last post. School has been busy, so I offer no apologies. What I do offer is my take on the now "outdated" 7-speed drivetrain. That is, 7 in the rear, as I am an avid lover of double/ triple (especially triple!) cranksets for any mult-purpose machine - they help a lot for loads and/or hills. What with 8, 9 and 10 speeds all commonly available from Campy, SRAM and amongst the ubiquitous Shimano offerings, I hear many call 7 speed dead. I say, far from it! Its still here, baby, as strong as ever! Actually, probably even more so, although in low-level groupsets available like Tourney. Why do I like this drivetrain so much? Not all for the performance, for sure, or I'd be rocking a 10 speed Dura-Ace'd bike, but rather I feel that 7 speed has a good balance of availability, low pricepoint, durability, and yes, performance in there too: Advantages I see: -7 speed freewheels can be retro-fitted to an ol' ten speed (provided a washe...

For any of those who don't know, the Sport Check in the Scarborough Town Centre is going out of business... and so they are having a closeout sale. No, this is not a promotion for the store - I simply saw a 7 speed wide-range cassette on sale at that store for 30% off, dropping the price to $15. Knowing that my bicycle's gearing is a bit high for fully loaded touring up big hills (I'm not super strong, either), I took the opportunity and bought the SRAM 12-32 gear cluster to customize my ride. Unboxing  I didn't have what one would call a "high" low gear before this upgrade - with 700c wheels, an 11-28t cluster in back and a 22-32-42t front crankset allowed for a lowest gear of  21.5 in, and a high of 104 in. I almost never used that high a gear, bust still had some trouble up hills with that low gear (especially on tour/ with load). The new 12-32 casette drops a little high-end, in return for a greater low-end; a gear of 18.8 in to 95.6 in. Strangely eno...