mattifus

I was wondering if there was a way to add 8 gears to my 16 speed bike to make it a 24? I have a Trek 1.1 Road bike and was just wondering if its possible. If so, how would i go about this?

ThermionicScott 

I take it you have two chainrings in front, and an 8-speed cassette in rear? The most obvious way would be to get a triple crankset. Before buying more parts, I'm curious why you want "more speeds" -- do you need more low gears, more high gears, or closer spacing in the rear?

- Scott

mattifus

Yeah thats how my bike is set up. 2 chainrings in the front and an 8-speed cassette in the rear. A triple crankset...would this be a tough "conversion"? And i want more speeds because i want more low gears.
thanks for helping

CACycling

Do you have a standard or compact crankset? If you have a standard, it would be cheaper to go to a double which would only require replacing the crankset and lowering/adjusting the FD. If you already have a compact or want really low gears, going to a triple is the answer but will mean replacing the crankset, FD and, most likely, left shifter which is a bit more involved.

fietsbob

In reality you only add maybe 4 more actual RATIOS, by add ing a triple-crankset.

and then you need a big drop to do that middle to small say a 16t difference.
like 40>24, 42>26 ..
less drop the larger the overlap of ratios.. less new lower ratios.

the ratio overlap higher than your middle chain ring
to big cog in back, is new "speeds" but not new ratios

dsbrantjr

You could put a cassette with larger cogs in the rear. This would require the new cassette, a new chain and, depending on the cassette and rear derailleur, a new derailleur. You would need to calculate the chain takeup capacity needed and also the largest cog the derailleur can handle, they are two specifications which must both be satisfied. You would still have 16 speeds but they would be distributed differently with less overlap and larger gaps between them.

mattifus

I have a compact. And man oh man that sounds tough? I think I'm probably going to just wait and eventually get a new bike, heh. Thanks for the help though.

mattifus

oh wow, thanks for all of the input guys. I'm a beginner and thought it would be easier haha, but all this talk says otherwise to me. but again, i really appreciate the input.

IthaDan 

For future searchers- to convert to triple you'd need a new shifter, crankset, BB, FD and RD to properly replicate an OEM install, but some of what you have may work.

For my money, I prefer a double crank, IME the binary nature of double front shifting (big ring, little ring) works much better than a triple crank which can be fussy and can take a lot of patience to get working properly. With a double, the limit screws come into play a lot more than with a triple and overall there is a more forgiving adjustment process.

If you have a compact with a long cage RD, get a 11-32 cassette. There isn't much that's paved a road bike with 34-32 (or 36-32) can't climb.