Paul J

Great news! we switched out our small chain ring on our triple equipped Speedster from 30 to 28 when we got it two years ago and everything is working great. You might want to look at the Burley to see what it's gearing is to determine if you will go 28 or 26 for the chain ring switch. If memory serves me right your rear derailleur isn't spec'd to support a 34 so working on the front chain rings will be your best option. Quick and easy fix and you will be having fun!

rahill

The gearing you have is stock Speedster before Co-Motion recently switched to the double chainring. Check the derailleur to make sure it'll handle a wider gear range before switching anything. The stock rear was an Ultegra 6703 which is already pushing the specs a little to get to the 32 cog on the rear (spec'd max is 30). The max front difference is also spec'd at 22 (which with a 52/39/30 is what you have) and the total capacity is 40 (11-32 is 21, plus the 20 in front is 41 - so a bit over rated capacity there too). Not that switching to a 28 small cog wouldn't work, just realize that you're already close to or slightly exceeding the specified limits.

Ludkeh

I installed the 24 tooth ring on my old Co-motion Java. It really give you great low gears and you can climb mountains! But, that set up will only let you use the the first three or four lowest gears on your cassette. Higher gears will cause the chain to bind, forcing you to shift into your middle chain ring. For me it was a compromise I was willing to put up with to never worry if I could make it up a hill.

LV2TNDM

Harsh! Tough crowd!

Tandems do indeed struggle on the hills. But are you two compatible on the climbs? Can you stand out of the saddle comfortably? Mix in some time in the weight room to work on your pure power maybe? Perhaps you just have such high cadence, you aren't comfortable with the current gearing. I'm the same way. My cadence kept climbing the more mountain biking I did over the years. Given your situation, it's probably best to just bite the bullet and make the investment in gearing you'll enjoy. Happy knees are pretty damn crucial on the bike!

Oops, missed page two...

If it's just a small ring and rear derailleur switch, then you're set! WAY easier to get the gearing you want.

Bostic

What crankset is the “Co-motion compact”? Is it just a FSA of some sort? I couldn’t find a picture of it on the bikes.

Kiramarch

Hi, everyone, thanks again for all the advice. I have an update for you, but not a great one:

After consulting with our dealer and the LBS, we switched the smallest chainring from a 30 to a 26. The expectation was that the shifting would be less smooth, but still basically fine, and we were happy with the additional range it would get us.

The chain popped off a few times during our first ride with it, so we went back for an adjustment, then trundled our bike over to the Shenandoahs for our first ride on Skyline Drive. And the chain popped off A LOT. Not just shifting into the small chainring, but we even lost it a couple of times between the big and middle ones. One of the mechanics we've known for a while noted that the rings are all sized to work together, so it's not a complete surprise that in adjusting the cable to work with the much smaller ring, things could get off even for the two unchanged rings.

So that solution isn't going to work, unfortunately, even though everyone thought it was a great idea. Our plan now is to go back to the original 30 ring while we figure out rear cassette options and consider whether a 28 in front would be necessary to get additional range without messing up the shifting. The ride did confirm that if we're doing climbs like that loaded for touring, we do need the additional range. Sigh.

Again, thanks for all the help!

Kiramarch

Ha, thanks for the support!

Personally, I have had great satisfaction building my running strength and endurance with weights and a training plan, BUT...the captain does not have the same appetite for structured training. If the climbs were just a little too tough, I might be able to coax him into enough of a program to make it work.

But even in the granny gear (the one we can't keep!), the 8-9% grades with panniers were hard on my knees, and we were forced into the high 60s and low 70s for cadence, when low 80s is more comfortable for us. Once we revert to the original chainring, I fear we just won't be able to do a substantial climb.

So...I think you're right, we invested enough in the bike that we should bite the bullet and invest in the more generous gearing. Here's to happy knees!

Paul J

We had Tandems East switch our Speedster to the 28 tooth when we bought the bike and have had good luck. You still have the option to add the dropout tab extension which would allow you to go with larger cogs on the back. Did you have a front chain catcher added at the crank? That will help to not drop the chain reaction n front. Good luck, I think you can get there with just a couple tweaks.

