Changing from tripple chainset to double.

funky-monk

Hi, I have a 2006 Marin Wolf Ridge, and have found that my riding style is becomming more aggresive, and am having problems with excessive chain slap and chain occasionally comming off on decents and drops. It is fitted with a standard Truvative Firex 22-32-44 tripple chainset and XT rear mech. I am thinking of changing to a double ring set up with an E-13 DRS chain device, but find the usual 22-32 set up too low geared for my riding. Can anybody suggest a good chainset with maybe a 36 or 38 outer ring? Will this be a lot slower on road/trails/descents than the 44T ring?

Thanks, Mark

nicklouse

just replace you 32 with a bigger ring. and maybe go up on the granny as well.

re slower well you will top out sooner as you have lower gears.

Splasher

You don't have to go flying into chain devices as a first resort.

If you change to a 36T double arrangement, you can swap from a long cage mech to a medium cage. You can also remove 5 full links from your chain (4 because you have 8 less teeth on your biggest ring and 1 because you're jockey wheels are closer together). This will help dramatically with your chain tension.

Also, if your rear mech is Shimano, when you replace it get a new XT shadow replacement. It doesn't have the srping loaded pivot by the angle-of-dangle screw and so slaps less anyway.

dave_s

If you're used to a 44t outer then no doubt you will run out of gears on the road if you hammer on road too. As mentioned, switching to a double setup with a bash and obviously front mech might be your best bet if you do more offroad.

I toyed with the idea myself but I find that I do spend quite alot of time on tarmac so I need my 44t outer because I'm in 3rd from top gear most of the time. As soon as I go offroad, I rarely use the outer ring so a double chainset would be great for a pure offroad bike.

nicklouse

Splasher wrote:

and 1 because you're jockey wheels are closer together).

sorry but what mech has nothing to do with chain length.

dave_hill

I run a Shimano Hone chainset fitted with Blackspire 22T and 34T chainrings and a Blackspire C4 bash ring.

With an 11 - 34 sprocket cassette it's plenty - in my tallest gear (34 x 11) I can spin along on a level road at 20mph quite happily without looking like a clockwork monkey.

With a 27 speed setup one of the problems is that a lot of your mid-range gears are duplicated (i.e. you probably only have about 20 or 21 gears anyway) - by removing a chainring and increasing the size of the middle one you actually make the spread of your gears more even. Also, smaller chainrings and a shorter cage rear mech help to increase your ground clearance.

For anyone whose riding is 85% off-road and who isn't in a hurry the rest of the time, I'd definitely recommend making these changes.