tom.senex

Hi

I am looking to upgrade an old steel frame bike for light touring/long day rides in hilly areas.
I was hoping to keep the 6 speed thumb shifters.

What do you thing the ideal gearing combination would be. Here are my initial thoughts:

Chainrings: 22-32-44.

Freewheel: update the existing 14-28 freewheel by removing the 16T and add either a megarange 34 or 32T.

acantor

Sounds close to perfect to me. Your tiniest gear should allow you climb all but the longest and steepest hills, even when riding against the wind. Although you may find you are a gear or two short when you want to push yourself hard downhill, that would not be a problem for me. There is no such thing as perfect gearing, so you need to be compromise somewhere. You can favour low gears, high gears, or the midrange. My advice is to make it as easy as possible to climb the inevitable killer hills.

Others who chime in may not agree with me. Gearing choices is very personal, and one of the topics that is frequently aired on this forum. If you are young, strong, in great shape with no previous knee problems, and are touring in places that are relatively flat and are not windy, you may not need to go quite as low.

Cyclebum

Acantor covered this so well there is really nothing more worth saying about it. But I will anyway.

Consider a 48/36/26 with a 32 max in the rear. I had that combo several years ago when I was 65 and was able to do a number of long 6% climbs with 40 pounds of gear aboard. And I am not a strong cyclist. That being said, I have since switched to the super low combo as I'm older and do tour occasionally where the grades exceed 6%. If I were younger and stronger, I wouldn't need gearing that low even for the steeper climbs. Be aware that with the 22/34 combo, you'll barely manage to stay upright. No faster than walking, maybe slower. You'll also tend to run out of high gears, especially with any sort of tailwind.

Strength, lung capacity, where you ride and how often, load carried, need for speed. All to consider when selecting a gear combo.

tom.senex

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the 26/36/48 (it may even be worth sticking to a standard 28/38/48 as they seem to be a lot cheaper).

Shimano do a 14-34 Megarange freewheel though I a bit concerned about the 24 to 34 jump.
I have also been looking (online) for cogs but can't find any! Ideally I would like to build my own freewheel.

In terms of bottom brackets, would you recommend a 118 or 122mm axle?

ploeg

You'll need to look at the current derailleur setup on the bike and see whether the current derailleurs can handle your choice of gears. Your front derailleur needs the capacity to switch between your new high chainring and your new low chainring. More importantly, your rear derailleur must be able to handle your new big cog without rubbing against it, and it needs the capacity to take up excess chain through the increased range of gears. It probably won't be as simple as swapping crankset and cog and you're done.

If your current derailleurs won't handle the new gearing, you might have a hard time finding 6 speed components that will.

JeanM

I'd rather replace the 28 by the megarange. True that I tour with the same MTB chainring but a 14-25 cassette at the present. Never needed the extreme granny yet but I ain't gettin' any younge' son and a bailout sprocket might be in the cards for me soon.

acantor

22/34 is my bailout gear, and I use it regularly for steep hills, strong headwinds, or both. I don't go fast, but I have no problems balancing. I feel perfectly secure and stable when riding in this gear.

escii_35

I want my bike to work both unloaded and loaded.

1. I want to ride middle middle loaded and just cruising. (36-38 middle ring)
2. I don't want to spin out easily unloaded. (46-48 big ring)
3. For the little ring pick known hill with known grade and figure out what you need to spin up it.


Mega's are icky. 13-30 or 12-28 7speed free's FTW. So many shops have 7 speed free's to service all those walmart bikes. 6 speed are kinda rare.

stedalus

This is silly. Even at 60 rpm, you will be moving at 3 mph. At a more reasonable 80-90 rpm, it's 4-5 mph. With practice, it's not tough to keep the bike upgright at those speeds, and there's no way you can you can walk up a steep hill pushing a heavy bike at those speeds. I'm not saying everyone needs that low of a gear, but the "faster to walk" argument holds no water.

Doug64

With a 44 /11 you will spin out at 26-mph at 90 rpm. I was at a collegate criterium yesterday and the Catagory A's only averaged 24 mph for the 45 minute event. I'd be happy with 26 mph!

I agree with stedalus-- 22/34 is pretty stable and sure beats waking (ang pushing) up the hill.

As you can tell I run a 44/31/22 with an 11-34 on my touring bike.