Hey all,

I am looking to go to an easier gearing than what I am currently running in order to spin up more hills in San Francisco. I've been experiencing knee pain and despite constant stretching, attention to form/saddle height and forward/aft position, cleat adjustment, etc., I feel like at the end of the day, the real culprit is that I am still mashing and not spinning on my current setup. Since I am a Clydesdale (down from 300 lbs. to 235-ish now!), I regard the suggestion of the typical combo of a 50/34 compact crank + 11-28t rear cassette as somewhat of a joke. Ha!

I am currently running an Ultegra 6503 Triple Crankset (52-42-30t), 105 5500 front derailleur, Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur, and a rear cassette of 11-30t. This is all 9-Speed (I have 105 9-speed brifters). I have been through several options in my head, but maybe you guys can help me sort out what is best for me?

I could:

1) Switch out the granny ring for a smaller one. But would this make shifting to the middle ring more unreliable?
2) Switch to a mountain crankset. But would this sacrifice my higher gears? Would I need a new front derailleur?
3) The option I'm leaning towards, go to a bigger cassette, like a 11-34t mountain cassette. I have been told this is impossible with the Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur due to the B-screw's limit but that I could swap it for a Saint or and XT. If I go this route, would I look at the Saint M800 and M772 (SGS)? Which one would be better for me?

Are there any other options I'm missing? What would be the cheapest/easiest way to go to an easier gearing?

Here is a picture of my ride:

Who did your fit?

XT long cage derailleur and the 11-34 cassette and you'll be set. Note that MTB rear derailleurs don't have barrel adjusters, so unless you already have some inline, you'll want to add an adjuster. with a 30x34 you'll be able to ride anything in the city at a comfortable cadence.

[the M772 SGS is what you'd want.]

Get a smaller 3rd ring, 30t isn't that tiny.

Seriously think about going as low as 24 for the inner ring. You may have to give up on some of the small -small gears, but that isn't much of an issue. You may do better with say the 50-38-24 than your 52-42-30, but a 50-11 is still a very high gear! (Like 8% higher tan anyone raced in the early 70s.)

And going to a 24 drops your low 20%, a real number. (Going to a 34 rear gets you 13%.)

Ben

Doh. I retract what I said about the 11-34. If you already have an 11-30, the 34T won't make that big of a difference. I have 24T grannies on my road triples, they are all unramped/pinned, and they shift fine to the 39T middle rings I have.