xraydog

Hi All,

I got into cycling earlier this year. I am in my mid 50's and a Clydesdale (270lbs). I live in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. I have a Specialized Diverge that I really enjoy. It has a Compact double crankset (Shimano Sora 50/34 front, 11-32 rear cassette). I am having trouble climbing gradients greater than 8-10%. While vacationing in Italy I rented a mountain bike that had a triple and I found I was able to climb (although slowly) gradients over 10%.

My question is..... what is involved and how much would it cost to add a triple crankset to my current bike?

Rick D

Drew Eckhardt 

shifters ($120), crankset ($60), front derailleur ($19), maybe rear derailleur ($20) = $220 using new Sora components from Ribble in the UK. You'll want an inner ring smaller than a 30 - that only yields one gear lower than a 34 compact crank. A 74mm BCD crank will take rings down to 24T although your Shimano derailleur might not be happy with the difference from a 39 ring. Use a chain catcher.

You may also consider a touring crankset a Sugino XD in 46-36-26 for $110 - the steps between those rings are like the stock 50-39-30 so it'll shift better. 46x11 is still a bigger gear than the 52x13 Eddy Merckx used; much past 30 MPH down hill you can just tuck if your spin isn't up for it. You'll also need an appropriate bottom bracket for that, about $20.

Used parts would be less, nicer parts more.

You can also sell your left overs to reduce the net cost.

70sSanO

Herein lies the problem. You can bolt on a Road Triple crank with the mods given above, but you may have a chainline issue if you go with a mountain triple... been there done that to convert an older road bike. This is where you should talk to a shop. You don't want to go from a 34 to a 30 as mentioned above, you will not get the same benefit as with a mountain triple.

As for parts, you may be able to just replace the left Sora shifter. You Specialized uses a GS Sora that has a capacity of 41, so you may be able to get away with keeping that one. You'll probably have to get a triple front derailleur.

John

Phil_gretz

You'll need a new crankset, bottom bracket bearing/spindle to match, front derailleur, front shifter, chain, inner cabling, and labor. You can find each of those on the web, or can order through your local shop.

Or, you could simply continue to ride your compact double. It was designed with your situation in mind. Keep working at it.

Mindcrime

If you cant climb it in a 34/32, then work on the engine, not the bike. I started over 290, same gearing. Switching to a triple crossed my mind. Glad I didn't. Ride what you can to the best of your ability. Soon, that 11% grade will be doable, eventually doable faster than you would imagine. It's really not worth your money to make the switch.

yooperbiker

Maybe an 11-36 cassette would take care of your low gear with much less cost. Need to check if will work with your rear derailer.

Trakhak

Yes on both sentences.

To the OP: get the wide-range cassette (and the derailleur if necessary) and tackle those mountains. If that's OK with the work-on-the-engine nannies.

Leebo

Umm, TX yah. He doesn't have the engine. So the OP needs something lower, not HTFU. Could you go lower than the 34 up front? Pair with a 36 cassette in the back, would just need a smaller chainring and a new rear der, that's all.

williamskg6

I looked into it for my bike too. To get from compact double to triple, I would:

1. Get new crankset. I was looking at a FSA Vero triple, which is about $60
2. Get new shifters. In my case, a flat bar shifters, which is about $55 for Sora
3. Get a new front derailleur. I was looking at Tiagra front since I already had Tiagra. $35
4. Get a new rear derailleur because the total capacity of my current rear derailleur was exceeded due to the triple crank. Sora GS is about $30.
5. Get a new set of brake levers, since I currently have the Shimano combined flat bar shifters/brake levers. About $20.
6. Maybe get a new chain because the old one might be the wrong number of links. About $20

Notice the ripple effect. Basically I'd have to replace my entire drivetrain, brake levers, and shifters. I decided it just wasn't worth it.

-Kent W.

McBTC

I was thinking when I got my current rig with the same gearing as you that compact technology is genius. Even so, instead of maxing at 11-32 I'd be nice if Shimano also offered --e.g., 15-34 freewheels so that I could have a 1:1 bailout gear and closer spacing. A 50x15 at 75 rpm is ~20 mph as it is, which would be plenty for me ...

MRT2

Your current setup has a low gear of 28 gear inches, which isn't bad. If you need a lower bailout gear, you could switch to a 46 - 30 compact double. You don't lose much top end speed and that gets you down to 25 gear inch bailout gear. Switch to an 11 - 34 cassette and you now have a 23 gear inch bailout gear.

