Death of the front derailleur?

I am running a 27X40 Rotor Agilis crank and q rings at the moment. It's fine for all the climbs I do on the shore but I must confess to walking a couple bits of Flank yesterday on the way up to High Society. That kind of climb for me anyway left me wanting a lower gear. And that's on a 26 pound bike with really light wheels. Might go crank shopping soon.

What I find lacking though is gear selection for cranks. How often does anyone here really spin out a 44 X 12 or 11? And I don't really need a 22. I would love to be able to ride a 24x30x40 or something like that.

My favourite xc triple set up was a 26x34x40. I rarely use a granny but when I do I find a typical 22t geared too low. Same with the normal 32t middle - spins out too easily. And a 40t big gives you a bit of extra clearance and allows you to use it more often on the flats and slight rises.

Again this applies to YOUR home riding trails.

Next time you come over the pond go ride the No Flow Zone in Emerald. The ability to instantly shift under torque into a climbing gear would be heavenly.

With the current front mech system there are many situations when you are forced to leave it in the harder gear and torque the hell out of your drivetrain to make short climbs. It saps energy. Most of the reason people don't shift is for fear of blowing the chain or simply there is not enough room between the up/down sections to execute a shift with the conventional system when you are busy keeping things from getting squirly on the brakes. With a front mech you need one maybe two revolutions of the cranks to make a clean shift? None of that needed with a Hammershmidt.

I have not ridden a Hammerschmidt yet, but I rode the same trails nouseforaname did for the four days when he came to the realization that his next rig will have a Hammerschmidt and I fully agree with him.

I ride here and I've ridden bikes with the Hammerschmidt. Your suggesting people should spend $800 to replace their front d with a Hammerschmidt so they can get away with poor shifting choices? Why not just choose a better gear before you get to that piece of technical or fire road climb??

Again this applies to YOUR home riding trails.

Next time you come over the pond go ride the No Flow Zone in Emerald. The ability to instantly shift under torque into a climbing gear would be heavenly.

With the current front mech system there are many situations when you are forced to leave it in the harder gear and torque the hell out of your drivetrain to make short climbs. It saps energy. Most of the reason people don't shift is for fear of blowing the chain or simply there is not enough room between the up/down sections to execute a shift with the conventional system when you are busy keeping things from getting squirly on the brakes. With a front mech you need one maybe two revolutions of the cranks to make a clean shift? None of that needed with a Hammershmidt.

I have not ridden a Hammerschmidt yet, but I rode the same trails nouseforaname did for the four days when he came to the realization that his next rig will have a Hammerschmidt and I fully agree with him.

If Hammerschmidt was more than just a two ring equivalent, I would be all over it, but the two rings just aren't worth the money/weight, even though the instant shifting is nice.

Most of the reason people don't shift is for fear of blowing the chain or simply there is not enough room between the up/down sections to execute a shift with the conventional system when you are busy keeping things from getting squirly on the brakes. With a front mech you need one maybe two revolutions of the cranks to make a clean shift? None of that needed with a Hammershmidt.

not shifting is generally poor riding technique (leaving the shift till too late), or lack of familiarity with a trail

I've ridden Hammerschmidt and did not enjoy the effect on the bike's suspension system (Marin bikes have had to create a new virtual pivot linkage for their Hammerschmit equipped bikes), or the feel of less efficiency . increased friction in the high gear (considering the system uses the granny gear as the base with overdrive for the high gear) compared to regular 3 x 9 or 2 x 9 with front derailleur driving the gear shifts

we have plenty of nasty technical trails on our little island and lots of filthy, wet, muddy riding condition to test any transmission system, and front derailleurs work out pretty darn well ;)

I don't know anyone that bitches about their front mech, but plenty that bitch about the rear mech - bent hangers, bent mechs, twisted chains, ruined rear wheel spokes, indexing issues, worn out cassettes, etc.

lack of familiarity with a trail

With the massive number of trails to rider here in BC it gets pretty damn hard to remember them all. There are soo many new trails being built just getting back around to what were your favourite trails is hard.

I am not trying to preach that Hammerschmidt is any end all be all. But it's much better in certain applications. The current unit might be heavier and expensive. The first disk brakes were pretty heavy and expensive when they first came out. It's a safe bet to say these will get lighter and cheaper as it gets refined.

Single ring is a nice simple way to go, but not for everyone.

I don't know anyone that bitches about their front mech, but plenty that bitch about the rear mech - bent hangers, bent mechs, twisted chains, ruined rear wheel spokes, indexing issues, worn out cassettes, etc.

I agree, if rohloff made a lighter version of their hub to replace the rear derailleur I would be all over that. rohloff and hammerschmidt together would be a dream. (but please not to heavy!)

hammersmitd thing has to be lighter, and a dh version would be kick ass.

Hammerschmidt effectively lets you run two chainrings but with better clearance (North Shore techy trails), built in chain guide (bike park) and instant shifting (any steep techy climb where you didn't know in advance what gear would be best).

I think it's a great solution for your "all -mountain" bike; especially around here given how varied riding can be even within the same ride.

Just my opinion. I won't be pissing on the FD grave yet but I'll help you dig a hole for it.

ALL my bikes need to be frt D compatible..

i wont own a bike if i cant run dual rings on it..

sorry shirk but some of the other posters are right. Whistler XC trails need to have pre-planned shifts. The Front D isn't dead yet by any means but interesting discussion

I love the idea of the Hammerschmidt but can anyone tell us what sort of delay or lag is in the mechanism? How many degrees of pedalling rotation before it engages? And if you add the engagement needed for the HS to the freehub engagement, is that a negative for tech riding?

I run my all mountain bike with dual rings up front and am super happy with it. I have a Blackspire Stinger to keep the chain in place and so far it allows me to get the technical granny gear climbs and i've yet to lose or skip my chain in any riding from the shore to whistler.

Front deraillers are still great for the bike you climb and descend with

sorry shirk but some of the other posters are right. Whistler XC trails need to have pre-planned shifts. The Front D isn't dead yet by any means but interesting discussion

meh I've ridden enough trail both eastern and western with short punchy climbs where the front D sucks balls. I've also ridden enough trails blind to know that some tech help from your gear can certainly make the difference between enjoying the ride and suffering.

I've also played mr. macho and tried to ride with no granny and got my ass handed to me.

The more I think about it the more I actually want a Hammerschmidt on my next AM bike.