CO_tourer

I have a 1996 Bianchi Eros w/ all Campagnolo components (mostly Mirage, FD is Veloce), and geared with 52/42/32 and 12-25 8-speed cassette. That gives me a low gear of 34.6 inches which is not nearly low enough for the mountains of Colorado, the loaded touring I want to do, and my 45 year old knees. From the many touring websites I've read and a couple of test rides on other bikes, ideally I want to get to a low gear of ~19 or 20 inches.

My local bike shop is stumped - seems that with every idea we looked at for swapping out a cassette or chainrings, it would lead to needing to replace deraileurs and shifters and other parts in order to operate properly. For example, the new Campagnolo parts are 10 or 11 speed and would require wholesale changes in other components to match (and the Campy gears weren't low enough anyway). Swapping to a Shimano 11-34 cassette raises issues of compatibility with the existing Campagnolo shifters, deraileurs, etc. Replacing the small chainring only would give modest gear ratio gains but then the jump from small to middle chainring is too large and front deraileur probably not long enough to shift properly. Also, seems to be limitations on chainring choices with correct bolt pattern. Etc, Etc, Etc....

I'd like to stick with Campagnolo parts where possible (but not religious about it) and not have to replace the whole drivetrain and shifters - in that case I'd be better off starting over with a new touring bike. Any creative ideas out there for re-gearing this bike without swapping out everything?

Thanks!

thirdin77

Can you just change to a crankset with not only a much smaller ring but with consequently smaller middle and big rings? If you went to, perhaps, a 46/36/26, thus giving you a tiny small ring, you would also have a crankset capacity of 20 teeth and the exact 10-tooth differences between rings which would match your front derailleur.

I believe some Sugino square taper cranksets meet the above description and are available for 8-speed chains.

Regarding the front derailleur, you would have to slide it far enough downward on your seat tube so as to be able to use that small ring.

If it was all mechanically compatible, the question would be one of whether or not you can accept the 36T ring if you're used to a 42T ring.

Do you like your current 42T ring? If you have bad knees, I think you'd really like a smaller middle ring but you tell me.

I put a 46/34/24 Stronglight crankset on my cyclocross/touring bike and I was able to position my front derailleur low enough to accommodate the 24T ring. The bottom of my derailleur cage is close to the chainstay, though, with only about 10mm of clearance.

You can also cross post this in the Touring and the Bicycle Mechanics forums. The etiquette of doing so might not be good but it looks like there are many people who view one forum or the other.

I'll be surprised if you get many answers here as most of these guys' emphasis is on racing and fast club riding.