Originally Posted by
susanrm
Nothing at all wrong with it! I just couldn't find it. Thanks very much. Now that you pointed me to it, it's obvious. But strange that a search for 3300 on the site didn't bring anything up... ah well, what can you say
I have a 12/26 now. Would a 12/28 be much improvement?
It would be an improvement but I don't know if I'd call it "much" improvement. How much difficulty are you having climbing those hills now with the 30-26 low gear? If you're only looking for a slightly easier time, try the 12/28. If you're looking for a drastically easier gear to push, I'd say change out your small chainring to a 28 or 26 (may require going smaller on your big and middle chainrings too) and add the MTB cassette.
Originally Posted by
susanrm
Could you please clarify why a mountain bike derailleur would help so much? I know my friends on mountain bikes climb hills much easier...
The MTB won't help you climb at all. It's geometry will allow you to fit and shift a cassette with a 32 tooth big cog. The reason your friends with MTBs are climbing easier is because of their gearing. They most likely have a low gear of 22-32 or something similar. That's a very significant decrease in gear inches from what you've got. For an explanation of gear inches, go to
www.sheldonbrown.com and look for his gearing calculator. It's great information for any cyclist.