help, need more hill friendly gearing

pip001

hi, i brought a carrera virtuosso for my comute to work.ive done the route for a few years on my mtb no problem but i,m finding that the hilly route home can be too much at times after work.the bike has 50/36 front and 12/26 rear gears.what can i change to improve the gearing uphill.any help would be appreciated.

craker

34 tooth chainring? 28 (or even more) on the back? If you start with the chainring you wont need to do anything with your chain. Once you start putting bigger gears on your chain may be too short (26 to 28 shouldn't be an issue) and your rear mech may not be able to take up the slack.

However... the amount of energy required to get you up the hill is the same, it's just that your legs don't like the lower cadence. I'm a recent single speed convert and I like the challenge of the Big Hill on my commute. I just get out of the saddle and grind my way up.

Wirral_paul

As above, start off with a 34T chainring. This should be a pretty quick, easy and cheap fix.

Bordersroadie

craker wrote:

34 tooth chainring? 28 (or even more) on the back?

+1.

You will also get "man the f*** up" type advice, in a few posts time, where people will variously brag about the fact that they need only [insert gear sizes] as a lowest gear or whatever, but the above is advice is good.

pip001

thanks for the advice.i will give it a go.

Sunderland Supporter

Bordersroadie wrote:

craker wrote:

34 tooth chainring? 28 (or even more) on the back?

+1.

You will also get "man the f*** up" type advice, in a few posts time, where people will variously brag about the fact that they need only [insert gear sizes] as a lowest gear or whatever, but the above is advice is good.

As soon as somebody advises somebody to MTFU , I mentally add that advice giver to my " full of it users to completely ignore" storage part of my brain.

essjaydee

I've been using a 34 front ring, 26 rear and found some steep hills to be a problem, so have just fitted a 28 rear cassette.
Have got a big ride tomorrow and I'll let you know if the change makes a noticeable difference, but a 34 front ring is the first and easiest place to start.

nathancom

I would change the cassette first before changing the chainset from 36 to 34. Your leg strength will build up if you are climbing every day and you can swap the old cassette back when it feels more suitable. I guess it depends on how hard you are finding it currently, impossible or just challenging?

Also tons of gear commuting can make life much harder so if you can reduce how much you carry each day that will make a big difference on the hills.

paul2718

50/36 seems odd. The Virtuoso on the Halfords web site is specified as either 50/34 and 12-25 or the 'Race Limited Edition' is 53/39 and 12-26.

It might be worth carefully checking what is there.

I would guess that an 11-28 cassette is the answer.

Paul

pip001

mines last years virtuosso,the blue one. i think theve changed them now but i will check before buying.paul milnes cycles has the 34 t for a tenner so well worth a go.

ineedalager

I would advise changing the cassette aswell to 11-28 I did this on my Specialised Allez which came with a 52/39 and 13-26 cassette I find it helps alot I can live with the 39. My Boardman hybrid started with a 50/36 and 11-32 I changed that to a 34 and I can say I noticed much difference I don't use the 32 for the hills round here the 28 is good enough.

essjaydee

Well, having ridden today with the 28 rear cassette, it was definately easier on the legs, and it hasn't upset the overall ratios, so I'm sticking with it for now 8)

rake

you could consider a 200w hub motor and litium batteries.