Can I add this chainring to my bike?

Mr Loverman

I currently have a Sora 9 speed group set on my bike and I was wondering if it would be possible to put a larger inner chainring on the bike to make it easier when I am pedaling so I dont have to go into my big ring? Would this chainring:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360038309/

fit on my bike or would there be compatability issues?

redddraggon

You might be able to.

But don't know what chainset you have

Wooliferkins

If you have a Sora compact (50-34) this will not fit as you need 110BCD.

Mr Loverman

redddraggon wrote:

You might be able to.

But don't know what chainset you have

My groupset is shimano sora 9 speed is that the chainset and if not how do i find out?

Mr Loverman

Wooliferkins wrote:

If you have a Sora compact (50-34) this will not fit as you need 110BCD.

what does 110 BCD mean and does it mean i am going to either have to replace my whole set up i.e. upgrade to shimano 105's or ultegra or stick with what I've already got?

redddraggon

I'd recommend going to a bikeshop.

John.T

If you have a standard Sora chainset then the ring you have will be 39 tooth, the same as the one you showed. This chainset is 130mm BCD (bolt circle diameter) which is the diameter of a cicle drawn through the chainring mounting bolts. You can fit any 130mm BCD inner ring to this.
If you have a compact chainset the inner ring will be 34 or 36 teeth and the BCD is 110mm. You can fit any 110mm BCD inner ring to this.
Check here for suitable chainrings. Stronglight do a wide range so there should be something to suit your needs. I would not recommend the Dural ones as they are not as long lasting as the Zicral ones.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s149p0

Mr Loverman

John.T wrote:

If you have a standard Sora chainset then the ring you have will be 39 tooth, the same as the one you showed. This chainset is 130mm BCD (bolt circle diameter) which is the diameter of a cicle drawn through the chainring mounting bolts. You can fit any 130mm BCD inner ring to this.
If you have a compact chainset the inner ring will be 34 or 36 teeth and the BCD is 110mm. You can fit any 110mm BCD inner ring to this.
Check here for suitable chainrings. Stronglight do a wide range so there should be something to suit your needs. I would not recommend the Dural ones as they are not as long lasting as the Zicral ones.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s149p0

Many thanks for your help.

Mr Loverman

John.T wrote:

If you have a standard Sora chainset then the ring you have will be 39 tooth, the same as the one you showed. This chainset is 130mm BCD (bolt circle diameter) which is the diameter of a cicle drawn through the chainring mounting bolts. You can fit any 130mm BCD inner ring to this.
If you have a compact chainset the inner ring will be 34 or 36 teeth and the BCD is 110mm. You can fit any 110mm BCD inner ring to this.
Check here for suitable chainrings. Stronglight do a wide range so there should be something to suit your needs. I would not recommend the Dural ones as they are not as long lasting as the Zicral ones.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s149p0

Just like to point out that the inner ring is only 34

TommyEss

Do you have a double/triple or compact chainset - how many chainrings do you currently have.

That will help us work out what the BCD of your rings are (bolt circle diameter - the diameter of an imaginary circle through the 5 chainring bolts)

Then we can help.

John.T

Just like to point out that the inner ring is only 34

Then any of the 110mm BCD inner rings will fit (other than any that say for Campag).
Try this gear calculator to find how different setups work out together. I set it to 'gear inches' as that is what I understand. You can find an explanation of this on Sheldons site.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_g.html#gearinch
He says the writing is on the wall for gear inches but once you get your head round it it is a very easy way of comparing different ring and cog setups.

Mr Loverman

TommyEss wrote:

Do you have a double/triple or compact chainset - how many chainrings do you currently have.

That will help us work out what the BCD of your rings are (bolt circle diameter - the diameter of an imaginary circle through the 5 chainring bolts)

Then we can help.

It has 2 chain rings

here is the bike and it's specs:

http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.u ... SPORT%2018

JohnnyAllez

That bike has a compact double front chainset, which means it`s got smaller chainwheels than a standard double (yours will be 50 and 34 tooth, the standard is 53 and 39 tooth, BUT the main thing is that a compact double has the bolts holding the chainwheels on set at 110mm diameter spacing, where the standard double has the bolts set at 130mm diameter( (that`s what BCD or PCD means, Bolt Circle Diameter or Pitch Circle Diameter to give its proper term)

I wouldn`t really think it`s worth the effort of trying to change the chainwheels, just learn to use the gearing a bit more so you`re more used to getting a reasonably constant pedalling cadence. It starts to come naturally to change gears sub-consciously as you need to when the road starts to go up. You`ll soon be riding on the big chainwheel most of the time once your fitness increases. I did anyway.

