Bike Upgrade
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rjkowski posted 1 year ago.
Your best bet might be to switch to a compact crankset. Compact cranksets can give you the gearing of the triple setup without the cost. Also, sometime triple cranksets can be a hassle to set up, and the shiftin may not be as smooth or crisp as a double setup.
If you go the route of the triple crankset, you will need to buy a new crankset, a new front derailleur, a new rear derailleur (one that has a long cage), and possibly a new front shifter (depending on what you've got now).
If you want to do it on a budget, I would go the compact crankset route.
What size cassette are you running now?
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Triguy98 posted 1 year ago.
I'd just get a bigger cassette.
Ya dont say what kind of crank youve got now. You might need to change bottom brackets when swapping cranks. The easiest and cheapest way to make hills easier is get a larger cassette. You'd be surprised how much of a difference two or three teeth makes.
Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.
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cayman posted 1 year ago.
53-39 FSA crank
11-23 cassette
john
I don't need to get faster, I just need to get older!
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trithis04 posted 1 year ago.
I second the compact crank or lower geared rear cassete. As mentioned above, triples are a hassle. If you want to stay on a tri/TT bike you'll have a hard time with a bar end shifting set up and trips.
[FONT=Impact]-Jason
"Fatigue will make cowards of us all!"
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glbrum posted 1 year ago.
You have 2 options as others have said. get a compact crankset (GREAT IDEA) or get a cassette with a bigger ratio. If you want to go the cheap cheap route, get a 12-25 or 12-27 cassette. Better yet go with the SRAM 11-26. Best of both worlds; big gear for the flats and downhills and the almightly climbing gear. I have a 12-25 and love it. I can climb anything in it. By anything I mean 14-18% (seated).
The other option is to get a compact crankset. I think this is a great idea. I'm a middle-of-the-pack climber on group rides and I am serioudly thinking about going compact before next season. The gearing is either 50-36 or 50-34. You can also go to a 48 on the big ring and you might be able to a get a 52 on there. A friend of mine has a 48-36 and put down a 2:11 HIM bike split. (rolling course).He spent much of his time in the big ring thus using less energy (mental if nothing else) changing gears.
With a 34 in the front and a 25/26/27 in the back you will not have a problem getting over anything. And if you still have problems you might just need to ride more.
Last thought: please don't switch a double for a triple. That is just waiting for ridicule. There are several better options, some listed above and many listed by other people that are far better than the triple crankset.
Oh yea: Ritchey has compacts for ~$200 and so does SRAM. FSA does too if I'm not mistaken.
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JamieM posted 1 year ago.
Switching a double to a triple is not worth the hassle and expense. Switching cassettes is a simple way to extend the gearing, though it does require a special tool or two to do yourself. I'd try that route and if you're still searching for a lower gear look into a compact setup.
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glbrum posted 1 year ago.
JamieM;54516 wrote:
Switching a double to a triple is not worth the hassle and expense. Switching cassettes is a simple way to extend the gearing, though it does require a special tool or two to do yourself. I'd try that route and if you're still searching for a lower gear look into a compact setup.
I agree with this. As I said a few posts ago, there's a bunch of options, but Ithink an 11-26 cassette would be perfect. Try it out and if you are still having problems with the hills, get a compact. That will solve the problem.
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TBRAVO posted 1 year ago.
I agree. Go with the cassette change first, then if you still need more climbing power look into a compact crank. I have an SRAM 12-26 (9 spd) with a regular DA crank (53/39), which works great. I also think that Shimano makes a 12-27 cassette.
- T
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cayman posted 1 year ago.
Thanks everyone, great advice. I'll start with the cassette and go from there.
john
I don't need to get faster, I just need to get older!
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catwood posted 1 year ago.
You can also get new chainrings that are smaller than 53-39 without going all the way to a compact if a cassette swap isn't enough...
http://www.fullspeedahead.com/fly.aspx?layout=product&taxid=25&pid=66
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TBRAVO posted 1 year ago.
Yikes. Slap that 55-tooth (teeth?) dinner plate on and you could work up some serious speed going downhill and on the flats! :eek:
Of course you could "blow a hammie" trying to crunch that thing up a major incline though. :D
- T
Now that it's off season I've been thinking about bike upgrades. I'm currently running a 2 ring crankset and would like to switch to a 3 ring to help get me up the hills without bursting my spleen.
2 questions:
Is this an easy swap out for a mechanically challenged kinda guy?
Do I need to change out the cassette as well? (shmano 105)
Oh yeah, I'm on a budget too.
john
I don't need to get faster, I just need to get older!