gearing issues

[nickhuds]

hi, ive been riding my new boardman comp for a few days now and i think its great , but the only thing (apart from the crappy pedals) that im strugling with is the gear ratios. i have 18 speed and under normal riding conditions they are fine, but if there is a relitively steep hill its seems that they dont quite go low enough and its a bit of a struggle.

my question is what is the easiest and cheapest upgrade i can do on the bike? can i just change the largest rear sprocket for a slightly larger one still or do you have to change all of them. also what is the possibility of changing from 18 speed to 27 speed, and if possible will it be very expensive. im not trying to cut corners or be a tight arse, but i have got to watch the pennies after spending nearly £800 over the last week

any advice will be greatly appreciated
thanks
nick

 

[PC_Arcade]

I think the easiest would be to change the double for a triple : http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productId=1652&categoryId=160

The front shifter supports a triple anyway (at least on mine it does), so this should work I think

 

[nickhuds]

that looks like a great upgrade, same make so should go straight on i would of thought? how about the front mech, i know you said the shifter should be ok (il have to check) but will the front mech need changing?
thanks pc_arade

 

[PC_Arcade]

I don't think so, it should be a straight swap but in all honesty I'm not the worlds most technical proficient cyclist (and that's one HELL of an understatement!).
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong though

 

[RedBike]

It all depends on what shifters and what mechs you currently have.

To change to a Triple
You will probably need to change the front mech to a triple and the rear mech to a long cage.

On top of this you 'might' need to fit a longer chain (bigger rear mech) and if the cassette is worn that will have to be changed too to work with the new chain.

As you can see the cost is going up and up!

The cheapest solution normally is to fit a larger cassette and or a compact chainset. Again depending one what parts you've currently got and what you intend to fit you might need to start changing the mechs, chains etc.

 

[Bigtwin]

What stuff is fitted to your bike?

Generally you can take the casette off and change rings out on all but the cheapest stuff, so you can pop on a lower bottom gear to get you out of trouble.

 

[jimboalee]

According to the sales bumf, the comp model weighs just under 20lb.

It has a 'Compact' chainset, which prob' has a 36 ring.
It prob' has a 25T rear end. Even if it has a 23T rear end, its LOW geared.

36 x 25 is 39", which is a good 'Safety margin' for the beginner.

If you are struggling with this, my verdict is 'Your legs aren't strong enough'.

 

[nickhuds]

hi guys this is the spec if it is of any help. the bike is less than a week old so no worn parts as of yet.

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_comp.html

bottom left is where the spec is listed.

thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[jimboalee]

It all depends on what shifters and what mechs you currently have.

To change to a Triple
You will probably need to change the front mech to a triple and the rear mech to a long cage.

On top of this you 'might' need to fit a longer chain (bigger rear mech) and if the cassette is worn that will have to be changed too to work with the new chain.

As you can see the cost is going up and up!

The cheapest solution normally is to fit a larger cassette and or a compact chainset. Again depending one what parts you've currently got and what you intend to fit you might need to start changing the mechs, chains etc.

The cheapest solution is to buy a 4 pack of Tuna every week and keep struggling until the hills don't seem so steep.

 

[nickhuds]

The cheapest solution is to buy a 4 pack of Tuna every week and keep struggling until the hills don't seem so steep.

sounds like a good plan i LOVE tuna, and it dont come much cheaper than that

 

[Ant]

According to the sales bumf, the comp model weighs just under 20lb.

It has a 'Compact' chainset, which prob' has a 36 ring.
It prob' has a 25T rear end. Even if it has a 23T rear end, its LOW geared.

36 x 25 is 39", which is a good 'Safety margin' for the beginner.

If you are struggling with this, my verdict is 'Your legs aren't strong enough'.

To be fair he hasn't really specified how steep the hills are

 

[TheDoctor]

Right - you can get a lower gear by fitting a 12-27 cassette. That's your only cheap option.
You've already got a compact (that's the 50-36 Truvative Elita bit!) so you'd need to fit a triple to get much lower. That will be majorly expensive.
If you've only had it a week, I'd try and get more used to cycling and (please don't take this the wrong way) you'll soon get fitter.

 

[jimboalee]

sounds like a good plan i LOVE tuna, and it dont come much cheaper than that

Mind you.

In about September, you'll be off to buy trousers. You'll find that the legs won't be big enough so you'll be looking at 'tailored' trousers, which cost more.

There's no way out of spending money when you own a bike.

 

[Bigtwin]

The HG50 cassette does split, so if you can get a couple of sprockets (LBS/eBay) you can shove them on. Mech and chain will probably be ok up to 28/30 - mebbe more if you are lucky.

Otherwise it's £30ish for new casette (in theory they go to 32 on road, but can only see 25s in stock on the few sites I've looked at), plus chain and possibly med/long cage dertail - looks like a 105 short on there currently.

 

[RedBike]

You can either fit a 27tooth cassette or fit a 34 inner ring to your crankset.

It's touch and go if your rear mech can cope with such a large spread of gears.
I can't remember what the limit for the 105 short cage mech is!

Fitting a 27tooth cassette might need a new chain. It all depends if your existing chain has the spare capacity to 'stretch' around those extra two teeth. Fingers crossed it should be fine.

If your mech can't cope then a chain thats long enough to go around the two biggest sprockets then it will be too slack when used in little -little.

You could always change the cassette and the chainring but i'm pretty certain a short cage rear mech wont cope with that.