First post - started commuting, got the bug!

Dalton

Hi all,
Have been lurking here for a while, seems to be a decent forum.
I have recently started commuting to work (7 miles each way), on my Carrera Subway 2. I purchased this bike a couple of years ago and up until recently, it hasn't had much use.
I am having a couple of issues that I could do with a little help with.

Firstly, gear changes are not as smooth as I would like them to be and when I am in the top gear (on either of front two cogs) it seems to want to slip back down into previous gear, therefore making top gear pretty much obsolete. What would be the likely cause of this and solution?

Secondly, I seem to run out of gears fairly quickly - it is the sixteen speed version of the Subway 2. I hardly use the first eight gears (unless going uphill) and spend most of my time in gears 5-7 of second set of eight (see above problem). So is it possible for me to add another set of 8 gears? Could I change chainset to a triple on this bike? How easy would this be?

Or would it be easier and cheaper to go for a road bike?

Thanks in advance for an answers!

CarlosDSanchez

Adding a tripple crankset would probably be more hassle than it's worth. You may or may not need a new gear shifter and front derailer if the ones installed are double specific. Also mountain bike crank sets wouldn't give you a larger big ring anyway.

You could install a new 8 speed road cassette 11-25 teeth which would give you a higher top gear and the closer ratios would give you more gears in the range you use.

As for the sloppy gear change, try lubricating your gear cables and I'd also check the low limit screw to make sure its set right. There are articles on the parktool web site which tell you how to set up and index the rear derailer.

rally200

Hello, and welcome

Dalton wrote:

Firstly, gear changes are not as smooth as I would like them to be and when I am in the top gear (on either of front two cogs) it seems to want to slip back down into previous gear, therefore making top gear pretty much obsolete. What would be the likely cause of this and solution? - as above could be a sticky cable (odds on you've got a "top normal" set up) or the cable might be a tiny but tight - try screwing in the barrel adjuster on the mech half a turn.

Secondly, I seem to run out of gears fairly quickly - it is the sixteen speed version of the Subway 2. I hardly use the first eight gears (unless going uphill) and spend most of my time in gears 5-7 of second set of eight (see above problem). So is it possible for me to add another set of 8 gears? Could I change chainset to a triple on this bike? How easy would this be?
no - as above - not cheap to change to a triple. assuming you've got 12-34 or something similar you could change to a 11-25/28 or to get more useful road ratios.

or consider your cadence - most people find they start off "mashing" ie slow pedalling in high gears, then end up preferring to spin at higher speed as they develop thier skills


Or would it be easier and cheaper to go for a road bike?

Thanks in advance for an answers!

seanoconn

HI dalton.

I had the same bike a couple years ago. I had to re-adjust the gears quite regulary and fairly quickly the teeth on the cassette wore down which caused my gears to slip. To be honest if your not happy with the bike as it is, i would't waste any money on it and buy a decent road bike, second hand if you have to.

Dalton

seanoconn wrote:

HI dalton.

I had the same bike a couple years ago. I had to re-adjust the gears quite regulary and fairly quickly the teeth on the cassette wore down which caused my gears to slip. To be honest if your not happy with the bike as it is, i would't waste any money on it and buy a decent road bike, second hand if you have to.

Hi, Thanks for your reply, think this could well be the issue. When I first got the bike I did quite a few miles on it, and have recently put a further 500 miles on it with my commute and leisure rides.

Having never owned a road bike I am more than a little overwhelmed by the vast choice and price range!

I need a reliable commuter but also want a bike that will be fun to ride in the evenings/ at weekends.

Anyone got advice on where to start looking?

Price wise - ideally want to achieve £500 - £600 until I am certain I will keep this lark up.

Dalton

rally200 wrote:

Hello, and welcome

Thank-you!

rally200

not that I'd try to put you off a new bike, but if you only want to try out new gearing an 8 speed cassette will only cost you £12-15 + another £10 for a chain would be advisable.

now - lip service paid to frugality (if that really is a word) - yes get a road bike - it will make your commute much more fun & then suit weekend club runs - but if you're going to use it for year round commuting get something that can take mudguards & racks

eg. this Dolan
http://www.italian-solutions.co.uk/product.php?productid=161727&cat=347&page=1
[/url]

Dalton

rally200 wrote:

not that I'd try to put you off a new bike, but if you only want to try out new gearing an 8 speed cassette will only cost you £12-15 + another £10 for a chain would be advisable.

now - lip service paid to frugality (if that really is a word) - yes get a road bike - it will make your commute much more fun & then suit weekend club runs - but if you're going to use it for year round commuting get something that can take mudguards & racks

eg. this Dolan
http://www.italian-solutions.co.uk/product.php?productid=161727&cat=347&page=1
[/url]

Hey,

Thanks for the link - nice bike! However that is a fixed gear bike, but the same site are offering a Dolan Preffisio - which looks very good for the price.

