Originally Posted by
iamstuffed
Since I commute such a long distance, some of the hills I encounter are more than a mile long. Mainly I wanted a larger cog for the low gear, so I replaced the rear cassette with an 11-32 and wasn't sure if the microshift could support that, so I replaced the RD with an SRAM X.9. The SRAM also requires a compatible shifter, and I wanted a nicer crankset.
I swapped the drivetrain on my Tikit for the same reason when I first bought it. I also put on drop bars because I hate flat bars. I used an 11-34 8sp cassette, 8sp Shimano barend shifters, and a Sachs New Success rear derailleur that could handle the 32t cog (I already had the derailleur).
I put on a 105 crank because it was the cheapest quality 130mm BCD crank that I could find at the local used bike shops. I wanted something shorter than the stock 175mm (on a large Tikit) crank.
I like this setup, but I like my setup with the SRAM S7 hub even better. Similar wide gear range, better shifting, no low-hanging derailleur to damage.
The Tikit is sensitive to chainline. I experimented with the bottom bracket length and spacing a few times before finding a setup that worked well for me. You can mount the chainguard outside of the chainring (with the chainring mounted on the outside position) if you get some chainring spacers from a bike shop. That got me the best chainline with the lowest Q-factor.
alex