Tringlespeed? Dinglespeed?

[pakora]

I’m setting up a SSCX bike, and based on the courses in my local series and how wildly variable they become based on wet/not and mud/not, I’m planning on a 3 tooth range in my gearing to cover the range.

I know some people run a “dinglespeed” by placing two cogs side by side to switch between. And that there’s even cogs with two sprockets, with the intention of being able to switch between two close gears without seriously affecting chainline or changing the chain length.

In my mind how much chain you need for that is within the range for chain slack. Anyone actually run a “tringlespeed” and can share their experience?

Dinglespeed experiences welcome too!

[jtbadge]

I pretty easily ran a two tooth gap dinglespeed (15-17t) on my old Nature Boy Zona running the same chain. Three tooth gap should be doable with a decent length track end.

That said, I'd be concerned about chainline with three cogs, especially if they have a wide base. You'd probably want to use a 9 speed chain instead of a 1/8" or standard 6/7/8 speed chain in order to get a little better flexibility on that front.

[pakora]

Oh, definitely 10sp chain! It's good enough for my mountain bike.

I'm looking at a 19, 20, 21 with my 46t ring so that would actually be close to what you had.

[BikeNY]

I believe a true Dinglespeed setup uses 2 chainrings and 2 cogs with the same tooth difference. I don't think that will work for a tringlespeed.

If you plan to have only 1 chainring, you will be very limited on the tooth difference, unless you are also changing chains. As mentioned, maybe you get a 3 tooth difference?

[Mark McM]

Can you run a double chainring crank? If so, then you could use one chainring with the one of a double sprockets, and one chainring with the other sprocket. This would also give you a wider range of gear options, without needing much extra chain slack.

As an example, a 15-17 double sprocket with 40-38 chainrings would allow selecting between a 40/15 and a 38/17, both with perfectly straight chainlines and the same chain slack.

[KonaSS]

I have successfully run full dinglespeed on my mountain bike for several years. That is - 2 chainrings up front, 2 cogs in back, total teeth count between the setups is the same. I think I have a 32/18 which I use for trails and a 34/16 for roads/gravel.

This type of setup covers a lot of range and doesn't require any chain adjustment.

[pakora]

This will be a race bike so I'm not so concerned about versatility, but in principle two chainrings is definitely possible.