Originally Posted by papapapaof4
Just bought a new road bike and would like to have a better really low gear for those long hills. Is there any reason why one cannot simply replace the stock 12-26 rear cassette with a 11-32 mountain bike cassette to go with the 52-42-30 front gears?
To go bigger than 30 in back you would need a new rear derailer. You would also need a new, longer chain.
A better, easier, cheaper way to get lower gearing is to replace the granny gear. (The term "granny gear" refers specifically to the smallest chainring of a triple crank.)
Get rid of the silly 30 tooth ring, and replace it with a 26 or even a 24. This is WAY cheaper, and also lets you keep the close-ratio cassette gearing for the normal cruising range.
For more detailed instructions, see:
http://harriscyclery.com/74
Then, if you find you still need a lower gear than that, it would make sense to consider a different cassette. My "Century Special" 13-30 is very popular for this sort of application.
See:
http://harriscyclery.com/9
Sheldon "Jump Stop" Brown
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