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Megarange Freewheel [Solved]
#1
A recent purchase of an Elektra 7-speed cruiser came with a Megarange freewheel. I didn't like it, so today I swapped it for a regular 14-28T freewheel.

The second lowest geared cog has 24 teeth. The lowest had 34 teeth. That's a huge jump from one cog to another. I found that in a headwind, when I dropped to the lowest, I had to pedal like crazy just to get up to walking pace. And because of this whopping great cog it meant having extra chain to deal with it. This gave me a chain sagging more than usual in higher gears. Cruisers have longer chains to start with.

A 28T cog was great in headwinds on previous bikes, and being that I don't intend to use a cruiser as a mountain bike, the Megarange had to go. And once I got the new freewheel on the bike, I knew the chain would need to be shortened. Removing three links made for a perfect job.

Perhaps the bike designer thought it would be a good thing, and maybe some people would appreciate it, but it doesn't seem to me to serve a good purpose. So the Megarange is now up for sale on a local market, and I'll see who wants it. It may never sell.

Here's a photo of it. Just look at the size of that largest cog!


Attached Files Image(s)
   
If I knew how to ride a bike properly, I'd do it every time.
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#2
That's MEGA! I believe that these freewheels are often equipped on kids bikes, to make pedalling easier uphill. I would also switch to 14-28 immediately, wise choice.
Autobahn
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#3
(02-29-2020, 09:33 PM)G_M Wrote:  That's MEGA! I believe that these freewheels are often equipped on kids bikes, to make pedalling easier uphill. I would also switch to 14-28 immediately, wise choice.
The 14-28 is working great. Beats me why a bike maker would think to put that Megarange on a cruiser. A ten tooth difference between two gears was way out of line. I never even heard of such a freewheel, before. No responses on selling it, yet, and I don't really expect any. Maybe someone with a mountain bike may want it.
If I knew how to ride a bike properly, I'd do it every time.
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#4
Still no responses from potential buyers?
I believe that you also do not have many hills in Florida,, or specifically your area, where to test this mega ring.
Autobahn
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#5
(03-09-2020, 11:58 AM)G_M Wrote:  Still no responses from potential buyers?
I believe that you also do not have many hills in Florida,, or specifically your area, where to test this mega ring.
No response, as I figured. Anyone who does their own wrenching would know it's really only fit for a mountain bike. We do have a few short, steep 10º gradients on a biking trail, but for that, I use my Fatboy with the 20 gears, made for mountain biking.

Calculating the gear inches, on the two largest cogs, 34T and 24T Megarange.
Gear inches for the 24T freewheel cog is 24.
Gear inches for the 34T cog is 16.
That's a heck of a difference from one gear to the next.

I don't know how many people buy a cruiser to ride steep gradients, probably very few. And as I've said, before, what made the bike maker think it would be a good idea to put it on a cruiser? I found it very irritating when riding into a head wind. Now the bike has 14-28T freewheel on it, it's much better in a head wind. It also did away with a chain sagging more than it ought, in my opinion, after removing three links.

I suppose I could give the Megarange to the Salvation Army, but I'd probably be dumping it on them. Other than that, it'll go in the recycling bin.
If I knew how to ride a bike properly, I'd do it every time.
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#6
I just did the opposite. I bought a Schwinn Twinn tandem and the granny gear wasn't quite good enough to get up some hills. So I put that exact freewheel on the bike.
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#7
(03-18-2020, 06:48 PM)JerrySTL Wrote:  I just did the opposite. I bought a Schwinn Twinn tandem and the granny gear wasn't quite good enough to get up some hills. So I put that exact freewheel on the bike.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. We can now see that mega freewheel might be a good fit for specific bike categories or terrain. Meanwhile, for other bikes it is simply not the wisest choice.

Have you already done test rides? Is it this exact tandem?
https://www.bikeride.com/schwinn-twinn/
Autobahn
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