rj987652003

For the average century I mean.....I currently have a double geared 52-36 in the front. Out back I have a 13-22 6 speed freewheel. I live in some really hilly terrain and find myself pushing my bike uphills alot especially after a couple hours of riding. 36-22 doesn't seem to really do it.

My next freewheel will probably be a 13-28 or 13-30 7 speed. Which one should I get? I am a newbie to road cycling so I'm not sure how much an extra 6 or 8 teeth will make on my largest rear cog.

What do you think?

I'm also pondering SG vs. SGS rear derailleur as my current Rear derailler is maxed out and tired. SGS will let me put a 34T on there if I want as well as switch to a triple in the future. I really want to keep my double, but I need effective gearing also to fight these hills!!

LordOpie

there's no such thing as an "average century".

If you're thinking about a 28+ cog, then you really should put a triple on. I cannot fathom the huge friggin' gaps on a 13-28/30 7-speed.

If you love the frame and it fits well, then it might be time to upgrade the entire drivetrain and shifters. If you don't love the frame, don't spend too much money upgrading the bike, get a new one that fits better.

joeprim

I love a wide range of gearing so I say get all you can. Triples are nice, but you can get used to a large change if you don't want to go to a triple.

Toward the end of the century you are likely to want lower gears for a similar hill than at the begining.

Joe

Velo Dog

You're the only one who can say what gearing YOU need. If you're walking up the hills, you obviously need lower gears than you've got, but what works for me might not work for you.
What works for me in the eastern Sierra (9000-foot passes all around) is a 46-36-26 triple with 11-28 cassette. Gives a wide enough range for everything around here (anytime I can turn a 53-11, I'm going to be coasting, not pedalling), and I spend much more time in the big ring than I do with the standard 53-39 (which is WAY too high for the average rider, BTW).
I love triples, and I'm not embarrassed to use the granny. I've been riding for more than 40 years, and my knees still feel fine because I spin instead of muscling the hills. If you don't want to do that, I'd start with a bigger cassette (depends on what your rear derailleur will handle; probably somewhere around 27 teeth). Or, depending on the bolt circle diameter of your crankset, you could use smaller chainrings. Ritchey uses something like a 46-34 or 48-34 on some bikes. That won't give you a noticeably lower low gear, but it gets rid of a lot of high gears you never use now (when you're on the big ring, how often do you use a cog smaller than about 17?). Or you could swap rings AND the cassette, and climb walls.
Don't worry about what anybody else says about your gearing. You're the one riding the bike.

Avalanche325

So far my "average century" has has 5200 ft of climbing. I have a triple and use it on my centuries. However, there are lots of flat ones out there that you would not ever come off of the big ring on. How good of a climber are? How big are you? And most importantly, how much climbing is in the century you are looking at?

And PUH-LEEEZE, I am not tyring to start a double/triple thread.

Indolent58

The selection of 7 sp freewheels is limited. Shimano makes a 13-34 freewheel that gives you 6 reasonably spaced gears from 13-24 plus a huge 34 bail out gear. That could certainly keep you from walking hills. A triple would be ideal, but a wide range freewheel and mtb/touring derailleur will keep the costs down.

Applehead57

I live in a hilly area. It's not the first big hill that gets you, it's all the others that wear you down. They just keep coming, eventually you got nuthin' left.
I say run with the biggest range cassette you can fit back there.
A compact crank would be handy too.
All that is important is that you are out riding with a gearing that works for you.
Don't try to impress anyone else with how high your gearing is.

Velo Dog

Sorry--I read "freewheel" but typed "cassette." That is likely to narrow your options a little. Two sources that have had freewheels recently are Loose Screws, in Oregon (www.loosescrews.com) and Rivendell, in California (rivbike.com). I think Nashbar carries them, too.
Since it uses a freewheel, it's probably and older bike, and that might make wheel swaps (to allow you to use a cassette) hard, too. The spacing between dropouts on many freewheel-equipped bikes was narrower than the now-standard 130mm. As long as the thing works, though, there's no real advantage in swapping just to have a cassette hub.