On Friday, October 26, 2018 at 6:18:14 AM UTC+1, Tosspot wrote:
On 10/25/18 3:46 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 6:16:32 AM UTC+1, Tosspot wrote:

https://surlybikes.com/parts/drivetrain/singleator

Which works very well imho, giving me the perceived advantages of a
hub drive, without the hassle of chain tensioning or the fudge or a
short reach derailleur. Yes Andre, I know, I can live with it.

I saw that, Frank; it's not a crime to insist on beautiful bicycle
components. Actually I'm an admirer of Surly. Always use their
stainless steel chainrings when I can.

I was converted to them around 7 years ago, they work well and in a
hub/fixed/single environment work well. The current commuter is going
in to it's third winter on this drive-train which was unheard of in my
derailleur days. I think it's a KMC Z510HX. No complaints at all

KMC chains are another fave of mine, especially the KMC X8, which I buy in bulk at CRC sales and give away to pedal pals. Back in my Shimano Nexus gruppo days I used to consider myself lucky if I got a thousand miles out of an entire transmission chain of crankset/chainring, chain and sprocket, and considered people who bragged that they got 10K out of a chain as liars. Since I switched to Rohloff sprockets, Surly Stainless chainrings and KMC chains I get three thousand miles out of the chain and already over 6K out of the chainring and sprocket, both unmarked.

I'll tell you something else that has been utterly surprising: I used to get a thousand miles max out of a set of tyres (the usual crap my LBS stocked, including some surprisingly reputable names) until I switched to Schwalbe's Big Apples: I've swapped out a pair at over 5K that still had tread on the front. Schwalbe says you can run them until the protection band appears through he rubber but I swapped that pair out earlier because after years flat-free, suddenly I had two flats in a few months, the second one a violent header on a downhill with three cars close behind me; they all stopped in time and all three drivers came to offer assistance. Since I run the tyres at low pressure and typically do not swerve for potholes and often jump onto kerbs, both flats were caused by fishbites, which led me to look into other fat tyres but there's nothing quite like the Big Apple for comfort and, surprisingly, speed and control at speed, so I just fitted the same again.

Andre Jute
May all the cycling gods bless the nostalgia that brough back the balloon tyre