What size is your "travel" sprocket when riding distances on your polo bike?

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#1

I intend to do a good deal of traveling on my polo bike when I arrive in Europe leading up to Perpignan, moving around cities etc. and I anticipate some long stretches that I’d rather not wear my knees out spinning through on polo gearing.

I am curious as to what your choices are for your second or off-court sprocket sizes for riding longer distances when you’re traveling.

My current set up is as follows:

  • Chainring: 32t
  • Court Sprocket: 19t
  • Ratio: 1.68 (approx.)
  • Inches: 44 (approx.)

(calculated using old faithful and I’m no gearing expert so these values may have a slight margin of error)

Cheers x

#2

@Zita @Nathalie did quite a bit of polobike touring with some funky setups (3speed triple chainring for example)

Depends a lot on your rear hub id say. I would personally put a track dropout clamped mech hanger & rear mech; second chain and even swap the chainring and go something like 38 front, 11-15-19-23-28??? On my ss freehub body.
The parts I have apart from the hanger and its like one hour of work for a loooot more comfort.
With a threaded freewheel I might go crazy and do the 3 chainring hack and possibly second freewheel

#3

Sure I hear you.

I’m using a Hope Pro 4 Trials hub that has enough room for a second sprocket (maybe even a third?).

A friend of mine suggested a neat little trick, using two quicklinks in your chain so that when you want to switch to the smaller sprocket, you can simply disconnect the length necessary from your chain to suit. Haven’t tried it yet but it seems like the fastest and most practical.

Were they taking off their polo chain ring and putting the triple on for touring around? I suppose the hour of work is worth the benefit.

#4

Dont really know you would have to ask @Zita but she prolly wont reply :slight_smile:
Ss freehub body easily takes 4 if not 5 sprockets. I take a second chain because non ss chains i tear apart in polo and thats not enjoyable

#6

Hi, I would like to share with you my setup: I have a double crank in the front and two sprockets at the back. I only have to shift the chain between both ratio versions without taking the back wheel out. I also dont have to change the length of my chain because it fits on both ratio versions. I have for traveling chainring/sprocket: 44/17 and for Polo 38/24. I have a Max Powers Bike. I have sliding dropouts. The hub is from Pinion. I use a quick release skewer, so I dont need a wrench to open the back wheel. I dont have to open any screws for shifting the chain. To calculate the right chainring/sprocket size to be able to use the same chain length for both ratio versions I used this formular: amount of teeth at chainring/2 + amount of teeth at sprocket/2 should be nearly the same value for both ratios. In my case: 38/2 + 24/2 = 44/2 + 17/2 (the value is 31 and 30,5, so nearly the same).

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#7

Incredible, thanks for getting in touch, Rita. I really appreciate the information. Is the 44t front ring exposed/dangerous when playing polo though?

#8

under 50/60km i use my polo gearing (35/21 i think). If i go long i change to 35/17 fixed. Works brilliant for me. Flatpedals either way.

#9

I have a front ring guard (the ones you can buy for any bicycle) and for the sprocket a 3D printed teeth cover that sits on top of the teeth (I can take them off and put them on easily as they have a tight grip) that I use for pickups or tournament.
photo_5226967460157180214_y

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#10

But for this setup you have to have a flip-flop hub and track dropout to adjust the chain length, right?

#11

thats right.

#12

Very cool! Thanks, Rita.

#13

Nice, that’s an interesting approach. Right on.

#14

i love this talk as i spent a while finding the ultimate / hassle free combo

32 x 18 polo 1.777
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32 x 12 commute 2.666
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1x chain setup and thats where its very tight , the polo ratio sit completely inside the dropouts ( but the chain is not overtense)

and the comute takes all the chain and finish at the end of the drop out ( but the axle and bolt is fully biting the dropouts)

could fit 13 instead of 12 if its too much

london is just too big and flat to be spinning my balls off everywhere i go and traveling is a blast.

i have a old chris king single speed similar to your hope trial , and i dont think you would be able to fit a 3 rd speed

drop outs are paragon hooded that comes on the stolen / riding in circles /many more and their length seems to be just 3cm

i should count the amount of links on my chain at some point ahah (edit : 84 “holes” on my chain)

last tip : if you have exposed cogs or chainring you can use a bit of chain with exactly the right amount of holes to be around the teeth , it cant be more legal right ? close it with a thin strip of innertube that goes instead of the pin , or quick link i guess

image

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#15

Yeah nice one! Great to know the 32x12 is working for you, I’ve just ordered a 12t sprocket.

So it’s a decent amount of push for you on the flats? Not too much spin?

#16

its actually a good work out for my skinny legs ! i think its perfect for commuting but if i had to go uphill it would kill me. also i have very progressive brakes (hope E4 ) so i can still be confident with hard breaking at “high” speed

one thing tho : if you chain is brand new or really tight , i barely make it when i put on the 18T : the chain barely goes around the sprocket and i have to spin the crank to force it in, and then its cool, when i take of the chain its REALLY tight and i have again to spin the cranks to derail the chain :sweat_smile: maybe because i have narrow wide setups

SO i think that with your 19T polo ratio might clash with the 12T :either you wont be able to fit the chain on your polo ratio AND you will need the next chain length to fit the 19t , making the 12T fall out of the dropouts ( unless they are different size than mine) in that case either go 18T :grimacing: or go 14 or 15 teeth instead of 12.

here is some more ratio stats:

dodi s polo ratio is 32 x15 on 26" so higher than @OldAndy commutes :grimacing:

@Bouchaaaaard is 32 x 18 on 27,5 so same as my current one and i thought it was too much but then i just champ up and did it to have that perfect ratio combo

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#17

what is yours ? sliders dropouts ?

#18

Haha for sure, I hear you! I have the same brakes. Love them, absolute killers. I’ll keep the chain in mind.

Thanks for the inside info also! I might try the double quick link approach to take the required length out when needed. Hopefully it doesn’t jeopardize the strength of the chain too much.

Absolutely will fill you in on the headache when the sprocket arrives :sunglasses:

#19

i just edited my post with more stuff. send a picture of your struggle !

another tips is : the higher the count of teeth on your chainring is, the lesser the “gap” between your polo ratio and your commute ratio will be.
thats why @Rita you working with two completely different combo of chainring/sprockets ( but i dont know what dropouts you working with)

but on the other hand you can choose more accurately what ratio you can use with a 40t chainring rather than a 30t for exemple.

#20

@brendan check out cadaques ! (its a walking itinary not 17hours of cycling)
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#21

C’est beau!

That place is gorgeous. Wow. I bet that’s an incredibly adventurous journey along the way too.