Help me get up hills!

[simon flannery]

Hi

My girlfriend and I recently bought our first road bikes... we went for Carrera TDFs from our local Halfords, just to get ourselves going. Already hooked and we have signed up for our first triathlon - Blenheim in June.

Generally finding the bikes ok so far but they are pretty hard work on hills. After a bit of research, this seems to be a recognised draw back of this bike and its stock gearing (12-26). So, question I would like help with is:

- is a new cassette the right upgrade to help us get up hills easier?
- what cassette size would be a good choice and is there a particular model someone would recommend for this bike?
- is is a case of just swapping the cassette or would it be necessary to swap multiple components? I am hoping we can just do the cassette....

Thanks very much for any advice

Simon

The bike spec is:

• Forks: Hi-Tensile Straight Blade
• Frame Material: Alloy
• Front Brake: Tektro alloy calliper brake
• Geometry: Compact
• Number of Gears: 16
• Rear Brake: Tektro alloy calliper brake
• Wheel Size: 700c
• Cassette: 12-26T
• Chainset: 52/42
• Frame Colour: Black and Yellow
• Front Mech: Shimano FD-A050
• Gear Shifters: Shimano ST-2300
• Gender: Mens
• Handle Bars: Drop
• Headset: Semi integrated
• Pedals: Road pedals with toe clips
• Rear Mech: Shimano RD-2300
• Rims: Carrera double wall rims
• Saddle: Carrera
• Seatpost: Alloy 350mm x 27.2
• Stem: Alloy
• Suspension: Rigid
• Tyres: Kenda road tyre

 

[helston90]

That is some tough gearing on there for what's ultimately a beginners bike- although I hear Viking do a similar thing.
What do you call 'recently'? is it a case that you just need to keep trying to build up the strength and fitness to achieve it?
You may be able to get away with a straight swap- you may need to get a new rear derailleur and alter chain length- someone will be along in a sec who's done that before. I would hold onto the old parts though- as while you continue to improve you may want to swap back to these gears.

 

[simon flannery]

Thanks for the reply. We have had them since October but we are only cycling weekends at the moment, plus a spin class. So leg strength is something we are working on as part of our triathlon training. However, we will do that training regardless and what I am trying to address is the disadvantage of not having a compact chain-set on this bike. I think you are right about the rear derailleur needing to be swapped out too. Want to get an idea of costs so that I can decide if it is worth upgrading or whether it is better to wait until I get a different bike - which seems inevitable already!

 

[HLaB]

Simon, the cassette is fine but the Chainset is way too big for someboydy starting out cycling/ struggling on hills. If its a tradditional 130mm double unfortunately you wont be able to go much lower than changing the 42t for 39t. If its a compact double (110mm) you could go right down to 34t but thats a bit of a big jump. I run a 52/38 on a compact double. However, depending on the terrain I run either a 11-26 cassette or a 11-28 to get that extra few gear inches to aid climbing.

 

[simon flannery]

Thanks HLaB. That's interesting so it's more the chain set that needs swapping, makes sense now I have read a bit more about it (new to all this bike techno-speak!). I found this on the halfords website when someone asked the question about changing the chain set on their carrera TDF:
Yes, the Shimano 2350 50/34 Chainset is compatible with the Carrera TDF, due to the square taper interface, the Shimano 2350 should fit without changing any other components. Should you require any further assistance please go to your local Halfords store where a member of staff will be happy to help you further.

Unfortunately, this message was 18 months ago and after searching for the Shimano 2350, it looks like it might be an obsolete model now. Does anyone know of a compatible replacement? Ideally looking to avoid replacing multiple components here so that I can keep the Carrera for the upcoming triathlon and then decide if I want to upgrade to a better bike later.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It's maths time.

42 x 26 bottom gear is, according to my handy spreadsheet 43.25"
Wow. I had to double check that. It's quite high. Even if I stay in the big ring I can get a bit lower than that on mine.

52/42 12-26 has a tooth capacity of 24

So if you put a new cassette on the back, the question is: could your rear mech cope with it?
According to the Shimano tech doc here http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/t...01/SI-5XA0A-001-ENG_v1_m56577569830673817.pdf your mech has a capacity of 35 but also states largest sprocket 26.

I think you may be able to get away with a 28T largest sprocket, I dunno (others will be able to advise) but that will only lower your bottom gear to 42x28 which I calcuate as 40" which is still pretty high.

So it may not be as simple as replacing the cassette.

You could consider a smaller inner ring ...

I failed to find out the capacity of the FD-A050 but if you put a 34T inner ring on that would only require the front mech to cope with 52-34=18T and I think that should be doable. That would give you a 35" bottom gear which would be a bit more like it. But I don't know if you could fit a 34T ring on your crankset ... that's getting into questions about BCDs and stuff that I don't know about. (Edit: While I was composing that HLaB above has suggested you may not be able to get a 34T ring on ...)

 

[Dogtrousers]

Thanks HLaB. That's interesting so it's more the chain set that needs swapping, makes sense now I have read a bit more about it (new to all this bike techno-speak!). I found this on the halfords website when someone asked the question about changing the chain set on their carrera TDF:
Yes, the Shimano 2350 50/34 Chainset is compatible with the Carrera TDF, due to the square taper interface, the Shimano 2350 should fit without changing any other components. Should you require any further assistance please go to your local Halfords store where a member of staff will be happy to help you further.

Unfortunately, this message was 18 months ago and after searching for the Shimano 2350, it looks like it might be an obsolete model now. Does anyone know of a compatible replacement? Ideally looking to avoid replacing multiple components here so that I can keep the Carrera for the upcoming triathlon and then decide if I want to upgrade to a better bike later.

By my calculation
Your current setup has a gearing range from 43" - 116"
If you put a 50/34 onto it, the range would be 35" - 111"

For reference my personal(others will differ) explanation/experience of gear inches is:
Below 30 get up anything
30-40 low.
100 high
Above 100 really high.
Above 110 gnnnn I can't turn these pedals with my weedy legs

 

[simon flannery]

The evil side of my brain is already using this as an excuse to buy a Specialized Allez Elite! So shiny!

 

[Acyclo]

This is what I put on my road bike:
http://www.freemanscycles.co.uk/bic...garange-8-speed-hg-40-cassette-sprockets.html
and:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-acera-m360-7-8-speed-rear-mech/rp-prod3867
I can ride up anything. Go me.

 

[Chris432626]

Surely he needs a triple chain set?

 

[uclown2002]

Surely he needs a triple chain set?

Why?

 

[Simmer]

I put a 12-30 cassette on the back of my tdf and no problems with the rear mech. There are couple of fairly steep hills ;ocally which I still struggled on though, so also put a compact crankset on. I went with the claris compact which meant putting an octalink BB in. (about £60 for crankset and bb I think it was)

 

[Chris432626]

Why?

Slightly easier gearing?

 

[Hip Priest]

I thought the Carrera TDF came with a compact. It certainly used to. Are you sure it isn't a misprint on the website? Bit daft selling a beginnners road bike with a 52/42t in this day & age.

 

[young Ed]

The evil side of my brain is already using this as an excuse to buy a Specialized Allez Elite! So shiny!

no no you are wrong on that one, that is the best ride of your brain telling you that!
seriously though a straight cassette swap may be possible but likely rear derailler will need re-adjusting ( a pain in the bum!) and depending on how many miles you have covered on the chain it may well be worth replacing that at the same time (many recommend the brand KMC rather than shimano)
Cheers Ed