Gearing

rja

Hi guys.

I have a specialized hard rock which i use more on the roads than off road. I have changed the tyres to Conti contact sports and now wish to change the cassette on the back to get maximum distance with fewer turns of the pedal. (Buying a road bike is my next step but just want a sort term solution!!)

I think the current cassette is a shimano hyperglide cs hg40. (32-11) What do you recommend for me to fit? I'm not truely clued in about gearing. (As you may well see!)

Thanks for your time guys.

Yorkshireman

There isn't a higher (rear cassette) gear than 11 tooth, so you'll have to look at changing the largest ring (is it 42 teeth?) for a bigger one on the front chainset. If it's possible to change it you might have derailleur clearance problems as well as getting the chain up from the middle ring to the new big ring (depending on what size of ring you can get). A 44 ring might be OK, but that's not much of a jump up. Another alternative would be to get a higher geared chainset such as 28, 38, 48, but then you might need a different bottom bracket and derailleur.