Bigger granny please?

[bigjim]

So I am looking to change the 6 speed Campag rear cassette on my 80s Raleigh Sprint for something with a bigger granny to help my ageing knees on the hills around here. I see them on e-bay at a good price but unsure what I need. Do I need a screw on or push on etc? Will my bike take a 7/8 speed. I would also like to buy the approapiate tool to do the job myself but do not know which tool I need to do the changeover. Any advice appreciated.

Jim

 

[mickle]

Take the wheel to a bike shop Bigjim, there are many different types of freewheel removing tool and the chances of your next freewheel being the same pattern as the one on there is remote. A half decent shop will remove the old one FOC and will certainly ensure that its replacement is compatible. A seven may fit but you will need to adjust the limit screws on the rear mech and you should replace the chain at the same time.

 

[Stan]

Feed her more cake

 

[PpPete]

Ooh !
I'm selling a mech just like that on Ebay...

 

[bigjim]

But I want to be independent as much as possible from the LBS and do the work myself. I do support LBS whenever he can match web price if it is within reasonable limits. However having being made redundent this year and losing loads on my pension due to this crisis [thanks Gordon] I have to watch pennies. I cannot compare with LBS until I have looked online at what I need. That is why I turned to the forum. I would also prefer to work on my own bike as it is a learning curve and I do not want to be reliant on LBS. I have had this job done in the past by LBS when he fitted a 6 speed shimano cassette with original chain and front rings on my other Raleigh [same model] so I know it is possible but I keep the other bike at my sisters in Mallorca so cannot just go and look. By the way original cassette currently on bike is 23x13 and front chainrings are 52/42.
Thanks for your time.

 

[RedBike]

I always associtate the granny with being the smallest chainring on a triple chainset.
With it being 6 speed it will almost certainly be a freewheel (screw on).
Cassettes are push on.

To get a lower gear you might be better off exchanging your 42 inner chainring for a 39 rather than changing your freewheel.

To remove the freewheel you need a chainwhip and the right type of freewheel remover. I'm afriad i've no idea which model of freewheel remover you need; but the late Sheldon Brown did.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html

 

[andrew_s]

It is a freewheel, not a cassette - I can see on the photo.

Freewheels get screwed on very tightly, and considerable amounts of brute force can be required to get them off.
The easiest way is to fit the remover onto the freewheel, loosely held in place with the wheel nut, then clamp the remover in a bench vice and turn the wheel by heaving hard on the rim. As the freewheel starts to undo, it will undo against the wheel nut (hence only fitting that loosely), so as soon as the wheel starts to turn stop pulling, remove the wheel nut and finish off with a spanner.
If you don't have a bench vice, use the biggest spanner that will fit the remover. Last time I did it, I was standing on the end of a 24mm ring spanner about 14" long, with the wheel wedged upright in a doorway, and bouncing all 14st of me on it.

Chainwhips are not required to get the freewheel off the hub. You'll want two if you want to get the sprockets off the freewheel, but there isn't much point unless you can find replacement sprockets.

 

[Nick G]

losing loads on my pension due to this crisis [thanks Gordon]

Not wishing to go off piste with your thread, I'd just like to point out that the "crisis" is not Gordon's fault, nor is it the fault of the Government. I'm not a member of the Labour party, and I don't find the PM particularly impressive, but I do get bugged when I see silly Daily Mail / Daily Express crap tossed around like this.

Sorry.

As you were.

 

[Tynan]

he takes the credit when things go well though doesn't he?

 

[mickle]

Suggested Retail Price of Shimano seven speed freewheel, £14.99. Park Freewheel remover from £5. A seven speed freewheel will almost certainly fit your bike but you'll need to what brand the old one is to get the right removal tool; Shimano, Suntour two prong, Suntour four prong, Maillard, Sachs, Sunrace etc. I'm pretty sure a &spd 13 or 14>28 will be within the capacity of your rear mech, pop the bike into the big sprocket and small chain-ring and take a look at the gap between the top of the jockey wheel and the sprocket. By all means buy the tools and do the job yourself but pleading poverty when we're discussing a bike which lives in Mallorca?

 

[bigjim]

Scuse me! If Gordon had sanctioned taking all your shares off you that were part of your retirement money it would make you less of a fan. Also not pleading poverty at all, just watching spend because of being out of work plus Gordons actions. As the bike I am talking about is not in Mallorca [read post. dope]. My sister has a place there and now & then I have been able to get £1 Ryanair flights for a cheap bike holiday. Jeez. Give a guy a break! I just wanted some info about my bike! Thanks for those who gave advice. Those who made personal remarks about something they know nothing about. You know what you can do and where to shove it.

Jim

 

[mickle]

Get a grip.

 

[Over The Hill]

Back on thread....

If you want to make it easier to go up hills (by pedalling more revs and pushing slightly less) then you need a smaller ring on the front and/or a bigger ring on the back.

As said above the small ring on the front is usually what is called the granny ring.

I did both on my bike when I went from a mountan bike to a proper drop-bar road bike as I found it did not have the gear range I was used to.

I found adding a couple of teeth on the back big ring and taking off about four on the front granny made a huge difference. Keeping it to this sort of change did not upset the gear change or need any messing with that part of the bike.

I got a new granny on ebay for about £2 (£4 with p and p). Ensure it is the right number of cogs and has the same fitting as your present one. The bolt on to the inside of the middle or big ring with four or five alan key bolts. There are different sizes of this expressed by the diamiter of a circle made from the bolts positon.) Most difficult part of doing this is getting the pedal (attached to the cogs) off the bike.

At the back end I think it is a matter of just getting a set of cogs (casette or otherwise) with a bigger big ring. Probably best not to mess about changing the number of cogs at this stage.

I would do the front end first to see if that does the trick as it is a bit easier and the part should be cheaper.

 

[mickle]

Try finding a six speed freewheel of decent quality though. A seven should fit with no problems and even if it needs a bit of tweaking (respace the hub a few mm, pull the rim over to compensate) a seven speed freewheel is rather more future proof than already obselete six.

 

[spandex]

The best 6s freewheel you can get is RRP £7.99 and you can not get 6s cassettes the smallest you can get is 7