Originally Posted by
jackb
The bike came with a 28 cog and a 30 chain ring. Specs for the 105 long cage say that these sizes are the maximum. If I but a 24 chain ring will it fit the hole pattern on the crank? I plan on trying 32 without changing the DR. As someone above suggested, I might be able to squeez by. But I like the idea of the 24 chain ring better. Thanks for the input.
A 24 tooth chainring will fit a Shimano 105 triple crankset. It's the smallest that will fit. As Chris said, this is a large shift, making for a large change in cadence. However, I'm all for going as small as you can go. Smoother shifting is all well a nd good, but when you need a lower gear, all consideration of shifting quality go out the window. FWIW: my lowest gear is a 24/34:
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/...-grr%20008.htm . I don't use this often (in fact, I don't use the granny all that often) but I rode a 7km stretch of 10 to 15% grade this summer:
http://tourbc.net/Profiles10/TBC2010D4%20Profile.pdf . That was a long, slow grind, but the rest of the day was worth it.