Originally Posted by
jamesearlgibson
my front is 52/42 and rear 5 speed is 14-17-20-24-28 and that just dont give me what i need on these hills. what do i need to do to go to a triple front and a nine cassette rear or is this even possible?
I had similar gearing on my old Trek (although mine was 12-28 in the rear, 52/42 in front) and needed something for the surrounding foothills. I went to a SRAM Rival compact crank -- 50/34. It was on sale at Performance 2 years back, less than $200 installed. That's the only change I had to make. The existing FD worked fine. I'm very happy with it and actually like it better than the triple on my new bike.