Gearing advice needed.

[Little Butch]

I’ve been tinkering with a ‘93 GT Tequesta and am now thinking about upgrading/changing the shifter/levers and gearing. Mainly used for exploring the city as well as light trails and I’d love to do some bike packing in the future...

Bit of a novice at this bike stuff so suggestions on which gearing, shifters etc you recommend would be great! I like the look and simplicity of a 1x setup but not sure on the pros and cons of these?

 

[Sharky]

You've got a nice retro bike there. Unless something is not working, I would keep as is.

Might be worth changing the "consumables", that is chain, cassette and re cabling the brakes and gears, but apart from that, only change things if they are broken.

Good luck

 

[Big John]

You've already got all the gears you'll ever need so as Sharky says if it ain't broke don't fix it. As for a 1x setup anything is possible, within reason, with a bike but how mechanically minded are you and how much money are you prepared to pay for the switch? I suggest you Google the price of some of the parts you'll need and see how you feel then. There's an awful lot of things you have to take into account before you go for a major overhaul.

 

[Little Butch]

Appreciate the comments, you’re probably right! im running a 9 speed shifter at the moment which is just what the bike came with and doesn’t fit the brake levers I’ve got very well so I’ll probably replace the shifters with some 3x7 ones and then do as you say - chain, cables and give the cassette a good clean up.

I don’t think I’ll replace the cassette just yet as it’s running some odd, cheap, bent wheels which aren’t worth putting any time into.
thankyou! Any advice on shifters?

 

[Sharky]

Bit confused now.
Is your current shifter the wrong one for your bike and is your cassette a 7 speed?

But I think I would address the wheels first. If they are "bent", do they just need truing or are they past it?

A new chain with an old cassette is likely to have problems, so best if you change both together.

Then get a shifter to work with the correct number of sprockets. Can't advise which as all my bikes are dropped bar bikes. But if you have to replace all your brake and gear levers, you could turn it into a gravel bike with drop bars. But the costs are going to mount up.

Good luck.

 

[Sharky]

The other route, to simplicity, is to ditch gears completely and go single speed. Are the rear ends horizontal or vertical drop outs? If horizontal, would be a perfect and cheap solution.

 

[Big John]

The perfect solution, of course, is more bikes 😉