upgrading gear set

mmmm14

I ride quite often, 20-60 km each a few times a week. Mostly only flat road terrain, but i've been getting up into the mountain roads lately. I've realized i've maxed out my gears...i always feel a need to go up/down one or two. So, i want to upgrade my gears. I'm using a standard shimano acera 24 gear set. i understand i'll go 27 or 30 speed next and i guess this all depends on price and availability at my local bike shop. The problem i have is i don't know which gear sets are an upgrade from mine...i know my acera is low. What would be possible upgrade for me to look into? Alivio, deore, what else is there? (i just say these two because i have noticed them more frequently). hope you can steer me in the right direction. cheers. much appreciated.

unixnerd

One difference between quality and budget kit is the feel of the gear shift. Try a few different sets and see what you think. Deore is decent kit. I had to replace a dead 17 year old XT shifter last month and did it with a pair of lightly used modern XT shifters for 30 quid off ebay. I'd rather buy used quality kit than cheap new stuff.

For other parts the main difference is weight. The cheap Sora groupset on my tourer lasted for about a decade and 10,000 miles in all weathers, hardly ever had to adjust it.

lc1981

mmmm14 wrote:

I've realized i've maxed out my gears...i always feel a need to go up/down one or two. So, i want to upgrade my gears.

I wonder if you've confused needing a higher/lower gear with upgrading. You could upgrade to a better groupset which has exactly the same gear ratios that you currently have, and you'd be left with the same problem. Equally, you could stick with the same groupset and just buy a different cassette, and it would give you higher/lower gear ratios. Having more gears doesn't necessarily mean that your highest gear will be lower or your lowest gear lower - it could just mean smaller gaps between them.

CiB

viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12912692

Agree with above. Have a read of this, esp the desrciption of overlapping ratios and how 27 gears isn't 27 different ratios.

simon_e

Would be better to check whether you can fit a wider range cassette on your existing setup first. Even if you need a new rear derailleur it's still a great deal cheaper than replacing the shifters and chainset as well.

While lower gears can be useful for steep hills, not many people need bigger gears. Replacing your drivetrain isn't a magic bullet, it's no substitute for being fitter and stronger.