I need wider gear ratios on my Pinnacle Hybrid. At present it has a seven speed cassette. To upgrade this to an 8 speed, would I need to replace the rear wheel?
If you already have a freehub set-up, you can change the freehub part for an 8 speed one.
This would necessitate stripping out the axle, switching the freehub, replacing the axle and re-dishing the wheel.
If a wider spread of gears is all you want, might you be able to get another 7 speed cassette with different ratios?
I do wonder if this is a 7 speed freewheel, rather than cassette.
If it's a cassette, then I recommend one of these bad boys from Chain Reaction
SRAM (Shimano compatable) 12-32. Nice regular steps, last ages and quite cheap.
Once you find out what you have freewheel or cassette you might find it a lot easier just to find what gear ratios you already have at the back.
Most gears i have seen have a little number on them to say how many teeth they have, if you need faster gears for speed or lower gears for hills you can shop around for one to suit you rather than spending money upgrading to an 8 speed.
My subway 1 came with a 12 -32 i think 7 speed but i never used the slow gear so i bought a 11-28 which is a lot better.
Thanks Guys - I've been pondering this upgrade for sometime. The bike has a 28/38/48 on the front and 14/28 on the back. I've recently done the coast to coast fully loaded and although I managed, I found that I wanted both higher and lower gears., Now back in normal life, I'm enjoying the bike again - the close ratios are great for my everyday rides. This is why I was contemplating 8 gears. From whats been said above, I think I'll stick to 7 and live with wider spacings.
Some thing like that would do i think? but you would need the tool to remove it.Best bet is to pop into your local bike shop and ask them to fit a new one, and you will need a new chain as well as it wears at the same pace as the gears and will not match up.
Right - if it's 14-28 that's a freewheel.
14-34 freewheels are available, but they have a massive jump from 1st to second gear.
Shimano used to do an 11-34 7 speed freewheel, but I've never seen one on sale.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.