Gears?

[krisgoss]

Hi there, I was after a bit of help regarding the gears on my bike.
I am a bit of a speed demon, and as I have recently started road riding, my bike doesn't go fast enough! lol
It is nothing special, a cheap mountain bike, I am fitting slick tyres to it this weekend, but looking at the gears now.

It is a 18 speed set-up with;
48-38-28 (or at that's what I counted anyway)
and 6 at the back - 14-28 close ratio

I was just wondering what sort of recommendations people could make for me?
Firstly, do I want to go bigger on the front, or smaller on the back?
Would a different Deraileiur, Gear Shifter/Cable and Chain be required?
And just to make it more of a challenge, I am on a budget, so no £100 cranks for me sorry

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[HLaB]

The cheapest option would be to change that rear cassette for something smaller, perhaps with a 12-26 or a 11-26 (bear in mind that will also make climbing harder). Also remember that a new cassette also usually needs a new chain.

 

[krisgoss]

Thanks for the help!
Would I really be able to notice the difference if there is only a 2 or 3 tooth difference at the back then? Sorry, but I still don't know all that much about bikes at the minute.

Cheers for the info so far, would I be able to just buy a cassette and swap them? Should I be sticking to a Shimano one, or do they all fit the same?

Thanks again

 

[marinyork]

Your gears are fine (no really) you just need to spin faster (no, really!!!).

 

[TheDoctor]

Hold it!!!
With a 6 speed rear end, that's not a cassette, that's a freewheel block, and new ones with less than a 14 small cog are like hens teeth.

 

[krisgoss]

I do seem to be pedalling pretty fast, it's just rather uncomfortably fast to get it to any real amount of speed (unsure as to exact speed as I am only fitting a computer this weekend)

It is a freewheel block by the sounds of it, been doing a bit of my own research and come up with this:
http://www.bikeoutlet.co.uk/products/Shimano_6_speed_Cycle_Freewheel_MF_TZ06-321-54.html

so it's not looking good for changing any of the gears then?

 

[marinyork]

so it's not looking good for changing any of the gears then?

I can't say it's probably going to really get you any faster. You're young, enjoying it and yes you may have a slow bike but at the stage you're at it's not really an issue and character building. Honestly give it a few months and you yourself will get quite a bit faster if you put the miles in.

Get a computer and then you'll be able to manually work out your cadence. On your top gear 48/14 spinning at 100rpm that's about 25mph. By all means change to a higher ratio at some point in future when you've warn them out if you feel it's too wide but I don't see it gaining anything.

And freewheel's suck for choice, I've still got mine on one of my bikes and still haven't got round to going to cassette because it involves changing everything!

 

[krisgoss]

That was a pretty good response! Thank you!
I can't wait to get my computer on this weekend, so I can see the kind of speeds I am doing! I suppose that if I am maxing it out all the time, then I can look at changing stuff.
Sounds about my luck to have a bike that is really awkward to do anything with! I've been on it to and from work for the last month, so that's about 7 miles a day, 5 days a week, with a long trip out on the weekend, and i'm 21, so must just be my impatience of youth or something, but I want it faster! :-)

Cheers for all the info then, I guess I will just stick with it for a while, and probably save up for a different bike in all honesty, something I can change bits on a bit easier! :-)

Thank you!

 

[marinyork]

If you want to know cadences when you have the computer on then Sheldon Brown has a good cadence calculator on the gear section http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

It's not for me to say what your needs are but you are probably better off with a better bike 6 months down the line. You've done all the right things putting slicks on it. I've been telling friends who have MTBs this for a couple of years now but whatever I tell them the urge is to tinker and spend with minor fiddles and upgrades to bikes that don't really suit them!

 

[cyberknight]

Your gears are fine (no really) you just need to spin faster (no, really!!!).

Based on sheldon brown 48x14 at 80 rpm = 21 mph, good going on a mountain bike especillay as you say if it is cheap and liable to be made of cheap /heavier components.

Not knocking cheap bikes , nothing wrong with them if they serve your purpose, heck both my bikes are sub £300 .
As other have said i would save your money and get a new/er bike and keep that as a back up / winter hack.

 

[krisgoss]

Thanks to advice from you lot, I am just gonna save up for a different bike, this big heavy one has got to be good training for me at least!
Fitted my tyres today and my computer, so should be a bit better to ride and I can see how fast i'm going.

Help Please - Seat Post

I was putting my seat back up, as it seems to slide down slowly, and I snapped my seat post bolt!! Annoyed to say the least.
So I've done some measurements and the slot where the seat post goes measures at roughly 28mm.
So would I buy a 28.6 seat clamp, or a 30? Is the measurement given on seat clamps the smallest they go? Or what the are supposed to be good for? If that makes any sense?
This is the one i'm looking at by the way:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=8213