I currently have a Sirrus hybrid for daily rides on paved trail near by. I thought about adding a vintage road bike since I prefer drop handle bars but the gearing of most road bikes is not to my liking since the trail is almost all up and down. I use the two lowest gears to get up the hills.

My current bike has 48/32 with 11-34.


The Lemond I was planning to buy is 53/39 12-26, I've seen triple ring variants 52/42/30. I dislike triples but I was reading a ****** thread that made sense to use the two lower front rings. There are lower geared Shram PG-950 cassettes 11-34t & 11-32t but people have pointed out the derailleur probably can't handle that high of teeth count. Then you have to change the derailleur to one with the same pull or also change the shifters and gets complicated and expensive at that point which brings back to the triple chain ring to simplify things.

Depends on what groupset the bike has already. If it's original it should be (I believe) all Shimano. You can swap the rear derailleur for something with a longer cage and not have a shifting issue. So let's say it's Shimano 105, 5500 series because that's just what I'm picturing. You can get that rear derailleur in a long cage version to handle bigger cogs and the shifter pull is all the same.

A Lemond with a triple will have a long cage RD so it might work with a larger cassette.

I bought my Lemond Buenos Aires with the double in front. I swapped crankset for the triple version, and the RD for the long cage version.

You could also get a subcompact crankset that allows for 46/30 (or lower). I have Rotor cranksets with 28T small rings on Campy equipped bikes because the largest cassette available was 29T. Alternatively, a company called Bikingreen sells a 46/30 chainring set that fits onto 110BCD cranksets.

EDIT- I see the bike is 7 speed so this isn't applicable to you, but might helpe someone else in a similar situation.

9 speed shimano brifters work with 9 speed MTB rear derraileurs so you can run up to a 36t large cog with the RD-M772 which is an XT model, the older/cheaper M750 model will work with 34t cog, but might not work with a 36 depending on the length of the derraileur hanger on the frame. Both are fairly available on ebay for $40-$60 depending on condition.

There are two Bikes I'm looking at on FBM
1. Tourmalet 2007 with 53/39 for $375. The appeal is its been serviced and ready to go. I don't have the tools or experience to want to get involved in changing the chain ring
2. Reno with a triple chain ring 52/42/30. Its only $160.

What this make me realize that older road bikes are more setup for flat riding. This process also made me appreciate the gearing on the bike I already have. So either I will nix the vintage road bike idea or go with the second bike with the triple chain ring because if I use the two lower ones I don't need to change anything.

If you’re willing to swap out the whole drivetrain you could do what I did with my Lemond and get a 34/36 low gear.

Compact crank and a long cage RD with a larger freewheel/cassette is the easiest fix. I like triples but not so much on short wheelbase road bikes.

I did this

34t Cog on a RD6600

First of all, you cannot change gearing on a bicycle, without getting the tools and doing the work. That just goes with the territory. It's not difficult. If you can turn a screw you can change out a cassette.

Anyways, I think the 2nd bike above that already has the triple crankset, is your best bet. You would need to buy something like a 12-32T cassette, and a RD-M750 or RD-M570 rear derailleur with long cage for the increased capacity. And a new chain - the old chain will be too short. You would also need a cassette tool, and a chain breaker tool and chain master link tool. You would end up with a low gear of 30 front 32 rear.

My Ironman with the original 7x2 Tricolor group.

Same front crank but now with 9 speed cassette and long cage RD - much better for the huge hills in my area.

And Dura-Ace 9 speed shifters to round out the build.

I love the triple on my Lemond. 2001 Buenos Aires.

Thanks for everyone's input. The second bike with the triple ring makes the most sense.

I concur.

I wouldn't say older road bikes are setup for flat riding. It's more that back in the day, riders didn't know better so they mashed up hill with high gearing. Now we like to call that heroic.

Modern bikes that sane people consider geared for hills typically use a compact double (50-34 or similar). Personally, I hate compact doubles with a passion. I feel like I'm always in the wrong gear. I've come to appreciate sub-compact doubles (42-30 or so), but I really love triples. The thing I like about triples is that for the majority of the ride it's basically geared like a 50-39 double (or 53-39 in some cases), but when you hit a hill, you've got that really low granny gear in your back pocket.

The jump between 34 and 50 is a lot for sure, on flatter rides I can keep it in the 50 tooth for most of the ride, and the wide spread does provide undeniable function, but I have never "liked" a 50/34 crank.

My modern road bike has 48t and 35t chain rings, the 48t big ring can be used for anything that isn't specifically a climb (36t big cog), so shifting the front is minimized and a 10t rear cog still gives me a tall enough big gear for descending. The 13 tooth difference on the front is a LOT more friendly than the 16 tooth difference of a compact double. There is plenty about modern bikes that is annoying, but gearing is good enough that I didn't modify a brand new bike's gearing/drivetrain when I bought it.

It's more correct to say that road bikes in general are built for speed and flatter roads. The older bikes have fewer cassette gears. I prefer to use the low chain ring and do most of my shifting in the rear. This is why the 1x systems with large cog is more popular now a days.

50/34, I somewhat concut. It seems like at cruising speeds on lightly rolling terrain, I'm either crosschaining in either chainring. I never get that with 53/39. With 52/36, I'll find myself hardly shifting the front at all, even when it would be better.

I felt the same way when I first got a bike with that combo. Here in the flatlands, it seemed the gear I wanted was always on the verge of cross chaining, and it was a pain to switch from big-big over to small-small. The 50-34 combo really shined when I took the bike to Kentucky. Small chainring to climb the hill, flip over to the large ring to come back down. Rinse and repeat.