Carrera Subway 2 upgrade question

adamzworld

Please excuse my question as I am rather ignorant when it comes to this sort of thing, but thought this might be a good place to get some feedback from some fellow cyclists.

I did have two bikes; one MTB with road tyres and an old Subway 2 which had been locked away in my shed for the last few years as I mainly use the MTB. Unfortunately the MTB was nicked so I thought I'd get the Subway 2 back on the road for the summer. One thing that I had thought about doing on the past was upgrading the front crank set from the standard one which has two gears to one with three. I've checked and the gear selector for the front derailleur does have markings for three gear settings so does this mean that I can get away with simply replacing the front crank set to go from 16 to 24 gears, or is it not quite that simple?

I'm not sure of the exact age of the bike, but I'd say it's somewhere around 2006 / 2007.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

lemonenema

Im almost 100% sure that your shifter wont be a triple, so no youd need a new shifter aswell, and a triple derailleur as your current one will almost certainly be a double.
Both should be pretty cheap now as your setup is quite old and triples are going out of favour.
Any reason why you want a triple?
if what youre after is a wider range of gears then you could just get a different cassette. Without knowing what youve got I cant give any more detailed suggestion.
For example I use a 12-36 cassette with a single 30T chainring on my mountain bike so only have 9 gears but I can get up pretty much anything ridable, minor downside is Im not as fast on road with a 12T/30T but thats not an issue with large grippy tyres being a big drag anyway.
And on my road bike I use an 11-30T cassette with 50/36T double, again 9 speed so I have a choice of 18 gears.
One thing youll find with most doubles and certainly on triples is that there are duplication of gear ratios, so simply having fewer gears might not be an issue. There are advantages to a triple in certain situations such as if you sometimes do bike touring or tow a trailer and need an extra low set of gears but for most people a double covers all your needs.

adamzworld

Thanks for the detailed reply and that makes perfect sense.

I guess I was mainly considering the upgrade as my other bike (the one that was nicked) was a 24 speed so it's just what's familiar to me.

I do ride around with my three year old on the back of the bike (Hamax seat) so I'm carrying around 17-18kg extra up hills. Having said that I'm not exactly riding up mountains so it's probably overkill to have the extra gears.

Based on the feedback, I think I'll get the Subway 2 back on the road and get used to riding it around again before making any further upgrades.


Cheers,



Adam

lemonenema

good stuff, as said, if you tell us more about what youve got now, it might just be a simple case of suggesting a more suitable cassette

adamzworld

Thanks again for the advice. I'll get the bike out later and try to see what markings are on the rear cassette. I know it's 8 speed and Shimano, but not much more so I'll see if there is a part number stamped anywhere.

The Rookie

Also check how many teeth on your two front chainwheels in case a smaller 'granny' ring would be a good idea.

adamzworld

I've just got around to replacing the chain on this bike and posted a separate issue about the chain which I'm hoping to sort with a new rear cassette.

It seems very hard to get a three speed chain set and the original front rings are 32t and 42t with a 11-32 cassette on the rear. The front shifter is marked for three speeds so my question is could I fit a three speed chain set as long as the largest chain ring is 42t?

TIA

adamzworld

I was thinking about replacing with something like this as it will give me the extra 22t chain ring, just not sure if the front derailleur will be compatible:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SR-SUNTOUR-TRIPLE-TEETH-CHAINWHEEL/dp/B01N6RXHTS

The Rookie

The subway is pretty much the same age Carrera MTB but with rigid forks, as long as you have the right shifter and mech it shouldn't be an issue.

That crankset should work fine, but be aware it may need a different axle width to that currently fitted and you would have to replace the bottom bracket as well. If you sick with the same brand (which is?) you're less likely to need a new BB.

Will give you effectively 2 extra gears as the lowest gear at the front and third at the back will give similar gearing to your current lowest gear.

adamzworld

The Rookie said:

The subway is pretty much the same age Carrera MTB but with rigid forks, as long as you have the right shifter and mech it shouldn't be an issue.

That crankset should work fine, but be aware it may need a different axle width to that currently fitted and you would have to replace the bottom bracket as well. If you sick with the same brand (which is?) you're less likely to need a new BB.

Will give you effectively 2 extra gears as the lowest gear at the front and third at the back will give similar gearing to your current lowest gear.

Thanks for the info. I ended up just buying like for like chain rings online yesterday as there wasn't much difference in cost and I'm hoping that there's still a bit of life left in the bottom bracket so won't have to replace it just yet.