RiderRace Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Why is it more common for trials bikes to run a front free wheel setup? Just seems more commonplace to run a freewheel rear hub, so some parts could be interchangeable with MTB stuff... I just got to wondering after running around to a few LBS's around here, in Colorado and getting some really funny looks when I asked if they had any front free wheel cranks.... Thanks, Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Yoshi Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Its for a few reasons. The ones that I can member the now are 1, Lighter set up. 2, Weight is more centered on the bike. 3, Smaller cogs so a better roll over hight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamKidney Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 front freewheel setups can generaly work out cheaper than a decent rear hub too. For the price of a chris king rear hub you could buy almost and if not everything for a forward freewheel set up. And with freewheels like the Echo SL 108 I cant see the reason for going to rear freehub. 1. The weight is more centralised on the bike. 2. You can run a smaller ratio, meaning smaller rings, meaning higher ground clearance underneath the freewheel. 3. Is cheaper. Im not changing to any other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiderRace Posted December 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 Seems to me that there would be such little weight distribution by moving the free wheel mechanism from the rear axle, to the cranks. Can you really feel a difference? Also, the difference in radius between an 18t freewheel up front and the 22t cog up front seems minimal (standard stock gear ratios?), but again these are just speculations from a newb. Thanks, TyI'm definitely going with the FFW setup, though. Much cheaper than the CK rear hub! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamKidney Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 its just a tidier package in general. Ive found that everyone riding stock i ride with runs an 18t freewheel and 15t rear sproket. Pretty standard gearing but nice. And yeah is defo cheaper than king/ burns setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave! Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 (edited) There is more to it than just being better for ground clearance etc...Although these are advantages. FFWs' help with engagement, in the sense that its quicker. (bare with me) Having the freewheel up front reduces the distance from the cranks, so when you pedal the pawls can engage faster. (regardless of engagement points) Having the freewheel at the rear means by the time you've pushed down on the pedal and the kinetic motion of the chain has reached the freewheel you might as well have lost an engagement point. To put it simply, freewheels at the rear mean more play at the cranks. Unless I'm just making up a huge chunk of physics. Edited January 1, 2011 by Dave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiderRace Posted January 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 Yep, going with the 18-15 ratio. 1.2 seemed to be the magic number from what I've picked up. Your idea of the chain picking up the slack from the cranks sounds pretty reasonable to me. Shouldn't you have more engagement points with a FFW, as the axle of your BB would spin at a faster rate than the axle of the rear wheel with a gear ratio of 18-15? Or do I have that backwards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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