single chainwheel for hilly routes.

[fishingpaul]

Anybody suggest the best single chainwheel for my torq 2,it is presently fitted with a 52t wheel,which is more suited to outright speed,i would like to still be able to pedal at 20mph on the flat,at present i could easilly pedal at 30 mph downhill , but i start hitting the brakes after 25mph, and find uphill it needs lower gears,would a 48t be best or would you go lower.what single chainwheel would be fitted to a standard 7 or 8 speed bike.

 

[Cyclezee]

Paul,

I find that a 48T chainwheel suits me and my Torq 2 just right. Mine is restricted and top speed on the flat is about 19 mph. As I discovered yesterday when I got water in the electrics, I was still able to pedal at 10 mph on the flat without to much effort. You might need to change the whole crankset as I don't think you will find a 48T chainwheel to fit the standard Prowheel one fitted to the Torq. I bought a Shimano triple from eBay for a very reasonable price and removed the two smaller inner rings, this was actually cheaper than buying a single crankset.

J hn

 

[Mussels]

I had a similar problem with my Wisper, the 52 tooth chainring meant I did most of my riding in second gear and was always looking for lower gears. I originally wanted to fit a front mech so got a 36 tooth ring to go next to the 52. I thought the 36 would be far too low but found that I did most of my riding in 6th gear with 7th good for about 25mph and all the lower gears that I needed for hills, I'm not going to bother with fitting a front mech now.
What gear do you ride level roads in and how many are there (gears not roads)?

 

[Phil the drill]

Hi

I also have a Wisper rather than the Torq. It was fitted with 52t chainring and a 34-14t 7spd cassette. This was definitely overgeared for me on steep hills. I found that a 42t chainring suited very well, but I also changed the cassette to a 34-11t 7 speed - so kept the option of higher speed downhill.

Phil