Hi everyone, Thanks in advance for you advice...
I bought a Rans Stratus XP in Southern California, put 700+ miles on it and came to my other house on Whidbey Island WA. At 62 and 250+ lbs, I have found the hills tough.
I called the bike shop in S. Cal where I bought the bike and the mechanic recommended that I get "mountain bike" crank and gears. He made it sound quick and easy. I loaded my bike up and took it to a shop in Mt Vernon. I got this long speech on gearing and a quote of 250-500 dollars to pick up a couple of gears. This would install a new crank set, new gears and possibly a front derailer,shifter and chain. I then asked how much it would cost to install a SRAM Dual-Drive that I read about on the internet. He said it would be about the same.
I don't know what to do. I don't think that I need 81 speeds. Most of the time on flat land I am in the middle gears going up or down a couple. I don't mind spending money to improve my bike but I don't want to waste a bunch on money or do something that will ruin this wonderful bike. I am not a racer and go plenty fast for me. I do it for exercise and pleasure. I would like to be able to make 20-50mi rides up here like I did in SoCal. The long medium hills will get easier as my conditioning gets better, but there are a couple hills that I just can't get up. I am ready to learn more about gears, gearing and bike modifications so any links to that kind of info on the web would be appreciated.
john.
bobkat
08-12-07, 08:26 AM
I wouldn't think you would need "mountain gearing" unless you were finding that you were in the small front chain ring a lot of the time and were running out of gearing, wishing you had even lower gears so you could spin faster at a lower gear on very steep hills!??!
The only other reason I could see would be if you were to replace your crank arms with shorter crank arms (like I did for knee problems) and would need smaller gears in the front, but that sure wouldn't cost any more than $100 bucks or so.
Will be interesting to see what other bent drivers think......
dgholmes59
08-12-07, 08:37 AM
The RANS Stratus XP is already running mountain bike components. That is what most of the recumbent bicycles use. I really do not think you will get that much for your money. You could gain a little by changing your cassette. I looked at the specs for the XP and it is running a 11-32T SRAM 970 cassette. You could increase the low gear by changing to the 11-34T SRAM 970. This would give you a little more on the low end. You could change out your 30T chainring to a smaller ring, but you really won't get as much of a change as changing the cassette. Personally, I would just change the cassette to 11-34T SRAM 970. You can buy one off ebay for $30 to $40 plus shipping.
Here is a neat little tool to let you see what gearing is going to do for you. It is very helpful. Select mph with different cadences to see what the difference will really be and whether you want to spend $500 for it.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
The fact is, if the hills are tough, you need lower gearing. However, you can only go so slow on that lonnngggg bicycle. Probably in the neighborhood of 4 mph. Gearing is not going to change that. At that point, you may have to get off and walk.
Here are the specs for you bike. Just click on the specs link. You are running 30-42-52 crankset with 11-32 cassette.
http://www.ransbikes.com/SXP07.htm#
These few hills you are having problems with. Could you climb them on a DF bike? If so, you will be able to with the recumbent in time. You just have to condition the legs. I can now climb hills better on my recumbent than I could with my DF bike. I was in a rally yesterday and was climbing past may DF bikes. It does get better. And I am running the same crankset as you but running a 12-26T SRAM 970 cassette. I just replaced my 11-34T with it.
Cupocoffee
08-12-07, 08:55 AM
Hey John,
I rode my Rans Stratus XP across America this year and the best thing I did before the trip was to add a fourth chainring for the mountains. The smallest chainring is an 18 tooth. As you know, once you get below about 6 MPH on your bent, you will start wobbleing all over the place. If you go to a lower gear, as I did, you will not start that wobbleing until you get below 4 MPH. I got my chainring from Mountain Tamer from the owner named Tom. I took my bike to a local bike shop and they did as you said, they changed out the bottom bracket and put on different cranks. The chainring wouldn't fit my original cranks. I think my cranks are now 170 mm. At any rate, it makes it possible to do some very difficult hills. I thought going over the Rockies was tough, and it was, but some of the much shorter mountains in Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia were much steeper and required some real fortitude. The grades on some were well over 15%. There were many times when I was all the way down on that 18 tooth chainring and wishing I had a smaller one. Tom told me that at one time they carried a 16 tooth chainring but he no longer has those. I don't remember how much it cost to do the conversion but it wasn't more than $250 including the bottom bracket. Tom is a very friendly guy and can tell you exactly what you will need. Some of it was over my head and I had my bike shop man call him to make sure it could be done and exactly what was necessary. I didn't want any problems with my new bike. There is one problem which I had to modify myself and that was the bike shift plate, which moves your chain from one chain ring to the other, is not set up for that wide a range of gears and it was difficult to get the chain to drop down onto that fourth chainring. I made a part to correct this. It was very simple and without all the changes I would never have made it over all the mountain ranges across the country. FYI, there were many, many times when I would be below 3 MPH. Yes, I was wobbeling but I was moving forward giving it everyting I had.
Saying all that ... I loved having a wind screen on my bike. I have a Zzipper and it is all scratched up now because my bike was blown over at least 50 times on the trip. They are very expensive but I am sure glad I got it. If you are riding over 20 miles, I think it is something to give thought. I can't say for sure but I feel I gained a bit of speed and it is much more comfortable to ride, especially in the cold and rain.
I pulled a Burley trailer (mistake) ... get a Bob. The total weight of my bike (32 pounds) and all my gear was 120 pounds. Everybody thought I was crazy but it wasn't that big a deal once I got a few hundred miles under my belt. Oh, there were times I cussed myself but I was glad to take all my toys.