Carbonfiberboy 

You need a chain catcher for the 26. I have chain catchers on all my triples now. Makes everything a lot simpler. We have over 15,000 miles on our 53-39-26 9-speed rig, no problems as long as we change out the outer 2 rings when they get worn. We have a 12-34 in back, but those seems to have disappeared. We'll be forced to go to 10-speed in a couple years when we run out of 9-speed parts. We already have the 10-speed parts but we want to wear out our current spares first.

Kiramarch

The LBS told us once before and told us again this morning that there isn't room for a chain catcher on our setup. It sounds like we could handle a 28 without it, from what Paul J is saying. So now we're looking into whether that would get us the range we're looking for, probably in combination with a different rear cassette, too...

Carbonfiberboy 

Huh. I rather find that hard to believe. My race bike has closest tube-inside of granny ring measurement - 5/8". On our Speedster that measures 3/4". I have a K Edge on the race bike and a N-Gear on the Speedster. Couldn't use an N-Gear on the race bike because the carbon tubes are too large. The N-Gear looks like it would go down to 1/2" between tube and inner face of granny ring. The two devices are very different: the K Edge hangs off the FD bolt, while the N-Gear bolts around the seat tube. They both work, but the N-Gear is easier to adjust. N-Gear calls it a "chain stop." I do almost all my own maintenance and mods.

I also don't understand the chain "coming off" when shifting between big and middle rings, unless you mean it came off the big ring on the outside, which would just be a matter of incompetence on the part of the LBS. Actually same thing about coming off the inside of the granny - incompetence. We don't really need a catcher for our 26T grannys, it just saves the possibility of a little grief and makes FD setup a little less finicky.

Get a workstand and learn to set the bike up yourselves. Then when you're out in the boonies and something goes wrong, you'll know what it's supposed to look like or how it's supposed to work and can fix it yourselves in a few minutes. You learn to do it. It's actually all pretty easy.

mtseymour

Your current gearing (52/39/30 x 11/32) is already fairly low. It's possible that better training will allow you to tackle moderate (5-7%) and hard (8-12%) climbs without any gearing changes.

Although our team fitness is average, we've benefited from cycling with bike clubs and qualified instructors. With a combined age of 100 (and team weight of 300 lbs), we can do long climbs of 8-10% using 50/34 x 11/32. Our experience is that it's really worthwhile to learn about interval training, climbing technique, pedaling technique, body position, aerobic threshold etc. Some cyclists will spend a lot on a high-end bikes but won't pay equal attention to techniques.

If you don't have convenient access to qualified ride instructors, check out the GCN cycling videos. Here's one example:

Paul J

we had no problem with a 28 small chain ring and have the chain catcher attached on our Speedster. If you didn't get your bike from one of the Tandem Specialist shops you might want to call them and ask which chain catcher works best with you bike. I'm pretty sure Tandems East puts the catcher with all the bikes they sell so they would know exactly what to recommend.
​​

Ludkeh

I have that setup on my Comotion Java and am happy with it. Works great for hilly country especially when slogging up long steep hills. The only thing the OP needs to be aware of is that when using the 24 tooth chain ring, he can only use the 4 lowest gears on his rear cassette. Anything higher starts the "cross chain effect" and he needs to climb up into his middle chain ring. It just takes a little getting used to and some pre planning for the upcoming terrain. Also, the drop from 39 tooth chain ring to the 24 tooth is right at the limit of the derailleur set up. Shifts can be tricky and are best performed with minimal pressure on the peddles.

I think you have some easy options, Go enjoy!

Sprout97 

Another vote for N-Gear. Great investment. We've only dropped a chain a couple of times, both due to a loosened nut. For the record, triple 53-42-39 and either a 12-25 (almost always) or 11-34 (rarely) 9-cog.

Ludkeh

2x what Carbonfiberboy said!

Nick & Chris

Before you give up on the 26 small ring, you might try at the same time making the big ring smaller--a 50 or even 48. That fixed our shifting problems when we made the small ring a 26. Of course, with smaller big ring the chain doesn't need to be so long and everything worked better for us.

Kiramarch

Wow, there are just way more options than I imagined! Again, thanks for all the help. We're back with the original chainring for now, and I've managed to coax the captain into a few harder workouts, so we'll see where we end up. Might not have an update for several weeks, but I'll post one when I've got one.

Again, thanks for all the ideas and suggestions!