Bicycle Mechanics - Need lower gear on a road bike.

I have a Jamis quest '03 w/ a triple (52/42/30) on the front and 12/23 on the back. I want to do the blue ridge parkway in the spring, but a ride around Brevard, NC didn't go nearly as well as on a Rockhopper last year. The lowest gear on the Rockhopper is 22x32, and the quest 30x23, so the lesson is clear: I need lower gears.

I could add an SRAM ATB 11x32 (or 11x34) cassette, but I would probably need to switch out the rear derailleur as well, yes? I assume the Deore LX would work here. However, would I have to switch out the rear hub (the rear wheel is an open pro 700)?

How about switching out the granny gear, can I replace the 30 w/ something smaller? Where would I get such a thing?

Hi,
I have a triple like yours with a Shimano Megarange Rear Der on 12-34 cassette. That would do the trick. You can put a 28T instead of the 30 up front. I also did that but it degrades your shifting a bit. Going from a 23 to a 32 or 34 bailout gear will make a huge difference and be plenty if you're not doing loaded touring.

I have a Jamis quest '03 w/ a triple (52/42/30) on the front and 12/23 on the back. I want to do the blue ridge parkway in the spring, but a ride around Brevard, NC didn't go nearly as well as on a Rockhopper last year. The lowest gear on the Rockhopper is 22x32, and the quest 30x23, so the lesson is clear: I need lower gears.

I could add an SRAM ATB 11x32 (or 11x34) cassette, but I would probably need to switch out the rear derailleur as well, yes? I assume the Deore LX would work here. However, would I have to switch out the rear hub (the rear wheel is an open pro 650c)?

How about switching out the granny gear, can I replace the 30 w/ something smaller? Where would I get such a thing? You'll have to have a mtb RD with the 34 and maybe the 32. No need to mess with the hub. A 26 will work on the front www.peterwhitecycles.com for chainrings...granny is a 74BCD.You should consider also eating more spinach, as the 650 wheels give you a lower gear than you would have with 700s. You may not need as low as the rockhopper since you are dragging less bike weight and have more effecient tires.

I've ridden the Blue Ridge Parkway a little many years ago before I got into cycling much. It sure is nice to have lower gearing for long, steep climbs.

You can go to 24 if my memory is correct. Check out the bolt circle and TA rings. Check out http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/cranks.html#11074 and http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/chainrings.asp

I've used 11/32 on the rear of my road bike (700c) for years with no problems. The LX (long cage) or XT derailleurs work fine. The 11/32 was combined with a mountain bike crank set (22/32/44) to get the gears I wanted. I just put together a new bike and went to a TA Zephyr Triple (out of production and available only from Peter White) which has two sets of bolt holes for the inner chain ring. You can go as low as 20 teeth. I'm using 22/36/46 with an ultegra 12/27 cassette. I spin easily to around 110, so my highest gear yields about 31+ mph measured. Beyond that I'm happy to coast. That's about the same top end as with the previous set-up, but with much more suitable jumps between the smaller cogs in the back. I'm using a 105 derailleur in the front. Shifts are crisp.

The problem with the 11/32 is the jump between the cogs at the higher-gearing end is too large to maintain momentum easily. That's especially true with something like 42/52 rings. 11/32 works much better with a mountain bike crankset (22/32/44) since the "higher-gearing end" is lower than with 42/52. Road cassettes have more closely spaced cogs at the high end which is a major advantage to maintaining a higher average speed.

I may switch to a back-up 11/32 (or 12/34) XT cassette for long rides in the N Georgia mountains. I have to add three chain links (easy to do with SRAM master links) and won't be able to use the smallest three cogs in the back with the 22 ring as the gear range will exceed the XT (long cage) capacity. Not a big deal as those gears are duplicated by other ring/cog combinations.

A minor point; Peter White's site indicates that mountain bike deraileurs wont work with STI. Not so as I've been using 105 STI with LX,XT and XTR for about three years now. I've pointed this out to Mr. White.

Al

I've been successful in getting Shimano road derailers to run on a 30 cog. So if you dont' want to have to change rear derailers, you can go with an 11-30.

No need to change the rear wheel.

Inner ring can be as small as 24. But I think 24x42x52 is stretching it a bit. I believe the max difference is probably spec'd at 22 but you can usually push this to 24 or 26. I buy my chainrings at www.loosescrews.com

I run an older XT 46/34/26 on my cross/touring bike with a Sram 12-32 in the back. Ft. dr is a 105 triple and the rear is an XT longcage. I use barcons for shifting, so I do not have to deal with the STI issues. This gets me around the long grades and does well when I am loaded with 50 lbs on in the panniers. I used to live in Va. and rode the park way alot.

Wait, wait. The Rockhopper is an MTB, right? And the Jamis is a road bike? Well, of course you're gonna be able to run higher gears for the same terrain on a road bike than on an MTB, since it's got much lower rolling resistance, more efficient transfer of power (frame stiffness/geometry, etc). You're comparing apples to oranges, aren't you?

Thanks for the ideas. As a first step, I've ordered a 24t inner from Peter White. He wasn't enthused on leaving me w/ a 52/42/24, but agreed that it should work. I won't need to shift in and out of it w/ any chain tension, so slow shifting should be fine.

I'm also going to change out the 12/23 to a 12/27 ultegra. I've been told that the 105 derailleur can handle the 12/27.

I'll be able to try this out in the mountains before the big trip. If it isn't enough, I can always change the back out to an LX derailleur w/ a 11/32 cog at that point.

The 105 triple rear deraileur can definately handle a 12/27 (spec'd for 27 max) I'm running a 12-28 currently (pulled apart a cheap performance mountain cassette) with 30/42/52 up front. The chain's set up for 26/52 and the derailleur's fine in every gear. I'm thinking I'll try a 30 soon.

you might need a new chain though. maybe not. try it out before buying the new chain.