Gearing advice for a fatty

blobbi

I'm pretty slow going up hill and been cycling for a couple of months now. Loving it!

I bought some pedals off a forum and they were unfortunately broken, but in my rush to change them back over for a cycle i have managed to screw up the thread on the cranks. I'm an idiot, I know.

I was running a campag triple 52-42-30 with an 8 speed rear 13-23. I have a double crank on me (53-39) and do not really wan to fork out for another crank. I have found a used 13-26 and a slightly more expensive 12-28 online and wondered which one I should get if I was to move out of the granny stakes and onto a double. Climbing is my problem but I am getting stronger and better up hill. A Compact crank would also set me back much more than a rear cassette so not willing to go down that route either. I have looked at Sheldon Browns gearing ratio but wanted to canvas your thoughts on which one to go for, of just suck it up and buy another triple.

andrewjoseph

take it to a garage and see if then can fix it with a helicoil. (sp?)

blobbi

Was going to try that tomorrow as well at my LBS. Thanks!

Jester27

That's a bit of a dilemma!
I don't know your weight, the terrain you ride on generally or uphill pace exactly, but the fact you mention it suggests strongly that you should not change from a triple to a double, let alone a 53-39!. That will be murder, and could put you off riding if you've only been doing it for a couple of months.
I started as a fatty last year and my bike has compact (50-34) at front and 11-25 at rear. This was very hard going, but now with 4 stone off I find myself never using the 25. Then again I don't live on the Alpes, but don't live in Holland either!
For the sake of your soul I recommend fixing the crank on the triple, but would be worth comparing the ratios to see how much you loose.

cerv50

If your not very good up hills defo don't put on the 53-39, you will only go slower! Better off repairing the triple crank you have or find a second hand compact double tbh

t4tomo

Yep a lowest gear of 39-23 after having 30-23 at your disposal would be madness. It's 25% jump harder.

turnerjohn

your shifters will be for a triple and wont work 100% with a double or a compact setup....not saying they wont work just they dont work properly ! ....know from past experience !

blobbi

Thanks for the replies.
I'm 100kg but pretty strong (thats what I tell the wife anyway).
I'm in East Sussex so some nice hills, 12% on my cycle to work. I do use the lowest (30-23) on this hill and agree that I have found the cycling much more enjoyable with the triple on. To be honest I'm just kicking myself that I screwed up the triples thread in a mad rush to get some pedals on so I could cycle to work to do my night shift, particularly after I had finally got my 531 rebuild to index perfectly as well.

I think I will try and get the triple repaired tomorrow, although I am not hopeful, and if not fork out for another one. Any crank arms going for an old campagnolo 135BCD 175 ?