# removing granny ring



## roadiewill (16 Jun 2008)

is this a relatively easy thing to do? what tools would I need?

cheers


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## Disgruntled Goat (16 Jun 2008)

Depends on which cassette you have on there. I assume you have a 'cassette' rather than the older, screw-on types. 

Some cassettes split into separate cogs, some spilt into small groups of cogs. You will still have to replace whatever cogs you remove though.

You will need a cassette removal tool and a chain whip and it is quite easy once you have these.


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## John the Monkey (16 Jun 2008)

If you mean the smallest chain ring, try looking at this.

If you mean the cassette, try this.


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## roadiewill (16 Jun 2008)

ta
i mean the smallest chain ring


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## Dave Davenport (16 Jun 2008)

Why do you want to?


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## Disgruntled Goat (16 Jun 2008)

Whoops sorry. Can you actually 'remove' the granny ring? Wouldn't you have to replace it with a double ring and corresponding BB.


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## ColinJ (16 Jun 2008)

> THe granny ring will just unbolt off the crank spider thingy.


Unless it is one of those cheap, horrible, riveted-on ones in which case it won't !


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## Yorkshireman (16 Jun 2008)

roadiewill said:


> is this a relatively easy thing to do? what tools would I need?
> 
> cheers



If you had one like this





all you need is an allen key (though you would have to remove the r/h crank and the chainwheels first).
If you have one of the slightly cheaper riveted (or spot welded) ones like this one




I doubt the effort would be worth it.


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## hubgearfreak (16 Jun 2008)

If you have one of the slightly cheaper riveted (or spot welded) ones like this one




I doubt the effort would be worth it.you'll need an angle grinder

but the question remains, why?


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## roadiewill (16 Jun 2008)

because I never, never, nerver, never use it


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## byegad (17 Jun 2008)

For the weight removed in this way it hardly seems worth it. taking a small water bottle rather than a large one would make more of a difference.


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## Paulus (17 Jun 2008)

On most chainrings the granny ring is riveted to the casting so is not removable. Personally I wouldn't bother. Leave it in place and forget about it.
You could always spend some wonga on a new chainset, front and rear mechs and new chain to get the double chainset, should only set you back a couple of hundred or so


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## Over The Hill (17 Jun 2008)

Can't remember when I last managed to get onto the big ring, so I must be doing something wrong! 

A cycle buddy of mine does not change down much for a hill but prefers to slog it out with force rather than revs. He is about 16 stone but fairly solid not fat. I am 12 stone and getting on a bit and I dont have the push to do that so need the Granny to throw revs at a hill. 

If you dont use the Granny I wonder if your approach is not best or if the back end could take a smaller cog range to balance you more to the full range of the bike.


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## andy_wrx (19 Jun 2008)

Yorkshireman said:


> all you need is an allen key (though you would have to remove the r/h crank and the chainwheels first



Not the crank, you can simply remove the outer chainrings and then waggle the smaller one past the spider and over the crank. 

I did this to replace my inner with a smaller ring

I guess you might also have to remove the pedal if you were using platform pedals with toeclips as it wouldn't fit over it.


Alternatively, if you did remove the crank you could then simply remove the inner ring without having to touch the outer rings.



If you have a triple but want to go double, I suppose you _could_ remove the inner one and adjust the front mech stop-screws to only allow the shifter to select the remaining rings....but I really wouldn't bother.


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## Yorkshireman (19 Jun 2008)

> Originally Posted by Yorkshireman
> all you need is an allen key (though you would have to remove the r/h crank and the chainwheels first





andy_wrx said:


> Not the crank, you can simply remove the outer chainrings and then waggle the smaller one past the spider and over the crank.
> I did this to replace my inner with a smaller ring
> 
> I guess you might also have to remove the pedal if you were using platform pedals with toeclips as it wouldn't fit over it.
> ...



The spider is part of the crank, and though the largest ring and possibly the middle one might can be fiddled over the spider/crank combo, the granny is too small to fit over the spider (just been out to try it ). It's only one crank retaining bolt and the four allen bolts and took about 10 minutes (other cranksets will differ).

Sorry andy ... Your paragraph


> Alternatively, if you did remove the crank you could then simply remove the inner ring without having to touch the outer rings.


didn't 'register' (until after I'd finished playing bike mechanics ... and posting) ...my bad.


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## andy_wrx (19 Jun 2008)

Yeah, by 'waggle over the crank', I meant crank-arm.

However, lots of waggling, but I managed it with mine Colin !

- a 5-bolt Specialized triple crankset, although I'm pretty sure it's actually a Sugino with a Spesh logo on it


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## byegad (19 Jun 2008)

Paulus said:


> On most chainrings the granny ring is riveted to the casting so is not removable. Personally I wouldn't bother. Leave it in place and forget about it.
> You could always spend some wonga on a new chainset, front and rear mechs and new chain to get the double chainset, should only set you back a couple of hundred or so



Perhaps in earlier days this was true but the Truvativ, Deore, Tiagra and Veloce fitted to some of my bikes have a removable inner ring. Of our fleet of 9 bikes only my wife's Discovery 201 has riveted chainrings.


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## briank (19 Jun 2008)

Whether or not you can waggle/wiggle the inner ring off without removing the crank or pedal depends on the size of the ring.

However, if you do want to sling the inner ring you'll have to either fit shorter (single) chainring bolts or cut up the inner ring to make spacers. (Not *quite* as daft as it sounds, cos it avoids an ugly stepped end to the arms of the spider.)


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## Yorkshireman (19 Jun 2008)

briank said:


> Whether or not you can waggle/wiggle the inner ring off without removing the crank or pedal depends on the size of the ring.
> 
> However, if you do want to sling the inner ring you'll have to either fit shorter (single) chainring bolts or cut up the inner ring to make spacers. (Not *quite* as daft as it sounds, cos it avoids an ugly stepped end to the arms of the spider.)



As I mentioned to andy (couple of posts above), chainsets/rings vary. On my new one there's no problem removing the 'granny' (once the chain/crank set is removed)





and once it's off the remaining rings/holder look quite neat (I need mine so it's stopping on). As you can see each ring is held in place with separate bolts (seems like a good idea to me). View from the crank side




I think you can just about make out that that 'granny' is just that bit too small to fit over the spider, but I'm sure that it's quicker to remove the complete chainset anyway on this set up.


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