Burton

you figure we're running seperate hills ... together?

Carbonfiberboy 

I run a 52-39-26 crankset on two of my bikes. On my sport single, I run a 12-25 cassette, but use a 12-34 on our tandem. The 12-25 is a great combo with the 26T. Going lower than that in back depends on your strength and the steepness of your hills. The 26-39 shift is a little slow, but workable. One bike is a 10-speed, the other 9. The 39T ring only comes in 10-speed but works fine with 9-speed. I'd try the 26T first and then decide what to do in back. On the tandem, we run a SS 26T, but that's not necessary on a single.

For where to buy, google is your friend. Alloy rings run about $25. Peter White has SS for $42.

cadenceJunkie

I dropped my 52/42/30 to a 53/39 last summer for that exact reason. I'm so much stronger now that I can't bail out to the 30-26 rear on the big climbs. Took it to the Smoky Mountains and loved it. I absolutely love the long descents with a 53-11. I can't max it out but I love to try. Working as hard going down as up! There is something euphoric about trying to break 60mph !!!! I understand the triple though, you can go forever. Do what you love.

pierce

there's several 52-39-30 and 50-39-30 road triples in 9-speed, like Sora. easy enough to change the 30 to a 26 or even 24 if you think your derailleurs can handle it.

cruisintx

I haven't taken time to read all of the responses here so sorry if this a repeat. Here is what I did with my Felt F-80 to accomodate my old (59) weak knees and legs for tackling all of the hills and wnd I have here.

The original gearing was 52-42-30 on the crank and a 12-25 9spd rear cluster. After some advice here and at my LBS I started experiementing with some changes. First, I had the LBS put a 28T granny ring on and fit a 12-26 rear cassette. I felt like that helped some but still not enough for my level of fitness. I next purchased and installed a 41T middle ring that helped a little more, but still not quite what I was needing. Next, I found a 9spd cassette at Universal Cycles online that I liked -- 12-27 with drops of 2 from 27 down to the 13. I was very happy with that initally but sensed I could use a bit more help as I tackled some of my steeper hills with headwinds (we have a lot of wind here in the Texas Panhandle). I next purchased a 29T and 14T to put on the cassette. That worked pretty good having this arrangement; 29-27-25-23-21-19-17-14-12. The only thing I did not like about it was the changes of 3 teeth at a time (sometihng I did not like on any of the other cassette configurations) so I bought a 13T first position and rearranged the rear to go from 13 to 29 by twos and am now very happy with the results, as are my knees.

So, final configuration is this:

52-41-28 at the crank
29-27-25-23-21-19-17-15-13 on the cassette

The 28-29 granny gives me a very good hill climbing gear and the 52-15 allows me to maintain about 30mph with a moderate cadence on flat ground with no wind, while the 52-13 will let me get to about 35mph at a comfortable pace with flat ground and no wind. The consistent tight spacing in the rear makes for very comfortable transitions going up and down. YMMV

gilaasepeda

im using sora crank FC-3503；50-39-30T, sprocket CS-HG50: 11-32T, RD-3500-GS is very light for me even with my limited power

ultraman6970

You can ride +50 km (30 mph) with 53x15 and 53x13 in the flats, and you need a triple with a ratio that is less than 1:1 (28x29) because your legs are tired and your knees are weak********** wuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt????

I don't get this at all... for your age you are strong as hell apparently but you can't climb the stairs???

cruisintx

that pretty much sums it up; once I get on level ground, pedaling fast in high gears is no problem; doesn't last long though because there is always another hill. I never get to ride more than about 1.5 miles without a hill getting in the way; and the hills & headwinds just kill me. And yes, I have a great deal of difficulty climbing stairs -- up or down. Not sure how long I can hold higher speed as I have virtually no flat ground to give it a go on.

Totoboa

Switch the cassette to an 11-32. I found a new one, Shimano, on Flea bay for $20. The chain will hang if I cross chain, no big deal, just remember to stay on the right front ring for the gears in back. I went from a triple and 11/25 to a standard road 53/39 double but kept the nearly the same gear range with the cassette switch.

cyccommute 

The easiest...and cheapest... way to go would be to change to a 26 or 24 tooth chainring. Changing to a 26 chainring would give you a 15% reduction in low gear while changing to a 24 would give you a 25% reduction. In real numbers, the 26 would give you a 27" gear while the 24 would give you a 25" gear. You wouldn't have to change any equipment other than the ring. The only caveat is that the 24 might be finicky to set up. Overshifts are possible when stepping down from the 39 to the 24 so adjustment of the front derailer is more difficult.

On the other hand, you could change to an 11-32 or 11-34 in the rear. You'll need a new derailer and it will have to be a mountain bike one (but not Dynasys), a new cassette and a new chain. The chainring should cost between $25 and $40 while a new derailer, cassette and chain is closer to $150. If you don't do your own work, labor will probably cost about the same.

cplager

+1.

I run a 48/38/22 that I changed from a 48/38/28. Because of the difference between 38 and 22, I find that I need to shift the rear derailleur up a couple of gears at the same time I drop into the granny gear. I have no problem with the shifting between middle and granny (although I would drop the chain; I got an N-Gear jump stop to solve that).

The simultaneous shifting is very easyand I very much like having the range (I was pulling a 100 lbs trailer with two kids up hills on Sunday and would not have made it otherwise).

You may need to put in a different rear derailleur in this case as your rear derailleur needs to be able to hold the difference between big-big and small-small. In my case, I already had a medium cage derailleur and all I needed to do was shorten the chain. Please make sure your chain is long enough to shift into big-big as bad things will happen if you try to do so and it's not long enough.

Cheers,
Charles