El Gato27

So I’ve been slowly overhauling my ’92 Nishiki hybrid to use as a short “touring” bike, to see how I feel about touring. Planning some short 25-40 mile out and back overnighters to some state parks around here.

Got to the rear hub last night and noticed it had a 13-28 7-speed hyperglide cassette. Was wondering if I should change it out to something with a larger range? And will any 7-speed hyperglide cassette just drop in and work with my present drivetrain or would that involve additional upgrades—chain or derailleur?

Front crankset is 28-38-48.

Thanks.

fietsbob

'K' is shimano's 7 speed cassette that is 13~34 Yes , you will indeed need a new chain . get several chains .

throwing away a chain early extends the wear life of the rest of the drive train ..

replacing worn stuff is not = upgrade.. though maybe you would like a 24t instead of the 28 on the crank ..

I expect you already have a long-cage RD since it has that triple crank

Biketouringhobo

I vote 24t granny gear 24-38-48t with 13-34t 7 speed and check out Cool Bike Parts and Accessories from the Coast of Maine since 1976


I run 24-32-42t crank set going to 22t granny gear and 11-34t sram pg970 cassette

ThermionicScott 

You left out the most important part -- do you actually feel the need for lower gears? Have trouble climbing any hills currently?

That's what should drive any of these changes. Who knows -- if you've got more than enough range, you might even do what I did and go back toward tighter cassettes with closer spacing between gears. Unused gears at the extreme ends of the range that result in big jumps between gears don't help anyone.


If nothing else, I have an almost unused 13-34T "K" cassette that I'm looking to get rid of. Flexible on the price.

mstateglfr 

I remember reading a thread you started earlier in the year asking about entry level touring bikes and if you should get one or test the waters with your rigid 90s hybrid.
Good to hear you are still interested in trying out touring and that you decided to ease into it with minimal investment.

An early 90s hybrid is often times a great option to start with since itll have a triple crank, has clearance for larger comfortable tires, and most have attachment points to make it easy to use racks and fenders.

As mentioned, you will need a new chain if you change your gearing. A new cassette with a 32 large cog will give you pretty good bail out gearing for hills as long as you arent planning on crossing any mountain divides! I have a bike with a 26 up front and 32 in back and cant remember the last time I was in that extreme a gear. Its excellent to have when its needed, though.

The only think to be concerned about when changing a cassette to a new gear range is making sure the rear derailleur can handle the extra chain. A chain needs to be long enough to properly wrap around the largest cog while not being too slack when in the smallest cog. The rear derailleur handles not only shifting, but it also ‘takes up’ that extra chain when you are in the smaller cogs. It keeps the chain taught and not slack. There are limits to how much chain a rear derailleur can handle. You can find your derailleur’s limit online or post the info here if unsure.

bradtx

El Gato27, You have a granny of about 27 gear inches. This is about 7 GI higher than the general granny gear recommendation. Which state parks are you planning to visit? What do you estimate your load to be?

For a comparison, my back-up touring bike has a 24/28T granny developing 23.3 GI.

Brad

El Gato27

There are very few hills where I live, I usually just ride in my big crank up front and shift through the rear gears as needed. I actually had to spend a bit of time getting my front shifter to work a couple of weekends ago because it had "locked up". A few WD40 purges and tri-flow brought it back to life.

Was planning to put on a new chain; however, I hadn't considered the extra length of the bigger cogs, thanks for pointing that out.

Was planning to head out to McKinney Falls SP, which would be a fairly flat ride and to Bastrop SP (if it hasn’t burnt down), which would be a little more hilly. I'll be at ~50 pounds, bike is ~36 pounds(two bottle cages, tool bag and rear rack). The additional weight is a tent, sleeping bag, pad, food and a change of clothes. Sounds like at this point I should get by with what I have, I just figured since I'm prepping the bike for touring I would look at changing out the cassette.

