Mark Petry wrote:
Widest range possible on Campy NR driveline is a 14-26 rear freewheel and 42-52 or 53 t front chainwheels. That's 43 to 100 equivalent gear inches. A bit of extra fussing with it and careful attention to chain length, you can run a 28 t rear cog and maybe find a 41t front chainring which will get you down to 39.
I beg to differ a little: Look at the chart for a 5-speed with 13-31 FW and 43-48 chainrings, a classic half-step (13-16-20-25-31). That charts out at 37 to 100, using appropriate rounding rules and 27" as the wheel size. Wouldn't be worth mentioning, except that the half-step was pretty common among the "cognoscenti" back then. For Susan, beloved spouse, that's what we still use, except with a 40-45 in front instead of the 43-48, giving range of 35 - 93. Half-step has lots of nice attributes if you live in a land of 5- and 6-speed FW, but I don't bother with 7+.
The really neat thing was that individual cogs, fore and aft, were available so you could do what you charted. Of course, modern stuff may shift better, but that is another story.
harvey sachs
mcLean VA