A new crankset isn't cheap, but at least you can keep your shifters and derailleurs.

xraydog

Thanks everyone for the info! I had no idea of the changes that needed to be made to go from a double to a triple. Walking up the steep sections is more a blow to my ego, although I am walking less than I did earlier this year on the same hills. I'll see if I can get a little larger rear gear or smaller front ring if I don't have to change derailers or shifters and then spend the extra effort working on the motor and the chasis.

veganbikes

Getting a tripleizer is also an option so you don't have to buy new cranks just a new chainring (two I guess including the tripleizer)
Compact Triplelizer Chainring

You might need a new FD and will certainly need a shifter that can handle a 3x set up but aside from that you should be pretty decent. Though sometimes chainline can be an issue though I am less sure with the more modern cranks that have moved away from square taper.

LateSleeper

You need lower gears, but a triple is not the answer when retrofitting. What you want is something called a "super compact" crank. These are typically 94 BCD (or less) instead of 110, so they can accommodate an inner ring with less than 34 teeth. You maintain the same step between outer and inner rings, so your high gear goes down proportionally. Trust me: you won't miss it. Typical setups would be 48-32, 46-30, or 44-28. Some crank sets can be built-up even lower. This maintains a 16 tooth gap between outer and inner rings, so your front derailleur still works (just lower it), and your rear derailleur still has the same wrap once you shorten your chain. When I re-geared my cross-utility bike, I decided to go with a 14 tooth step instead of 16 tooth. This radically improved the shifting of my SRAM Apex front derailleur, but there's no need for that if you like how your front derailleur shifts today.

Super-compact cranks with modern ramping are made by Sugino and Middleburn. They are hard to find in the US, but not impossible. Don't expect bargain pricing. Non-ramped square-taper cranks are still manufactured and sold to builders of custom randoneering bikes. IRD makes a popular one, Rene Herse makes a "vintage" one, and White Industries makes a highly-adaptable but very pricey one.

xraydog

Thanks LateSleeper,
I think a super-compact crank could be the answer. I'll start searching.

Dave Cutter

Have you heard of the N+1 rule?

I've found there in no such thing as... one bike for all purposes. I love my daily rider (a compact double crankset). But I also love my climber (Cannondale triple crank). And having a rain/winter bike is really nice too.

bikemig 

+ 1. A new RD that can handle the larger cogset is the most cost effective solution. A different double crank with smaller rings is also a good solution. Telling the OP to just HTFU is not a solution to his problem.

bmthom.gis

You'd do better getting a different cassette and rear der. You'll likely need a new chain as well to accommodate

Camilo

For what it's worth...

I have a standard Shimano road triple drive train: 6503 series shifters, FD and RD (RD is the longer cage version of the road RD). I think the same would apply to current Shimano and/or microshift stuff.

Anyway, the only point I want to make is that I replaced the road triple (52-42-30) with a MTB triple crank (I think big ring is 48 or 46, small ring is 28, 26 or 24... I just used whatever I had laying around). Both the FD and RD work fine with that crank, but the FD is a triple FD, not double like OP.

Now, my MTB crank is a common square taper crank. It's kind of old, so I didn't know what the proper length for the spindle was, so I made a good guess for a BB, found it was too short (or long - can't remember!) and just returned it and bought another of a different length based on that. With square taper cranks, There's options for spindle length and it's pretty easy to figure which gives you the right chain line, out by experience, calculations or by trial and error or close enough for the multi-speed cassette.

So, if the OP buys a set of Sora (or Microshift) triple shifters to go with the MTB crank/BB, my guess is that the RD will work - or at least will be worth trying.

If it's a square taper crank, I also believe you won't have any problem finding a BB with a spindle that will work fine.

Therefore, my guess is that the cost will be shifters + FD + crank + bottom bracket only. I guess the RD will work fine.

If the RD doesn't work, you can use a MTB rd. I did that with my wife's bike (9 speed). 10 speed might be different, I don't know.

I get the idea of a "super compact" and a large MTB-size cassette. But in my humble opinion, using both triples and doubles in various flavors, if you want low gearing, just invest in the triple if you can. You'll never regret it. You'll have a higher high gear, a lower or as-low low gear and much, much better steps between the gears. Compacts don't do it as well as triples.