Thanks all.

hueyhoolihan

i would take a trip and then decide. experience trumps all second hand advice, IMO.

present company excepted, of course.

rifraf

Plus 1
I'm with Fletsbob on this

MRT2

A 28 - 28 is 27 gear inches. At 90 rpms, that is 7 mph. Much slower and you might want to just walk.

djb

Mr cat, take this fellows recommendation with a very big grain of salt. 27 gear inches is not low, if you can change your front granny gear to a 24 and your cassette to at least a 30, depending on what weight you carry on your bike and what sort of his you encounter, it will be so much more enjoyable trying out touring.
I rode a 50/40/24 with a seven speed 13-30 on many trips,including in mountains, and spent many a time at 7, 8, 9, 10 km per hour and its not a problem at all.

If your bike cab handle the 28 cassette on it now, it should handle a 30 of 32, so look into what 7 speed cassettes in that range you can find.

Getting lower gearing will greatly increase your enjoyment of trying touring, people who say otherwise go against the large majority here who have lots of experience touring.

Hope you can get out and try a trip.

GamblerGORD53

50 lbs is basically fly weight. My SA 5 spd pushes more than that all day with 45 GI.
I'm pretty sure 27 GI will do 12% hills just fine. Just make sure the chain is good and go ride the damm bike. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My Rohloff powered tour bike had 23 GI pushing 125 lbs. Went up 1600 ft in 4 1/2 miles by Da Nang VN.

CliffordK

I think of gearing as a very personal choice. If you currently never shift out of the big ring, I'm having troubles imaging that you will suddenly have a need to shift to the middle ring AND the little ring. And, still need more gears. Unless you expect to ride a heavy loaded bike up a 20 mile long 15% slope.

Anyway, go by what you think you need, not what others think you need.

bradtx

Nothing odd about having an extra cassette or two in order to tailor the gearing to expected terrain, I've done this for years with my roadies. My touring bikes do pretty well overall whether flatland or hilly, loaded or unloaded, but there is always room for a little fine tuning if I desired.

After a loaded ride or two you'll have a much better idea for what you'd like.

Brad

djb

Just to clear things up, is the roughly 50lbs the load weight or total weight of your 36lb bike and 14lbs of stuff?
When are you thinking of doing a trip, next summer or now?

Just saw you are from Texas, so maybe you can do an overnight now (we have had snow and below freezing temps here).
Also it's probably flat where you are too.

OldZephyr

Wanted to add my voice, I agree that 27 gear inches is not too low. Not at all.

Over the years I have heard variations of the idea expressed by MRT2 -- that if it's under a 1 to 1 ratio (front chainring and back cog, e.g 28 front and 28 rear), you "might as well walk", "you'll be going so slow that you'll fall over", etc.

That's certainly not true in my experience. I have a bike with a 22 front and 36 rear cog -- and no, I don't fall over when I pedal up a hill, and it's quicker and more efficient than walking. Now if you want to walk up a hill to use different muscles, get off the saddle, etc., great.

Our son, who was a college Nordic skier at the time (so in very good shape), went on a tour with the same gearing as what you have. He made it and had fun. But for his next tour, he went with lower gearing (26-36-48 front and 11-34 rear).

djb

This fellows opinion is classic bike store employee/young strong guy with attitude combined with lack of experience and of combined with a future older guy of himself with knee problems cuz he pushed too high gears all the time cuz "if you don't you're a wuss" attitude.
I've heard this for over 25 years.

Bottom line OP, the old adage of about 20 to 100 gear inches is still valid, but of course it depends on how much your total bike+gear weight is, and the terrain. Simple way for you to see how your bikes present gearing is to load it up with the stuff you plan to take, ride around your area for a day and find all the steep hills you can find.
Pushing a too high a gear up a hill on a heavy bike just ain't fun, and despite the attitude of guys like the fellow here, it doesn't diminish your manhood to have lower gearing--it just shows you are smarter. Having too high gearing for a given situation isn't smart.

Listen to your legs and knees, not to poo-poo attitudes like this on the internet or from a store employee who hadin't toured loaded.