Easier Gearing

Max_Man

I have recently moved to a new road bike, a Specialized Allez Elite that has a compact chainset, 50x34 and 11-28. I'm new to all this but need an easier lower gear to get up some of the hills here in North Wales, I asked the question a few weeks ago about turning it into a triple but thats going to be too pricey as funds are limited at the mo. So my question is, can I get an easier gear setup by changing a front cog or new cassette without having to change derailures etc.

allezscotia

Sorry but i think you need to find a relatively flat route for a while till you get used to spinning. That setup should be reasonably good for hillclimbs.

salsarider79

An MTB cassettes on the back, but only if you run 9 speed, not 10 speed. If you have a 08 or 09 model then you'll be running 10 speed. With an MTB cassette, you get bigger jumps between gears but could then get a 34 lowest gear, instead of a 28.
34:28 is as small a gear as you can really get with standard road stuff. Go to http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ for info gear ratio's.
Wonder if you could fit a 32 tooth front cog...? A 30 tooth would be too small to fit, but a 32 might work.
Also, do you use clip in pedals or the staps the Allez comes with? Clipping in gives you a much more efficient power transfer from leg to bike. That might help you too. Good luck and keep trying.

Max_Man

allezscotia wrote:

Sorry but i think you need to find a relatively flat route for a while till you get used to spinning. That setup should be reasonably good for hillclimbs.

Thought so.... :roll:




It's a 9 speed SRAM cassette thats on it now. 08 model. I'm using 105 SPD-SL's with Spesh shoes, I think it's just that I'm not in 'that' fit yet, I think I'll take the cheap option and train harder.

Thanks for the replies.

John.T

Only other real option is a MTB cassette with a 32 or 34 cog. You will also need a MTB rear mech and a longer chain. I think your last option is the best. Happy training.

maddog 2

yep, the hard truth is you need to get fitter :shock:

34 - 28 will get you up Hard Knott pass, which is 30+%

ColinJ

maddog 2 wrote:

yep, the hard truth is you need to get fitter :shock:

34 - 28 will get you up Hard Knott pass, which is 30+%

What you mean is 34-28 will get you up Hardknott pass!

Or

There are quite a few people who can get up Hardknott pass on 34-28

Or even

If you get fit enough to get up Hardknott pass on 34-28 then you will be able to get up Hardknott pass on 34-28, which is rather stating the obvious.

The vast majority of cyclists wouldn't get up Hardknott pass still on their bikes no matter what gear ratio you gave them. The thing is - the vast majority of cyclists wouldn't even attempt to !

dennisn

34-28 is a pretty small gear and should get you up and over just about all but the
"impossible unless you're a pro" climbs, If you have a resonable fitness base. If you want
you can buy a 33 tooth front ring from TA Specialties to give you a bit lower gearing.

Dennis Noward

grantus

Shoulda, woulda, coulda!

Don't believe everything people on here tell you!

I've heard all this guff before!

"39*23 is adequate for any UK climb" blah, blah!

The answer to your question about obtaining lower gears for least expense is to get an MTB cassette and a Deore rear mech and perhaps a new chain.

I did this recently to go from a lowest gear of 39*26 to 39*32 which suits me better and all told probably cost me around £35 to £40 for the upgrade although I don't see it as expensive as that as I stuck the old mech and cassette onto an old Peugeot road frame I recently acquired thereby doing my bit to recycle old components and save the planet!

You'll get stronger in your own time and probably won't need the lowest gear as much but it's good to have as a back-up or for days when you ain't feeling so full of energy.

Don't let the macho posturing make you feel inadequate. Them that talks about it the most and all that!

Mettan

Due to a (chronic ACL) knee ligament injury I'm currently using a HG-40 11-32 cassette with a 50/34 Compact and an Altus rear deraileur - works perfectly fine. Mechanically, it can be done, and its adequate enough (functionally) for training rides/Sportives etc etc..

ColinJ

dennisn wrote:

34-28 is a pretty small gear and should get you up and over just about all but the "impossible unless you're a pro" climbs, If you have a resonable fitness base.

Hey Dennis, you are in the USA aren't you? I know that that you do have some very steep roads in places like San Francisco, but generally I think you've had the benfit of a more practical approach to road-building than we had over here !

The thing is - most of your roads won't be more than perhaps 100 years old so when they were built, modern thinking was employed. If your roads go over a mountain, they probably have lots of hairpin bends (switchbacks) to get you up there without stupidly high gradients.

It's a bit different in places like North Wales or even here where I live in Yorkshire. Some of the roads might originally have been built by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago and their approach was to get from A to B in the shortest possible distance which is a straight line. If that happened to go straight up the side of a mountain, so be it. As a result, we have lots of roads which are 20%, 25% or even (pretty rarely) 30%. They might not be "impossible unless you are a pro" but they are "extremely bloody tough without very low gears unless you are slim and extremely fit".

Here's a local example (25%):



I got up it once on 40-28 but it was very very hard work. I now use 30-28 which makes it bearably tough.

Max_Man

Some good replies, thanks.

I think my main problem (apart from being unfit) is that I live at the bottom of a valley, to get anywhere I climbing out. I don't find the gears I have to be to hard to push, it's pushing them for any length of time. My MTB has nice low gearing and I can get out the valley with that no probs but on the roadie I have to get off to walk the last bit.

I'm sure the fitness will come, I'm putting in some decent miles.

redddraggon

I can't think of anything too bad in North Wales, my nephew's smallest gear is a 30/24 a fraction bigger than 34-28 and he hasn't had to get off his bike yet even though I've tried to find something that would make him.

Don't bother doing much messing about with your drivetrain, keep pedalling until you can pedal no more, then get off and walk - next time you should be able to get further up the hill without getting off. IMO getting gears to make it "easier" won't do much good in the long run.No pain - no gain.

dennisn

ColinJ wrote:

dennisn wrote:

34-28 is a pretty small gear and should get you up and over just about all but the "impossible unless you're a pro" climbs, If you have a resonable fitness base.

Hey Dennis, you are in the USA aren't you? I know that that you do have some very steep roads in places like San Francisco, but generally I think you've had the benfit of a more practical approach to road-building than we had over here !

The thing is - most of your roads won't be more than perhaps 100 years old so when they were built, modern thinking was employed. If your roads go over a mountain, they probably have lots of hairpin bends (switchbacks) to get you up there without stupidly high gradients.

It's a bit different in places like North Wales or even here where I live in Yorkshire. Some of the roads might originally have been built by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago and their approach was to get from A to B in the shortest possible distance which is a straight line. If that happened to go straight up the side of a mountain, so be it. As a result, we have lots of roads which are 20%, 25% or even (pretty rarely) 30%. They might not be "impossible unless you are a pro" but they are "extremely bloody tough without very low gears unless you are slim and extremely fit".

Here's a local example (25%):



I got up it once on 40-28 but it was very very hard work. I now use 30-28 which makes it bearably tough.

I tend to agree with you that the older the road, the steeper they get. Just the way they did things back then. However, over here we have been exposed to a little bit of our
own versions of bad road enginnering in some of the more backward, for lack of a better
word, parts of the country. Although, normally you don't see a whole lot over 10% or so there are a few really nasty ones out there. Nothing near me. I live in the flattest part
of the U.S. A 39-23 is good anywhere around here.

Dennis Noward