TheatreME

Hey, I am finally done wih my GRE and have started painting my 19.5" Trek 800. All the left-out-in-the-rain-and-sun-for-8-years components have been thrown away, and as soon as my second coat of bright orange paint goes on I will begin transferring all the components from my old 18" Trek 820 to the "new" bike. I am going to change the knobby tires to some semi slicks and probably get a threaded to threadless stem converter so I can have a little more comtroll over stem length. Thats all phase 1.

However after I get her rideable I would really like to upgrade the crank. At the moment it is a lowend Shimano 42-32-24. I live in SW Florida at the moment so hills do not exist. I spend almost all my time chuggin along in 3/7 occasionally dropping to 3/6 to get a little more speed out of dead stand still after a stop light. However when I really get going it seems like I am "out pedalling" my top gear. I looked around the nashbar site and saw a 48-38-28 crank that looks promising.

So the question is twofold: how do nashbars inhouse brand components hold up, and will crank in this vein help my "problem" and still let me climb the monster hills in the places where I work in the Summers (Ithaca NY, or Charlottesville, VA)

Thanks this board has been a huge help to my newfound love of commuting.

Bill Kapaun

You didn't say what cassette/Free Wheel you have on the back, but you might be able to make a big difference back there for less money.
If you go to a larger crank, make sure you have clearance next to the chain stay for a bigger ring.
Use the gear calculator at the link to determine how many gear inches you need for your hill country and then try different combinations of cassettes/rings to see if some looks like it would serve both types of riding.

https://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

TheatreME

Thanks for the reply.

How can I check to see if a bigger crank can fit next to my chainstay? As to my rear freewheel/ cassette when I pull it off my old bike. Its whatever stock 7 gears came on 5-10 year old trek 820 before they had front shocks.

Bill Kapaun

I've got a 91 or 2? 820 Antelope and it came with a 28-38-48. It also has a slightly longer BB spindle (3MM) on the drive side to move the rings out.
Are your chain rings individually removable or riveted together?
Since chain is 1/2" per tooth, a 48T ring will be 6" larger circumference or 6"/PI larger diameter than a 42T. That's nearly 1" larger radius etc.
Look at your existing rings and visualize the clearance you would have if that specific ring were X teeth larger.
If you have removable rings, maybe you could change just one of them without clearance issues?
Actually, once you own a crank puller, you can do ring "swaps" relatively quickly.
I'm not sure what your TREK came with, FW or FH. Also the parts MIGHT have been changed during its lifetime. You pretty much have to count the teeth on the cogs, although in many cases, knowing what the smallest and largest cogs are, one can determine what it has. See this link to see WHAT type hub you have-
https://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

TheatreME

The conversion saga continues. I Finally stripped down the 18" trek 820 and started mounting all the hardware onto the 19.5 trek 800, after a very utilitarian paint job (read quick and dirty). Well to begin with I didnt realize that they had different cranks so, my front derailluer doesnt fit. I managed to break the plastic tab that holds the rear shifter together (it works but it will need to be replaced). I also torqued the head off the bolt that holds half my canti breaks to the front fork. Since the bolt is still in the shaft, it looks like I will be replacing it with caliper brakes when I can find some that fit.

So now I am commuting with no front breaks and no front derailleur. Thank goodness Florida is about as flat as it comes.

Well I guess that's want I get for being a noob. Oh well live and learn.

I will post pics as soon as I get a chance. She is a piece of work.

RT

I have this crankset installed on my two MTB hybrids - SOLID. Look nowhere else. Also, go disc and rigid fork (I have the Surly 1x1). My $.02.

cerewa

I think I've only bought one nashbar-brand product, but it was super-- a cassette that appeared to be super hard (nickel plated?) steel. The steel was completely rust-proof for my stored-outdoors bike and very wear resistant. (if only I had used it with a chain and hub of equal quality!)