Here is my conundrum. My Cinelli B has taken up residence in the kitchen, because the basement is a little damp and it is mostly steel rather than alloy like my other bikes that live in the basement. The Cinelli gets oiled, polished, looked at and adjusted quite a bit, but I haven't been taking it on many rides because the gearing was obviously meant for someone more manly than me. The rings in the front are 49/51 and when I'm trying to make it up the steep hill to my house it is a little heart-braking.

The bike is all original, so I am loathe to change or even touch the cottered Magistroni crankset, but it doesn't seem possible with the current set-up to change the inner ring to something smaller. Or maybe it is and I am just an idiot.

Anyway I was hoping to take the Cinelli on a Toronto - Niagara Falls trip I am planning with some of the youth that I work with, but I know from doing the ride last year I won't make it with those gears. I would take Jenny but am still too fat.

Any solutions that will work with the current crank set-up? Thanks a lot, Devin.