changing the gears on my road bike

desidereo

had my bike stolen on friday . .... was 21 speed cheapy anyway i liked riding it! went and bought another bike on saturday a diamondback pursuit with 14 speed after getting it home i have realised it was not quite what i was looking for ... i have made it better for me with a new seat and raised the handlebars. i want to change the front cogs to give me 21 speed for which i will need a extra sprocket. I want to make it a tiny bit easier to go up hills . at the momnet i have 52,42, teeth cogs what set up would be best for this .
I am also looking to change the shifters to brake shifters . ihave managed to find some 7 speed ones on ebay does anyone know of anyone else that makes them shimano has discontinued them
Bike-
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/diamondback ... 0c-p200793
Shifters

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221120862202? ... 1423.l2649

ricky1980

shouldn't be a problem in changing the shifter to brake shift. need a new set of cables and housing tho.

but the triple front, i think you will be ok with the current derailleurs.

now the ebay link is to the right shifter which controls the rear derailleur, you want the left shifter to change to triple front.

desidereo

What cog sizes would you recommend on the front i.e number of teet per sprocket at the mo is 52, 42
wouldnt mind it to be little bit harder to peddle in the lowest gear and bit easier than in the highest gear than i cureently have

ricky1980

whatever suits your need, you are looking to get a new chainset i assume.

I am not sure about what's available in triple gears, but i assume you want a tiny front to give you the granny gear as well as the current 52/53 for the speed and one in the middle for general use.

if you can get a 34T or even smaller at the front and a 53T on the largest then you can run some very tight back cassette which will give you a good range of gear ratio similar to 2x10 but you will probably end up doing a lot of front shifting...no one likes that.