Gearing

[Andywinds]

If I'm finding the following gears hard when climbing:

52/39
12/23

Will this gearing give me any improvement, or would moving to 11/28 help?

53/39
12/25

 

[Andywinds]

Ok this is a daft question, of course it will be easier, but will it be noticeably better?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It depends on what you can notice. I can quantify "better" but you have to decide if you will notice it or not. It will be 23/25 as hard with the new gearing. In other words, it will be only 92 percent as difficult as before.
Put differently, it will be 8% more difficult with the 23 than the 25 gear.

 

[TissoT]

Only you could tells us if its better ..

 

[Andywinds]

I'll just find out. I was looking for a bike with 11/28 because of all the hills this way, but in the end purchased a bike with 12/25 on the basis that I could always find a SRAM 11/28 on put that on. The seller seems to think that this will fit.

Just to add the rear mech is a SRAM Rival.

 

[Andywinds]

It is a 10 speed cassette, PG-1050.

 

[Ian H]

Are you racing? Because those are ratios for racing.

 

[Andywinds]

God no. Do you mean the front chain rings as well??

I need to add, there was a whole seperate thread that I opened regarding my current borrowed bike that ran the 12/23 cassette which kills me up hill.

Are you racing? Because those are ratios for racing.

 

[andytheflyer]

You could go much bigger on the cassette - but how big depends on what's available. The rear mech will only handle a maximum number of teeth but that can be changed (or at least the 9spd versions can - you need to research what can be done with a 10spd). You'd be looking for an MTB long cage rear mech to work with the shifter you have - pull ratios become important here (see http://blog.artscyclery.com/science...ce-behind-the-magic-drivetrain-compatibility/). You can google to get the maximum tooth capacity for various rear mechs - but they can be conservative and you can get a bit more than the manufacturer states - IME.

Ideally you'd fit a smaller small ring up front but I suspect you may not be able to - others can advise. That's why I have a 2009 9spd Defy road bike with a triple - not fashionable, but very practical and very adaptable. I went from a stock 50/40/30 and 12-25 cassette, to a 50/38/26 and a 12-36 with an XT Deore (MTB) Shadow long cage mech. I can now get up all but the 25% hills. Result! The bike has been totally transformed and I just do not worry about gradients now - other than 'another bloo*y hill...'.

Check out http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/ for gear ratios.

 

[Andywinds]

Thanks for the input chaps. I will see how bad it is at the moment and may opt for 11/28. But if that is still too hard then I will have to think about the options you have advised.

 

[Pale Rider]

As a general point, my gear altering experience is that a couple of teeth make very little difference.

So if the new bike's gearing is too hard, go for a substantially bigger rear cog or a substantially smaller front one.

Or both.

 

[Andywinds]

I've had a look and it does sound like I can only go for 11/28 with the existing rear mech. I've not ridden the 12/25 yet, but I know that 12/23 kills me on climbs.

As a general point, my gear altering experience is that a couple of teeth make very little difference.

So if the new bike's gearing is too hard, go for a substantially bigger rear cog or a substantially smaller front one.

Or both.

 

[Andywinds]

**UPDATE**

Climbing is still very hard, but I just knocked off 2 mins off a previous effort on the bike that was in 39/23. So there was a slight feeling in the gearing when using 39/25. I will give it some time and may opt for the 11/28 setup. I still wanted to be sick at one point though!!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I will put my two pence in, I don't understand why your wanting the 52-53 change, I would possible change both front to 38/50 drop the FD down to the correct height as the 50th is smaller than the 52th, this will have the overall effect of lower the entire gearing, for example

your current 52/39 12/23 has a range of 45-115" (on a standard road bike) the 50/38 would change this to 44-110 most RD will go to at least 27th in medium cage (GS) your 12-25 cassette would then give you a range of 40-110" and if your RD can cope with it you could go to 28 (this depends what your current set up is) which would give you an 11 or 12 to 28 rear and a front of 38/50 (38 as it sounds like a standard chainset and you can't fit smaller than 38th to a standard) the gear would then be as low as 36", though as you have a 12-23 cassette chances are it may be a a short cage (SS) RD.

The choice after this is almost infinite only dictated by the choice of cassettes and cost (though need not be expensive)

I ride a triple 28/38/50 with a 10sp 12-23 a range of 32-110" (I can at a pinch fit a 26 inner and a 12-27 rear to give 25-110" though I don't like it much) and it is rare for me to use the inner ring (not usually the hills round here) so my normal range is 44-110" my chainset cost about £70.
Hope this helps

 

[Andywinds]

The gears are on two different bikes.

Basically I've borrowed an old Vanquish that has the gearing 52/39 and 12/23. My new bike has the 53/39 and 12/25 setup. I will not touch the old bike but maybe looking to replace the 12/25 with a new 11/28 cassette that was ll.

I will put my two pence in, I don't understand why your wanting the 52-53 change, I would possible change both front to 38/50 drop the FD down to the correct height as the 50th is smaller than the 52th, this will have the overall effect of lower the entire gearing, for example

your current 52/39 12/23 has a range of 45-115" (on a standard road bike) the 50/38 would change this to 44-110 most RD will go to at least 27th in medium cage (GS) your 12-25 cassette would then give you a range of 40-110" and if your RD can cope with it you could go to 28 (this depends what your current set up is) which would give you an 11 or 12 to 28 rear and a front of 38/50 (38 as it sounds like a standard chainset and you can't fit smaller than 38th to a standard) the gear would then be as low as 36", though as you have a 12-23 cassette chances are it may be a a short cage (SS) RD.

The choice after this is almost infinite only dictated by the choice of cassettes and cost (though need not be expensive)

I ride a triple 28/38/50 with a 10sp 12-23 a range of 32-110" (I can at a pinch fit a 26 inner and a 12-27 rear to give 25-110" though I don't like it much) and it is rare for me to use the inner ring (not usually the hills round here) so my normal range is 44-110" my chainset cost about £70.
Hope this helps