Originally Posted by
DonValley
I have been buying some parts to get a new to me bike optimized for my size and am hoping to go on a 1 week tour through rural Quebec this fall.
It is a 1991 Miyata 1000 LT. The current gearing is front 28-44-50 (Biopace) and the rear has a 12-28 cassette. I was thinking that a 32 or 34 granny gear might be better for me if I get into any hills.(Plan on carrying about 30-35 pounds) . Hopefully the derailleur and shifters can handle that
ANy tips appreciated.
Here is a shot of the bike after adding new bars, pedals, stem,brake levers fenders and seat. I am really enjoying riding this bike as of now. (The cost is more than I anticipated when I started….but why stop now if you like it?)
Bob: this is a very cool bike. Old bikes can eat up some money but this bike is worth it. Easiest conversion is to put a 32 or a 34 on the rear. It may be tough to find a 34 however if running 7 on the back. Also with only 7 on the back, your gear ratios get a bit farther apart than you might like when you go to 32 or 34.
The biggest pay off in terms of gearing is changing out the chainrings or the crank but that's expensive.
With your current crank, you can drop to a 24 up front but the problem is that you will want to change the middle ring as well to get some evenly spaced gears. Changing 2 chainrings isn't cheap and will probably run you around $60 or so. The 24 tooth inner should be steel not aluminum and 74 bcd steel chain rings are typically not cheap. The outer rings are 110 bcd and may run you around $30 or so per ring, perhaps less if you shop around.
The biopace rings are fine but you may not want to mix round with biopace which means that you will need to change all 3 rings which is expensive.
The other option is to get a deore trekking crank with 44-32-22 rings. I currently am running a crankset with a 44-32-22 rings and 11-28 on the back (8 speed) on a touring bike with 26 inch wheels. My low is right around 20 inches and that's pretty good.
My vote is to go for a trekking crank rather than swap out all 3 rings on your existing crank.