fredgold52

Hi, I'm new to the forum and prtyy much to cycling too. I put my introduction over in the Clydsdales (sp) section. I'll probably be spending a good deal of time over there.

I do have a technical question. I just put a K2 Big Easy Deuce together and added a Could 9 oversized seat. I sure wish the weather was better so I could ride it, because I know I'm gonna love this bike. Many years ago I had a Raleigh 10 speed bike with an upright riding position to it. I really enjoyed that bike.

My bike has a 13 - 34T gear cassette and a SR Suntour XR-170, 24/34/42T. What I have found in the very little riding I have done between snow storms is the highest gear is not all that tough to pedal. I'd like to change the gearing on the bike so that more of the gear combinations are useful. Right now, anything on the two smaller chain wheels is useless.

I've done several searches trying to find the parts I need to up-gear this bike, but no luck. Do any or you know where I could order the parts I need to raise the gearing?

Sheldon Brown

Your bike does not use a cassette, it uses an old-fashioned thread-on freewheel.

See: https://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7 for an explanation of the difference.

That is a ridiculously low gear. Cranksets that top out at 42 teeth were designed to be used with an 11 in back...the designer of this bike was cutting corners at your expense.

I would suggest replacing it with a Shimano 11-28 or 11-34 freewheel.

https://harriscyclery.com/freewheels

Sheldon "42/11" Brown

fredgold52

Sheldon, thank you for the reply. I'll be straight up honest, I know a good deal about Vespas but not much at all about bicycles. It was news to me that it took a freewheel and not a cassette. It was also news to me about the SR Suntour crankset on the bike, not too good. At this point I have decided to go with your suggestion of a 11-28 shimano freewheel and leave the crankset alone. I'll replace it as well eventually, but after it breaks or wears out. For now, it will have to do.

I'd have to agree with your assessment about someone cutting corners at my expense. It could have been that someone had some parts they wanted to get rid of so they put them on my bike. Well, nobody is born knowing this stuff. I guess I'll be learing about bikes the same way I have learned the other few things that I know.

Again, thanks very much for your input and the website.

Sheldon Brown

Actually there's nothing wrong with the quality of the SR Suntor crankset, and it will probably last longer than the rest of the bike. It's just that the chainring sizes they chose were not a good match for the cheapo freewheel they installed.

Once you get a nice Shimano freewheel with an 11 tooth top, the SR crank should serve you well enough.

Sheldon "You Get What You Pay For" Brown

Sluggo

You might be better off in the long run replacing the crank with one that has a big ring that gives you a good high end. It looks like the stock unit is riveted together, so you can't replace the rings. A 42x11 is a gear that you might use a lot, and I would not expect a long life from an 11-tooth cog, especially with a large rider. So you may end up replacing the freewheel frequently.

fredgold52

I've been doing a good bit of research on this, should have done it earlier but whatever. Seems there are many good hybrids out there with 28,38,48 chainwheels and 11-30something gear sets. I ordered the 11-28 Shelson suggested and a freewheel removing tool. I should be good to go in about a week.

The crank thing offers more opportunity to increase the number of useable gears on this bike. I understand what Sloggo was talking about with the 11 Vs 13 wear thing. The fact is, if I actually wear anything on the bike out I'll feel very proud of myself. I used Sheldon's gain calculator - the one where you put in crank length and the gear numbers and it gives you your speed at a set crank rpm. Very neat calculator. The freewheel change is the biggest bang for the buck so that's what's happening first.

Thanks for all you help with this. When I'm ready to change the crank out, I'll probably be back with questions about bottom brackets and such.

Fred

c_m_shooter

You can get cheap probably get a cheap crankset off ebay with a 28-38-48 combination for 10 or 20 bucks. The crank puller will probably cost more than the crank.