greenbeing

I'm looking at getting a stock '04 poprad and once i get the bike, i'm hoping to change it from a double to a triple so i can get some lower gears and tour with it. Has anybody made this change on theirs? Do you have to buy a whole new crank or can you just add a charing? Or, are there any other recomendations you might have for getting some really low gears I could use while I'm fully loaded on a tour and climbing up a huge hill.
Thanks for your in put
Greenbeing

MWW

I'm almost certain you'll need a different bottom bracket and crank. Triple cranks usually have two sets of holes. The outside set is for the large and middle ring. The inner set is for the small chainring. The bottom brackets are differently sized to make up for the slightly wider crank width on a triple. I hope this helps a bit.

MWW

Regarding the lower gearing: You could use a mountain bike cassette to get the lower gearing with a road double crank.

jfmckenna

My girlfrien bought a 04 and had the shop switch it to a triple. She wanted to do the exact same thing as you and it works great as a touring bike. You need to have a longer BB axel, new brifter for the triple, and I believe front deraillure too. For racing you just take off the big and little ring and run a single 42 ring. It really works out great.

greenbeing

Would a MTB cassette fit on the poprad and work with the rest of the components no problem?

Also, does anybody know if the poprad has eylets for racks and fenders on the front and back?

thanks!

G-Unit

Yeah a Mountain bike cassette would work on a road bike. The chainrings on the Poprad are 36/48, so you probably won't need to change them.

Lectron

Careful with mounting a mountain casette with road derailleur.
A Shimano derailleur is only meant to handle 27T (works OK with 28)
Campa works at least up to 29T.

noisebeam

What is the lowest gearing on the '04? On the '05 its 38:26, which is lower than a lot of road bikes, but not low enough for loaded touring.

Al