Upgrade Gears on Hybrid

[chrisb1357]

Hi all,

I have a Giant Hybrid which i have had for 2 years now. I ride alot with someone else who has a road bike and i find it hard to keep up with them as my gears dont match. Is there anything i can do to upgrade the gears on my hybrid to match a road bike as i cannot afford to buy a new or second hand road bike

Chris

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

What gears do you have on the bike already?

To be honest, unless it is seriously undergeared an upgrade in this area may not give the desired result. You may be better off looking at thinner tyres initially, depending on what your wheels are capable of taking, as rolling resistance has a big effect on speed.

A bit more info about the bike would help us advise you better.

 

[Psyclist]

What model Giant is it?

 

[james79]

Instead of you upgrading why doesnt he downgrade lol:-D? Ive got giant sedona with sis and sram! Ive been told sram isnt ideal but its ok-ish! A highbrid wont be as fast though as a road bike! All you can do is try and do a bit of weight saving. The tyres are a good option as ive now got semi slicks on mine now! They reduce resistance because but also reduce comfort so theoretically the narrower you go the less comfortable your ride becomes! Is your bike a sedona?

 

[Psyclist]

Most likely an Escape or Seek, or maybe a Cyprus. Tyres are the best and cheapest upgrade to change speed.

 

[cyberknight]

Instead of you upgrading why doesnt he downgrade lol:-D? Ive got giant sedona with sis and sram! Ive been told sram isnt ideal but its ok-ish! A highbrid wont be as fast though as a road bike! All you can do is try and do a bit of weight saving. The tyres are a good option as ive now got semi slicks on mine now! They reduce resistance because but also reduce comfort so theoretically the narrower you go the less comfortable your ride becomes! Is your bike a sedona?

Who said sram is not ok? ask Tom Boonen who seems to be doing fine this year on an sram equiped bike.

 

[Psyclist]

Who said sram is not ok? ask Tom Boonen who seems to be doing fine this year on an sram equiped bike.

If James means me, I said to change his SRAM shifters to match his Shimano SIS rear mech as they don't bond well together.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

If James means me, I said to change his SRAM shifters to match his Shimano SIS rear mech as they don't bond well together.

This doesn't match my experience. Provided you get the correct actuation ratio (Shimano use 2:1 on all models while SRAM use 1:1 on their top end stuff) the SRAM shifters work extremely well with Shimano. What problems have you had?

 

[Psyclist]

This doesn't match my experience. Provided you get the correct actuation ratio (Shimano use 2:1 on all models while SRAM use 1:1 on their top end stuff) the SRAM shifters work extremely well with Shimano. What problems have you had?

I had problems a few years ago when I started mtb (noob mistake) I bought SRAM trigger shifters for my XT drivetrain in which the rear mech broke.

 

[Psyclist]

You're right though Phil, my friend from my LBS just said that lower end SRAM stuff works well with Shimano, so my mistake.

 

[chrisb1357]

Hi all,

I have a Giant CRS4 which i Purchased in 2010 which has the standard wheels on still but i have had fitted for the last 2 years 700x35 Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

I will need to check the gears in the morning but i think its this spec http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/crs.4/4863/39002/

Chris

 

[mcshroom]

Looking at that bike you have a top gear of 48-14, do you actually spin that out on the flat? As it's a 7sp freewheel you would struggle to go much smaller at the back so it may just be a case of spinning faster.

You are never going to be as quick on a hybrid as on a drop barred bike (for the same effort), but have a go with some lighter, narrower slick tyres. I find 35mm marathons to be a bit draggy compared to my 25mm Krylion carbons or 28mm Sport contacts. I'd look for slick tyres around 28mm (gatorskins, sport contacts, vitorria zaffiro, durano are the ones I can think of off the top of my head)

 

[james79]

Mine are the sram max twist shifters and they are ok but poor when doing rapid shifts as theyre far from smooth. I apologize if ive given any wrong advice as im a noob myself!

 

[Psyclist]

Mine are the sram max twist shifters and they are ok but poor when doing rapid shifts as theyre far from smooth. I apologize if ive given any wrong advice as im a noob myself!

These work with Shimano stuff, it's just the higher end components like SRAM X9 and Shimano XT which won't gel.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Hi all,

I have a Giant CRS4 which i Purchased in 2010 which has the standard wheels on still but i have had fitted for the last 2 years 700x35 Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

I will need to check the gears in the morning but i think its this spec http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/crs.4/4863/39002/

Chris

Looking at that bike, it's not geared as high as a racing bike but I wouldn't call it undergeared either. In the to 48-14 gear it's approx 92 gear inches. As it uses a screw on freewheel there isn't a huge amount you can do with the gearing without spending more than it is worth. If you did want to make changes, this freewheel has a 13 tooth top gear which would increase it to approx 100 gear inches. Combining it with this chainset would up the gearing by a further 3 gear inches but do you want to spend that much for a small increase?

Realistically you would be better off with some different tyres as even though the Marathon Plus is probably the best puncture resistant tyre on the market it is not a fast tyre. A racing tyre in 700x28c (I'm not sure whether your wheels will take thinner) would give the most noticable improvement.