OldRoadman

Thinking of replacing my 14-28 Hyperglide with an IRD 13-32 6 speed to gain a little more climbing ability. My front crank is a triple 26-36-46. Am I pushing the capabilities of the Cyclone GT (1st generation) with this change. DISRAELI GEARS claims a max cog of 32 teeth and a total capacity of 36 teeth. Is this the max chain wrap? Outside of the specs., which seem doable, does this seem practical?

Thanks, Bill

Michael Angelo 

It should work, I have found that some IRD freewheels sit further in on some hubs (closer to the spokes). Make sure you check the clearance from Derailleur pulley cage to Spokes as you adjust the RD.

thook

The maximum cog size will be determined by the length of your hanger. I don't why DG doesn't point that out. And, though I don't remember the specs on what the length would need to be, on sport touring/touring frames the hanger is usually a longer one......and, this means it'll handle up to a 34t cog. As well, I've pushed the limits of a GT Suntour and, it seems to me, 39-40t on the capacity is about all it can handle before the chain starts sagging too much. You can tweak chain length or wheel position in the dropouts around to get it to work to a point..

On the other hand, consider also what chainwrap capacity means; the total number of the tooth count differences on the chainwheels and the cogset. Since one should never ride large on large or small on small, this changes the circumstance according to the specs. In other words, if you have a total of 39t for chainwrap, the derailleur actually will only be seeing the larger portion of that and not all of it. In other words, you can substract tooth count from your max chainwrap if you promise your Cyclone to never go too far with crosschaining.....if that makes sense.

So, yeah....according to DG, Suntour says that's all the Cyclone GT can do, but it can actually handle more. I've had my Trek set up with 50-28 up front and 13-30 as well as 14-32 in the rear and the Cyclone did just fine without crosschaining. However, I tried throwing a 24t granny on it and as soon as I shifted to the second to smallest cog while on the granny, the chain began riding the stay.