Frankenstein Bike
johnny-marrone
Posts: 21
I originally posted this on the MTB Workshop forum but it appears to have beaten their technical expertise as I received no replies. Are there any master-mechanics lurking in commuter world?
I've had my 1990 Marin Elderidge from new and it's currently serving as my daily commuter, complete with slicks. Most of the bike has been replaced several times and I'm currently running a cheap shimano chainring of about 44 teth to an 8 speed rear casette going down to 11. However, I need more speed!
My commute involves about 5 miles of billiard-table flat tarmac where the wind is either directly behind or against me. To add variety, my journey also involves a bit of mild off-road and a couple of small hills. Therefore, I want to run a road-bike compact chainring of about 52/30. I'm not bothered about slick gear changes as these stopped happening about 10 years ago!
Has anyone done this to their bike? The bottom bracket is currently a square taper but is probably due for renewal so I'm happy to replace this. Will a road bike bottom bracket fit my MTB and are road and MTB rear cassette on a MTB Hub?
thanks
I've had my 1990 Marin Elderidge from new and it's currently serving as my daily commuter, complete with slicks. Most of the bike has been replaced several times and I'm currently running a cheap shimano chainring of about 44 teth to an 8 speed rear casette going down to 11. However, I need more speed!
My commute involves about 5 miles of billiard-table flat tarmac where the wind is either directly behind or against me. To add variety, my journey also involves a bit of mild off-road and a couple of small hills. Therefore, I want to run a road-bike compact chainring of about 52/30. I'm not bothered about slick gear changes as these stopped happening about 10 years ago!
Has anyone done this to their bike? The bottom bracket is currently a square taper but is probably due for renewal so I'm happy to replace this. Will a road bike bottom bracket fit my MTB and are road and MTB rear cassette on a MTB Hub?
thanks
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Comments
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I understand that a gap of more than about 16 teeth between the two chainrings isn't feasible because of the requirements of a front mech. So 52/36 might be the best you can manage.0
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I'm not sure of the compatiblity between mountain bike and road bike bb's. I think they might be different widths (or each have an incompatible range of different widths).
It may be easier to try to find some extra teeth on the existing setup - there are a number of aftermarket chainring manufacturers, TA Specalties comes to mind, and you might be able to find a 46 or a 48 (actually I have no idea).
Anyway, 44 up to something like a 48 is a big jump in itself.0 -
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thanks,
that could be just the job. 52 would be perfect but 48 is definitely a step in the right direction.0 -
Make sure you go for the right spider pattern (i.e. the spacing of the bolt holes) though - I don't know mtb's but I do know that there are a couple of different standards.0
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johnny-marrone wrote:thanks,
that could be just the job. 52 would be perfect but 48 is definitely a step in the right direction.
Well, you could fit the crankset that I did to my commuter: Deore 48/36/26. I've happily sneaked over 40mph (downhill, wind-assisted) on 48-11 without running out of spin!
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