John.T

50 34
12 112.5 76.5
13 103.8 70.6
14 96.4 65.6
15 90.0 61.2
17 79.4 54.0
19 71.1 48.3
21 64.3 43.7
23 58.7 39.9
25 54.0 36.7
These are your current gears in inches. You will see that 50/21 and 34/14 are almost the same as are 50/19 and 34/13. If you fit a bigger inner ring you will loose the lower gears and get more duplicated gears. Which end (if any) are you prepared to sacrifice. You may be better getting a smaller big ring if you seldom use the high gears.
Pesonally I have no problem with 50/34 and 12/27 which I prefer to the 12/25.

STEFANOS4784

Mr Loverman wrote:

I currently have a Sora 9 speed group set on my bike and I was wondering if it would be possible to put a larger inner chainring on the bike to make it easier when I am pedaling so I dont have to go into my big ring? Would this chainring:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360038309/

fit on my bike or would there be compatability issues?

When you say make pedalling 'easier' what do you mean?

Wooliferkins

A small point, while 38-50 will be well within the range of your derailleur you may find it is awkward to set up as it is designed to drop the chain to a point lower down than a 38 ring will be. Raising the mech up little my well sort it but it my tke a while to find the right spot.

Mr Loverman

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Mr Loverman wrote:

I currently have a Sora 9 speed group set on my bike and I was wondering if it would be possible to put a larger inner chainring on the bike to make it easier when I am pedaling so I dont have to go into my big ring? Would this chainring:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360038309/

fit on my bike or would there be compatability issues?

When you say make pedalling 'easier' what do you mean?

Not make pedaling easier as such but it would be easier for me to go into the small ring and pedal and therefore save energy as opposed to having to go into my big ring which as you know does drain your energy much quicker.

whyamihere

Mr Loverman wrote:

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Mr Loverman wrote:

I currently have a Sora 9 speed group set on my bike and I was wondering if it would be possible to put a larger inner chainring on the bike to make it easier when I am pedaling so I dont have to go into my big ring? Would this chainring:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360038309/

fit on my bike or would there be compatability issues?

When you say make pedalling 'easier' what do you mean?

Not make pedaling easier as such but it would be easier for me to go into the small ring and pedal and therefore save energy as opposed to having to go into my big ring which as you know does drain your energy much quicker.

No, that's not right at all. I suggest reading this and learning how to use your gears properly.

John.T

If you look at those gear tables you will see that you only really have 13 gears. You have the 2 extreme cross over ones that you should not use and you have 3 that are almost duplicated so can be used on either ring. The 2 I mentioned earlier and the 50/23 and 34/15 which are as close as makes no difference. The better one to use is the 34/15 as the chain line is better and you have more options either side of it.
Fitting a different ring would only give you more duplicated gears in the mid range at the expense of either high or low ones depending on which ring you change. It is your bike so you can do what you like but I would not recommend changing until you fully understand how gears work and are best used.
I often do 60 mile rides at an average speed of over 15mph without ever going on to the big ring at all. I can ride quite easily at 20mph on 34/13 or 14. The only thing I miss on the 9sp setup is an 18 tooth cog which would be useful with the 50 ring.

Mr Loverman

the rides are club rides and are quite brisk and we cover alot of miles and because I dont have a decent sized small ring it has been pointed out to me that I could do with a bigger one, but as i am not an expert on gears ratios etc then I think i will just keep the 2 that I got. BTW I wasnt planning ongetting shut of my 50 just the 34 which i wanted to replace with the 39.

STEFANOS4784

FWIW i think you maybe slightly confused, either that or i have the wrong end of the stick as usual!

On the front the bigger the ring makes it harder to pedal but for the same cadence tyou will travel faster, the rear is opposite for some bizarre reason that my puny brain can't cope with. Anyhoo my point was going to be that if your in the small ring up front (easiest to spin quicker) and the smallest ring at the back (hardest to pedal but more speed for same cadence) why not just put it in the big ring up front and waxk it down to a bigger cog at the back? Or am i barking up the wrong tree completely :?


EDIT ; Just re-read this and dunno if it will amkwe any sense :oops: :arrow:

redddraggon

Why can't you use the 50T chainring when the pace is "quite brisk"?

Mr Loverman

redddraggon wrote:

Why can't you use the 50T chainring when the pace is "quite brisk"?

when we arent going flat out but to fast to be in the small ring

STEFANOS4784

Put it in the big ring then, and maybe change down a few on the cassette :?

softlad

Mr Loverman wrote:

redddraggon wrote:

Why can't you use the 50T chainring when the pace is "quite brisk"?

when we arent going flat out but to fast to be in the small ring

are you riding on a single speed rear or something..?

2alexcoo

If you really want to fit a monster chainring to a compact crank FSA do a 38 or 39t inner ring in 110BCD

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=35783

John.T

2alexcoo wrote:

If you really want to fit a monster chainring to a compact crank FSA do a 38 or 39t inner ring in 110BCD
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=35783

All out of stock. Stronglight do a wider range which I pointed to OP to way back. I am currently using Stronglight 52/38 on compact on my Madone. It is cheaper to go large on a compact than to have 2 chainsets.