Paul Crosa

Hello,
I just joined the forum after finding a lot of useful information from this site through Google searches and I have a couple of questions that I couldn't find info for...
I recently purchased a Gary Fisher Fast City Series Wingra with 700x32c tires on it. After finding out that I love biking, I started regretting that I hadn't bought a road bike. I live in a very hilly part of Portland Oregon and I am wondering if anyone can give me advice on how to make my bike faster and also better for hills. I have added Endless Innovations drop bar extensions (without brakes its kinda scary though) and now I want to change the tires. I want to put 700x25 tires on it, but I'm not entirely sure it supports that thin of a tire. If it doesn't, would 700x28 be much better than 700x32?
Second part... How hard would it be to change the gearing for the bike so that it has a higher high gear. Right now its got 8 rear hub, 3 front and the lowest gear is too low, even for the hilly place I live in. I would rather have it be a little higher and be able to go a little faster with a higher gear. SOooo.... is this a trivial change? Can the LBS do an adjustment? Or would I have to change the rear wheel with a new hub on it?
two more questions.... ... I found cable doublers that would allow me to put a second set of brakes on my drop extensions (attaches road style brake levers and lets you share one brake wire for two levers) Is it worth it? The cable doublers cost $45 a piece and an addition $20 for the road brake levers. $110 total. Is this worth it or is it a waste? I'm leaning toward thinking its a waste, but I'm not sure. Its definitely not as good as a road bike drop bar because the extensions have to sit on the ends of the flat handlebars and are very far apart, even if they lower my profile.
Ok lastly to pedals. I've been looking at shimano m324 clipless/platform pedals (one side clipless other platform), would this be a worthy upgrade for a newbie to clipless? Or should I just be getting pure double sided clipless pedals?
Sorry for all the questions I've just been really excited to upgrade my bike and make it that much better and I want to get it just right. Thanks if you're still reading and have any advice for me

East Hill

Wow, that's a lot of questions!

Let's see if anyone comes along to help, otherwise I may move this to Bicycle Mechanics.

(Welcome to BF!)

East Hill

Ray Dockrey

I will attempt to tackle this. That has a 11-30 in the back. I found that a 11-32 or 12-32 is available which should help. The bike already has what I would call touring gears up front so there is not help there. Going to a road triple would make it harder to climb. I think you just need some conditioning for climbing hills and things will get easier.

I would keep the tires that you have as they will be more comfortable and I don't think going to a 28 or 25is going to make it that much faster.

I wouldn't mess with trying to add cable doublers or anything elaso for that matter since I doubt you are going to find any better performance in the drops on that bike. Plus, that bike has v-brakes which are incompatible with any type of road lever. You would need travel agents to make the conversion.

The Shimano M324's would be a good choice for starting out and would allow the use of regular shoes for a short ride.

I think all this stems from road bike envy. For what you paid for that bike it is not worth the money to upgrade it. Just ride it and get in better shape and save your money. Then when you are ready, go buy a road bike equipped the way you want it. Remember, a good engine (you) makes a better bike and all the difference in the world.