stykthyn

My son has an older kona and is having difficulty keeping pace on the trail with those of us that ride newer bikes with larger cassettes. Would a wide range 8spd like the sunrace 11-40t be of any benefit to him?

Kapusta

If his problem is that he is a) spinning out in his highest gear and/or b) not able to climb in his lowest gear (like, he has to get off and push), then it might help, depending on what cassette he has on there now.

hermanchauw

How many teeth are the chainrings?

stykthyn

On the flats he's fine. Working up a technical grade he falls behind. Before he spends any money altering his bike I'm urging him to improve his technical skills body conditioning.

Kapusta

If he is having to stop on climbs because the gear is too tall, then yes, a lower gear will likely help. But if he is able to pedal the low gear he already has, then a lower one is not going to make him any faster. It might allow him to ride longer, though, if he is blowing himself out on steep climbs.

What is his current gearing?

stykthyn

I need to check the front. He lives in the middle ring up there though. His rear is 11-32.

Kapusta

You mean he is not using his small ring on the steep climbs you are talking about?

If he is not even using his lowest gears now, I can't see that a cassette with bigger cogs is going to be much use to him.

stykthyn

Not from what he is saying

FrozenK

That's the problem. He will eventually get it. Or become a singlespeeder.

All joking aside, if he isn't shifting up front then switching to a wider range cassette will help. But it would be cheaper to just teach him to shift (I know, easier said than done. My son also refuses to use his granny gear.)

stykthyn

I'm right there with you. He's due for a new chain/casette at the moment so it's a matter of him spending 40 instead of 12 dollars on whatever cassette he chooses. Either way without learning to row through the different ranges he's holding himself back.

Kapusta

Does he have a derailleur that will clear a 40t cog?

Canker

https://www.amazon.com/Sunrace-casse.../dp/B07257WK61
That comes with the generic "road link" that will make sure it works with his RD. If he is only using the middle ring anyway you might as well just get rid of the other two and the front derailleur. That will drop a little weight and give it more ground clearance, put a 30 tooth narrow wide chainring on it plus that Sunrace cassette.

bikeme

A triple with that cassette should be plenty of low. He needs to anticipate climbs and use that small ring. My daughter fought it for years. When she did finally use it, she'd did not want to shift back to the middle and would look like a hamster wheel the rest of the ride, lol! BTW, if you went with a 40T, you might have to buy a new longer cage RD to handle that range (range he doesn't need anyway with the triple).