So if I was to get a road cassette for my existing bike are there any you would recommend? What about compatibility with other gear on bike?

I can't seem to find out which one I have currently - which may be a probelm when it comes to choosing a tool to remove it - can anybody help with this?

rally200

on a carrera your cassette will be a sram or shimano, they use the same removal tool.

any 8 speed sram or shimano cassette will do. - problems only really happen if you go from small (high) lowest gear to large with a short cage road mech - on your subway you'll have a MTB type long cage mech (I expect)

ah yes - wrong link - I was thinking the Prefisio - or the CX which would be good forcommuting (but not sure if it has rackmounts).

[/url]http://www.italian-solutions.co.uk/product.php?productid=161726&cat=347&page=1[url][/url]

craker

..but before you spend your hard earned on shiny new bling, get your bike serviced at your LBS or do it yourself so that you can get a full range of gears. (Park tools or Sheldon Brown for good guides)

If your still out of gears, a cheap solution may be to fit a bigger chainring (that's the biggest cog at the front). No idea if that's possible on your bike, take it into Halfords and they can tell you.

Dalton

Ok, so Wiggle have a SRAM PG850 8-Speed Cassette.

There are various ratios available, from 11-28 to 11-32. If I want to achieve higher (faster) gears, which do I need? I am a little confused.

rally200

they both have the highest possible gear on them

the 32 is the lowest

11 = 11 teeth on the smallest (highest gear cog)

28 or 32 = number of teeth on the lowest gear (biggest cog)

the 32 will of course have larger gaps between ratios - these gaps are ususally at the low gear end. there's unlikely to be much difference between the gaps at the high end.

see how these numbers compare to your existing cassette -


how low you need to go depends on how fit you are, where you live, how much you'll be carrying.etc etc

rally200

mr_si wrote:

..but before you spend your hard earned on shiny new bling, get your bike serviced at your LBS or do it yourself so that you can get a full range of gears. (Park tools or Sheldon Brown for good guides)

If your still out of gears, a cheap solution may be to fit a bigger chainring (that's the biggest cog at the front). No idea if that's possible on your bike, take it into Halfords and they can tell you.

yes - quite right sort out getting into your exisitng top gear & see how you like that before gettting a new cassette

Dalton

So, I have been trying to get gear issue sorted. Have a couple of LBS stores near me, however one was most unhelpful and told me he was stacked up with work and my SRAM gear shifters were 'crap' anyway - so won't be going back there! The other store has been closed everytime I try and get there.

So, attempted to adjust myself. How hard can it be? I thought! Spent a good couple of hours adjusting cable and H & L screws on derailleur. At one point I lost all but the three gears in the middle (rear cassette). Eventually managed to get all gears back in the end with a lot of fiddling about, but still no better in terms of shifting. If I change gear up a gear under any sort of load it makes a loud clunk which is worrying and when changing down sometimes it just doesn't and sometimes two gears at a time.

Still managing to commute daily though and my times and average speed are improving all the time which is good.

Really need to sort something though, may even have to take to Halfrauds, which is a last resort as my local branch is staffed by spotty teenagers.

rally200

You should try and back off the load a little when changing (still keep pedalling though of course) - some of the lower end set ups don't like changing under load.

Grip shifters can be a bit imprecise - you could change them for trigger shifters fairly cheaply

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=31625

or a replacement grip shift even cheaper - who knows could be bettter new http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=31625

Dalton

Thanks for your reply.

However, my bike is the Subway 2 - so has SRAM trigger shifters.

Think I have made matters worse with my 'adjustments', I attempted this with the bike upside down, which is apparently not a good idea!

Will have to get a cheap bike stand and have another go.

Could it be that the cables have stretched? As they have never been adjusted and only recently started doing 'proper' miles on the bike.

stueyuk

The indexing apparently has nothing to do with H L screws or necessarily the cables. You need to try minor adjustments on barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur. (this coming from a novice like yourself by the way!!!)

Dalton

Went to halfrauds and purchased a work stand for the bike - just a mini one (was only a tenner!). Which has enabled me to have better look at gears and what the issue is.

It appears for some reason, that when in the top gears the chain is rubbing against the front mech.

So just need to adjust that and should improve the noise issue.

As for the barrel adjuster - having an issue with that too, as SRAM don't appear to have one on the rear mech. There is what appears to be a cable adjuster on the shifter - so going to give this a try.