Back to the gearing ... with the fourth chainring, I ended up with 36 gears. Most of my riding was done on the second and third chainrings unless I was going downhill or on flats. A lot of those gears are redundant and the idea of needing 81 gears seems a bit ludicrous to me because the spacing is so close you wouldn't notice a difference. If I were to do it over again, I would do exactly as I did but my chainring sizes would have been 48, 38, 28, and 18 for, what I think would be, the smoothest transition between gears.
Bike Forums doesn't allow us to put our web sites on our posts but if you will go to my profile, you will see my web page and you can read about my trip across America.
I hope some of this helped. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.
My Rans Stratus XP now has 6,000 miles on it and it never once cause me a problem. Not once!
Steve
bestone
08-12-07, 01:08 PM
I know how steep the hills are in western wa, do as I do get off n walk for now at 62 we dont need to be roadies. good luck have fun
jpsage
08-12-07, 03:22 PM
Thanks to all for the info. I am going out now and abuse myself on the HILLs.... Too nice a day to worry....
I will order the lower gear tonight and bug you guys on installing it. I thought I had the wrench for the crank but I can't find it. Guess I will have to order that tonight too. I guess if I can fix my own cars, I can do this myself--history tells me that guys that work on my cars don't care as much as I do about my stuff so here I go. I am also posting on my other bike that has lower gears--will need help there too.
thanks,
john.
Chaco
08-12-07, 07:39 PM
I have an XP myself, and just passed the 1,000 mile mark. I have to say that each day my attitude toward hills changes. The first two weeks, they were terrifying. I did not have spinning down, and I was wobbling all over the place under 5 mph. I was in my lowest gear on almost every hill, and getting to the top of each one with almost no energy to spare.
Now, in my 7th week, many of the hills that used to intimidate me are no big deal. Some of them I even go up using my high gears. I'm spinning better, and my legs are in better shape.
In other words, I guess I would council waiting just a bit before you change everything around. Unless, that is, your legs are already in top shape, and you know the hills around there are just too steep.
By the way, I got a Mueller fairing on my Stratus, too, and I love it. Somehow, it's made the hills easier too, perhaps because I can gain more momentum going down the slope before the hill.
FlyingAnchor
08-12-07, 08:14 PM
I am doing the same thing (changing to mt gears) with my Bacchetta Agio, 52/38/24 this coming week. Hills just suck and I find myself finding reasons not to ride until the gears come in, and that ticks me off in of itself.
I need to just ride. :)
The Rans sounds like quite a bike and I almost went that way myself. Good luck.
Steven
bkaapcke
08-12-07, 09:04 PM
Fore and aft seat position is critical on LWB recumbents. It needs to be far enough forward so you can really push your lower back into the seat when climbing. 1/2" past the optimal point and you lose most of your climbing power. bk
jpsage
08-12-07, 09:59 PM
I have an XP myself, and just passed the 1,000 mile mark. I have to say that each day my attitude toward hills changes. The first two weeks, they were terrifying. I did not have spinning down, and I was wobbling all over the place under 5 mph. I was in my lowest gear on almost every hill, and getting to the top of each one with almost no energy to spare.
Now, in my 7th week, many of the hills that used to intimidate me are no big deal. Some of them I even go up using my high gears. I'm spinning better, and my legs are in better shape.
In other words, I guess I would council waiting just a bit before you change everything around. Unless, that is, your legs are already in top shape, and you know the hills around there are just too steep.
By the way, I got a Mueller fairing on my Stratus, too, and I love it. Somehow, it's made the hills easier too, perhaps because I can gain more momentum going down the slope before the hill.
Maybe you are right, I went out today and did much better. On the 2mi long hill on the way home, I only had to rest once. I may still have to get lower gears for the big hills, but conditioning may be the answer for the medium hills. I guess the 800 miles on flat land is not the same as a few trips in the hill country. The 16 miles today left me tired but not flamed. Oh, but I love the feeling after a ride!!!!
Goatbiker
08-13-07, 02:56 AM
Jpsage,
I had the same problem on my RANS V2.
I replaced the 30 tooth chain ring with a 26, and the 11-32 cassette with an 11-34. Life is good again. You MAY have to add links to your chain. Mine was long enough to accommodate the 52-34 combo (which you must allow for). The Sugino 26 tooth ring was about $15, and the 11-34 cassette was $45. It is also a good idea to use a JumpStop to keep the chain from falling off the 26 when shifting to it. It is a long drop from the 42 tooth.
Tom
bobkat
08-14-07, 06:28 AM
GB, I'm going top show my ignorance, but what is a jump stop? Thanks
Sandwarrior
08-14-07, 08:00 AM
which would be the better gearing for hill climbing, the 62/52/42 of the tailwind or the 52/42/30 of the Bacchetta Agio, assuming they have similar cassetts
(11/32T)?
eldenh
08-16-07, 06:54 AM
Jump stop is a device to keep the chain from derailing. Check it out at www.gvtc.com/~ngear/ (http://www.gvtc.com/~ngear/).
BlazingPedals
08-16-07, 07:21 AM
The 30/32 on the Agio would yield a lower gear compared to the 42/34 on the Tailwind - 22.7 inches vs 25.5 inches, using nominal tire sizes. One problem with small wheels is that they don't have as large a gear range. This is because of the limitations of front derailleurs. So if you gear a 20 inch wheel for top end, you 'lose' a gear or two at the bottom end (and vice versa.)
rdhstratus
08-16-07, 05:29 PM
Hi,
Living in CT, I found that the stock Rans Stratus gearing was too high for the hills. I rather inexpensively fixed this by replacing the front chainrings and leaving the 105 crank. Went from 52-42-30 to 48-38-26 (might have been able to go even lower than the 26). I don't miss the high gear and my knees love the lower low.