KneesUp
Guru
Long story short: I'm renovating an old road bike to get fit, but its' too high geared.
I've decided that I'm best off replacing the crankset rather than messing about trying to find a 5 or 6 speed freewheel with both a nice spread of ratios and a gear much lower than a 24.
It currently has a 52/42 Stronglight set but you can't change the individual rings, so I'm looking at a replacement.
I've found this for £35 at Decathlon. An aluminium 50/39/30 weighing 1086g, which with the existing freewheel will give me gears from 33 inches to 110 inches, or thereabouts. Currently I have 46 to 114 in, so hopefully this will make a big difference.
For £185 I can get this Campagnolo triple crankset. It's a 52/39/30, so will give a slightly higher top gear and the same bottom gear. It weighs 914g.
In cycling I believe this is a bargain, as each saved gram will cost only 87p.
My questions are:
1) For my application with a five speed freewheel, is there any difference between the B'twin and the Campy, other than £150 and 172 grams?
2) I will need to change the front dérailleur to cope as mine is a post type rather than a parallelogram one and it will not cope with a drop of 20 teeth. Is there any reason other than weight to spend more than £7 on one, given I don't have indexed shifting?
3) Do you reckon my Simplex SX 100 will cope with the extra slack from using a 30t chainring, or will I need to get a long cage?
Many thanks for a great forum and any help
I've decided that I'm best off replacing the crankset rather than messing about trying to find a 5 or 6 speed freewheel with both a nice spread of ratios and a gear much lower than a 24.
It currently has a 52/42 Stronglight set but you can't change the individual rings, so I'm looking at a replacement.
I've found this for £35 at Decathlon. An aluminium 50/39/30 weighing 1086g, which with the existing freewheel will give me gears from 33 inches to 110 inches, or thereabouts. Currently I have 46 to 114 in, so hopefully this will make a big difference.
For £185 I can get this Campagnolo triple crankset. It's a 52/39/30, so will give a slightly higher top gear and the same bottom gear. It weighs 914g.
In cycling I believe this is a bargain, as each saved gram will cost only 87p.
My questions are:
1) For my application with a five speed freewheel, is there any difference between the B'twin and the Campy, other than £150 and 172 grams?
2) I will need to change the front dérailleur to cope as mine is a post type rather than a parallelogram one and it will not cope with a drop of 20 teeth. Is there any reason other than weight to spend more than £7 on one, given I don't have indexed shifting?
3) Do you reckon my Simplex SX 100 will cope with the extra slack from using a 30t chainring, or will I need to get a long cage?
Many thanks for a great forum and any help
