The simple answer being.....add one more.
You may recall on a previous thread I mentioned my Mistral was fitted with a seven speed thumb shifter. A bit strange considering it only had a bunch o' six on the wheel. This upgrade to a seven speed cluster now allocates a cog for every click, but that was not the only reason for this change.
Riders in geographically chaotic areas will be quite happy with the standard road gearing on the Mistral, but it didn't suit my own needs. Yes, there are some steep hills around Swindon....which I avoid like the plague. If there's no other route I will tackle them, but rest assured, long before that chain gets to the 28 toother...I'm off it and taking the opportunity to flame up a dirty one. The majority of my riding is on flattish terrain, and I really wanted a higher top cog to compliment the Mistrals speed in sport mode...at a sensible cadence!.
There's not a great deal of choice with screw-on freewheels...those with a 34tooth granny gear immediately ruled out, it's highly unlikely the short-armed SIS with it's lack of "B-tension" adjustment would be able to acommodate such a cog. Eventually I chose the Sun Racer 13t - 28t cluster. Also purchased was the FR-1a freewheel remover...bored out to 12.1 mm to suit the Mistral's oversized axle.
The chain on my machine had clearly been running uncomfortably close to the seatstay. When refitting the wheel I moved the thick torque washer across to the drive side...this gave an extra 2.7 mm frame/chain clearance. The first attempt to set up the mech failed...the bog standard chain fitted to the Mistral was a bit unhappy and flatly refused to clamber onto the 28T. The chain was replaced with a 7.45mm wide seven speed chamfered plate type saved from a recently dismantled long wheelbase machine....this chain had done around 600 miles so it was nicely run in. The chain needed shortening, but I allowed two extra links to let the jockey pulley rest a little lower. Success! the chain moved smoothly across all seven cogs and climbed onto the 28 without hesitation. Optimum chain alignment occurs in 5th gear so it's nicely centred. The cog spacing's a bit tight, if this causes a problem I'll fit a 7.1mm eight speed chain.
The cadence at 18 mph is now around 74 rpm in top gear... which suits my style very nicely. I haven't a clue what it was before except it was too fast for comfort. A very successful mod'. The Mistral is of course an excellent machine straight out of the box.....and now it's even better....for me that is!.
All the best
Bob
You may recall on a previous thread I mentioned my Mistral was fitted with a seven speed thumb shifter. A bit strange considering it only had a bunch o' six on the wheel. This upgrade to a seven speed cluster now allocates a cog for every click, but that was not the only reason for this change.
Riders in geographically chaotic areas will be quite happy with the standard road gearing on the Mistral, but it didn't suit my own needs. Yes, there are some steep hills around Swindon....which I avoid like the plague. If there's no other route I will tackle them, but rest assured, long before that chain gets to the 28 toother...I'm off it and taking the opportunity to flame up a dirty one. The majority of my riding is on flattish terrain, and I really wanted a higher top cog to compliment the Mistrals speed in sport mode...at a sensible cadence!.
There's not a great deal of choice with screw-on freewheels...those with a 34tooth granny gear immediately ruled out, it's highly unlikely the short-armed SIS with it's lack of "B-tension" adjustment would be able to acommodate such a cog. Eventually I chose the Sun Racer 13t - 28t cluster. Also purchased was the FR-1a freewheel remover...bored out to 12.1 mm to suit the Mistral's oversized axle.
The chain on my machine had clearly been running uncomfortably close to the seatstay. When refitting the wheel I moved the thick torque washer across to the drive side...this gave an extra 2.7 mm frame/chain clearance. The first attempt to set up the mech failed...the bog standard chain fitted to the Mistral was a bit unhappy and flatly refused to clamber onto the 28T. The chain was replaced with a 7.45mm wide seven speed chamfered plate type saved from a recently dismantled long wheelbase machine....this chain had done around 600 miles so it was nicely run in. The chain needed shortening, but I allowed two extra links to let the jockey pulley rest a little lower. Success! the chain moved smoothly across all seven cogs and climbed onto the 28 without hesitation. Optimum chain alignment occurs in 5th gear so it's nicely centred. The cog spacing's a bit tight, if this causes a problem I'll fit a 7.1mm eight speed chain.
The cadence at 18 mph is now around 74 rpm in top gear... which suits my style very nicely. I haven't a clue what it was before except it was too fast for comfort. A very successful mod'. The Mistral is of course an excellent machine straight out of the box.....and now it's even better....for me that is!.
All the best
Bob
