Raedeke

I just finished my first two day tour into the Colorado Rockies.
Had a great time, but would like to experiment a little with my chainrings.

I have a 52/42/30 105 Groupset.

I'd like to look at a larger big gear... and I'd like to look at smaller small gear.

I'm not sure what might be available. Say 54 and 28...???

Does anyone out there today know what's available or where I might look?

Thanks for the help.

R

sch

Hostel Shoppe (www.hostelshoppe.com) caters to bent riders who mess around a lot with bizarre triple set ups to compensate for their tiny wheels.
They have all kinds of CW. You will be pushing the derailleur chain wrap with this spread, but if you mentally map out which gears are 'forbidden' then it will probably work. What cassette do you use? Steve

Raedeke

Here is the spec. Shimano CS-HG50-9, 9-speed, 12/23
Once I read what your saying about the spread it realized I might have a problem...
I'm seeing possible problems with the front derailleur - may not accomidate the extreme size difference. I also could see a problem with the rear derailleur in it's ability to take up enough chain when dropped into the smalls...if I had to add chain to get up to the biggie...

I'll check Hostelshoppe - may look at getting the gears - but might have to swap them out one at a time depending on the ride I'm going on.

Thanks for the assistance.
R

1oldRoadie

Get harris cycle to build you a rear cassette....maybe 11-30? That should give you everything your looking for and a lot cheaper

Raedeke

Do you see a problem with a 11/30 cassette in conjunction with my current 105 Derailleur?

Would I have to add links to the chain to get to 30 and would the derailleur be able to pick it all up at 11...

Also could you ever run the front is the small 30 and the back in 11 or front in 52 and back in 30 or am I asking too much?

Dave Stohler

It all depends on the capacity of your derailleur, which depends on the cage length. With a 54-30 and a 30-12, you will need a derailleur with a capacity of 42 teeth. That's pretty big for any road derailleur.

Raedeke

After talking to a great guy at my LBS, I think I'll stick with what I have and try to get the legs in better shape.

I'd like to have the 11 on the back or the 53 or 54 on the front to go faster, But I don't use the top end of the gearing that much anyway.
I'd like to have the 30 or 34 on the back and the sub 30 on the front, but that's just because I'm not a great climber and hate walking...

But in the end I realize I'm probably going down a path that would be more work than it's worth.

I might look at two different wheel sets. And get the 11/23 cassette that my 105 derailleur is capable of handling and simply swap out the wheel when I ride the flats. - but then again I may not notice much difference there either.

Thanks
R

MichaelW

High gears are a bit of a con unless you are a powerful racing athlete. When going downhill, you mostly freewheel. Only the brave or the stupid apply maximum power on steep descents.
What kind of pedalling cadence are you using. It takes some practice to pedal faster, but high cadence in a lower gear is a more efficient way of riding than mashing a high gear.
It does make sense to lower your low end gearing if you ride in steep mountains. You could reduce your granny ring to 28, and /or fit a larger rear cog. Your 23 rear cog is really a flatland or racing cog. I use a 28/38/48 chainset with 12-28cogs and ride some very steep hills. For loaded touring in mountains, I would use MTB style gearing.
Cross chain combos, such as 30/11 or 52/23 on your current setup, are not recomended. The lateras stress on your chain will accelerate wear, and those gear ratios are replicated with other combos which use astraighter chainline.
Generally with the inner chainring you never use the 3 smallest cogs and with the largest chainring, you avoid the 3 largest cogs.

doonster

Gearings in the 53/54-11/12 are only normally used by the pro sprinters in high speed work. Agree with MichaelW, you'll mostly freewheel downhill.

RD capacity shouldn't be a problem if you avoid the cross-over combos, but FD capacity will be a problem with a large spread. Go with the larger cassette spread if you need extra hill climbing.

If you really found you needed a bigger top gear I'd be tempted to go for a wide spread cassette (say 12-28) with a slightly larger small ring and larger big ring. e.g. 12-28 rear, 54-42-32 front. 32-28 is equivalent to 30-26 so you get more low range as well as the high top range you want - without affecting the FD capacity (I think a 105 triple should take a 54).

Davet

Another way to go is to install a MTB XT rear dérailleur with an 11-34 cogset. You may need to add links to the chain, but this set-up works perfectly with your 105 front dérailleur and existing chainrings. I have my wife's bike set up this way, she is not terribly powerful and it is very hilly where we live.

If you wanted, you can change back to your standard road cassette quickly and easily without changing back to the 105 dérailleur.

Your 105 rear dérailleur can handle the standard 12-27 Shimano cassette.

Raedeke

I riding the fence on this one - for the work I do on the flat lands of Denver and surrounding area, the current set-up is great. However, I am spending some more time up in the hills and have plans for some nothing but climbing outings in the future. I would love to have two bikes, but I'm lucky to have the one I've got. Perhaps a new rear XT derailleur and a second rear wheel outfitted with an 11-34 cogset might be the ticket. That way I can simply swap out the wheel for the terrain. It's certainly an easy solutin.

How about a suggestion on a new rear wheel. I'll probably use the Ritchey Comp that I have for the mountains and buy a slick ???? for the flats.
Any suggestions?

R

Davet

Just swap out the cassettes as needed. You will have to have a chainwhip and the correct cassette lockring tool. No need for a spare wheel, unless you want one.

Dave Stohler

You will never need a 54/11 combo.

Raedeke

Not unless I wanted catch the beer truck as it headed down i-70 on the backside of the Eisenhower Tunnel.