gear help please

westfaliaso23

Very sorry if this has been covered before , but I'm novice to cycling and need a bit of advice please.
I live In a very flat part of the country and I've recently started to go on the hunt for some hills, the trouble I'm having is getting up hills with my standard shimano 105 , i used my sons bike with a triple group set and found it a lot easier. But i don't really want to go to a triple on my bike what would the best double set up for a middle aged over weight 55 year old to get fit and beat the hills..
sorry for the long winded question..

drlodge

What's your current setup on the chain rings and rear cassette? I.e. the chainrings are likely to be something like 34 & 50 or 39 & 53 teeth and the cassette something like 12T-28T

westfaliaso23

Thanks drlodge I'm not sure i will check tonight and get back to you , like i said I'm a complete novice

slowbike

Use something like this:
http://www.gear-calculator.com/

to compare your setup with your sons ...

btw - nothing wrong with having a triple - but you may be able to achieve the same ratio with other methods ..

westfaliaso23

Hope this helps I have a 53 / 42. On the front chainring and 9 rear gears starting at 23 down to 12 sorry I couldn't understand the gear converter .

westfaliaso23

I also have ultegra rear mech and levers and a 105 front chain ring

Bullet1

That's pretty severe - the smallest gear you have is a 42-23, so if, as you say you are over weight is not surprising you can't get up the hills. A typical setup for the non elites would have a lowest gear of a 34-28, and even then some would struggle getting up the steeper hills.

Based on the fact you've a 9-speed cassette I'm not 100% sure of giving accurate advice, but even putting a larger cassette on the back 11/30 (if there is one available in a 9 speed and its likely not to work with what I guess will be a short cage rear mech) would only get you to 42-30. More manageable - but still maybe a struggle.

westfaliaso23

Thanks guys for all your help and advice I'll keep you informed with the results.

simon_masterson

It does depend on the hills you're trying to climb. Smaller chainrings would make sense for you by the sound of it, but a cassette with a 28t would give you a lot lower a gear than you have now. You could also go from 42t down to 38t too. If I were you I would make those changes on the cheap, and then move onto a compact or triple setup.

Incidentally, there's absolutely nothing wrong with triples on road bikes.

westfaliaso23

Cheers Simon I know there nothing wrong with triples but I was hoping to change as little as possible and as cheap as possible , but I'm mostly doing flat miles and going to do way of the roses next year.

simon_masterson

If you want to keep it cheap, definitely get a new cassette and inner ring then; that won't cost much (used or new).

cycleclinic

Fit a wider ratio cassette. you can change the inner ring to a 38T but start with the cassette. a short cage mech of that era will take a 12-27T cassette.