waddo

HI all,

My wife now is riding a Sirrus comp with back 36 front 34 gears.

What is the cheapest and easiest way to get her new X Check close to that? I cannot do anything myself as I am useless so I will need to get the bike shop to do it.

Andrew R Stewart 

Instead of asking us to go google what her X Check has for gearing and drivetrain why don't you make it easy and list/like the info? Andy

mstateglfr 

Cheapest way would be to order from multiple websites and do the work yourself.
Easiest way would be to drop the bike at your lbs and have them do the work.

As mentioned, knowing what is in the crosscheck now is necessary as components vary in terms of capability.

timdow

According to online sources:
Cross check: 36-48 double in front, 11-32 in the back.
Sirrus Comp: 32-48 double in front, 11-34 in the back.

So to get the exact gearing of your wife's bike, you would need to change cassette and rings.
The rear derailleur is long cage on the Cross Check. The easiest, lease expensive change is to go to 11-34 or 11-36 cassette.
You can actually change out the cassette and the little ring for not much money... $75 in parts. Labor? IDK, I do work myself.

saddlesores

sirrus comp

FSA Omega 2x10 crankset with 48/34 rings; with 11-36 SRAM cassette

x check

Shimano CX50, 36/46t, CS-HG50-10, 11-32, 10-speed

waddo

Sorry I thought the numbers I gave were enough. I did say I am useless so I thought that would tell you I don't know much about bike parts.

To the other posters, thanks for the information including all the numbers. The problem is it seems if I change the gear caseette I also need to change the thing at the back the changes the gears, which seems to be expensive. I wonder if I can just change to a very small cog on the "crank?"

saddlesores

start with what's wrong with the gearing on the surly.
what don't you like?
how is the sirrus better?

no point in making it exactly the same, if the original isn't
that great either.

if going to the trouble to upgrade, decide what you need/want
first.

commuters and racers don't need 16" gears.
loaded tourists can't use 130" gears.

john_mct

The mechanics of a bike is not exactly rocket science but since you are admittedly useless at it then take it to a shop and let them fleece you. You shouldn't need a "new thing that changes the gears" just a new cluster of gears on the back. Hopefully you have an honest and patient bike shop you can go to.

waddo

The Sirrus is my wife's present bike. There are many things we don't like about it but the gearing is fine. We tour in very mountainous areas and we need easy granny gears.

The X Check is her new bike we we have ordered. Everything is better except the gearing is too high.

We can still get parts changed by the shop for free as it has not been delivered yet. So if I can decide what to do we only pay for parts. If I delay and change later we have to pay for labour also.

So now I am wondering about many options that I am only now starting to understand. I see for example there is a cassette that is 12-36t. but will it work on a x check? also I guess the gearshift thing would need replacing.

The more parts I change, obviously the more we pay. Plus I don't know much about the parts. That's my problem in a nutshell.

Darth_Firebolt

Depending on the maximum large cog tooth count that the current rear derailleur has, he could very well need a new one. If it's listed as 28 and someone has put a 32 in it (as many Shimano derailleurs have been known to be conservative in their max tooth count), then he is out of luck with his current equipment.

saddlesores

i'd say those were both okay gearing for "adventure bikes", but if you want good climbing with
a load gears, and if it were me, i'd want to switch to a triple.

you've got a 32 or 36 in front, with a 32 or 36 rear. front little cog about same as rear big cog,
gives you pretty much a 1:1 ratio.

a triple would have something like 22-32-44 crank that gives you a wide range AND super
low granny gears to let you peddle up the big hills.

no expert on doubles....but assume you'd need to change front derailler and front shifter as
well. way too expensive, in that case better to buy a different bike altogether.

so stick with double, get both front chainrings switched out, experts here can tell you smallest
possible little cog for your crank, and a suitable larger cog that will work with the derailler.
maybe could also go with a slightly larger rear cassette. specify the rear derailler, and
someone here can tell you what it can handle.

waddo

thanks for the info. The bike is second hand but mint condition for almost half new price, so I accepted when buy it I would need to change some stuff. Just keeping it as simple and cheap as possible is the goal.

I didn't know we could just change the two front changelings. That sounds interesting.

waddo

I see the attachment worked! I found this website and unless I made a mistake (possible) the number are left x check (with front gear thing replaced already to 34 from 36) and right her Sirrus Comp.

The top row seem to show the easiest gear combination of both bikes. If so, 10 vs 14? what does it mean??? haha I am such an idiot

MRT2

At first, I thought maybe just switch out the small chainring. But I am thinking this crankset has a 110 bolt circle diameter, and from other discussions, the consensus is, you can't put anything smaller than a 34 tooth chainring on this crankset. So you could change out the cassette to an an 11 - 36 and that is pretty close. It gives you a low gear of 1.0, or just over 27 gear inches. Also switching out the chainring from 36 to 34 gives you a low gear of .94, or 25.8 gear inches. Leaving the Cross Check the same gives you a low gear ratio of 1.13, or 31 gear inches.

What to these numbers mean? Just switching from an 11 - 32 to 11 - 36 will get you most of what you are looking for.

MRT2

According to Surly, the Cross Check comes with a Deore mountain derailleur, so should be no problem to fit a 36 tooth cog on the back.

MRT2

I think it will probably work, and no, I don't think you need to change out your shifters.

waddo

thanks for all the info. I just checked and it says the Deore shifter is for road and mountain bikes. So I guess I do not need to change it. However, it is 9 speed so I think I can only get a cassette up to 34t. But that would be almost ok, especially as the have change already to 34 on the front.

Any way this is all very helpful. Thanks so much.

MRT2

You can get 11 - 36 or 12 - 36 9 speed cassettes.

waddo

Oh really? Thanks very much. I will definitely get it change.

52telecaster

in addition if you want to spend the money you can get a 33 tooth inner ring for your crank from t.a.

https://www.wiggle.com/ta-110-pcd-zep...oad-chainring/

fietsbob

Ratio math is simple , when the gear in back is bigger than the one on the chainring, the gear is Low.

when the one in back is smaller than the one in front, its higher.

count teeth ..


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