Hybrid gears

[fattony]

hi

A friend has a hybrid bike but prefers the gears of my cx bike, the rear derailleur looks massive on his compared to mine, is it possible to change the rear derailleur (and probably shorten the chain) I presume the front derailleur is standard size?

Alternatively buy a new bike!

 

[vickster]

Prefers the gears in what way?

What are the two bikes in question?

 

[fattony]

Finds my bike setup for speed compared to his being sluggish. In the highest gear on his 21 the bike hits top speed and he can’t peddle any more despite still having energy to do so.

Both are boardman bikes his hybrid mine cycle cross

 

[vickster]

Finds my bike setup for speed compared to his being sluggish. In the highest gear on his 21 the bike hits top speed and he can’t peddle any more despite still having energy to do so.

Both are boardman bikes his hybrid mine cycle cross

What are the chainrings and what are the cassettes?
Links to the bikes would be helpful as a minimum, otherwise it's complete guesswork on the ratios

Is his a triple presumably? Yours a double?

There are gear ratio calculators you can consult online

Has his got suspension? What are the tyres on the bikes?

 

[Cycleops]

How many teeth on the largest chainring on the front and the smallest cog on the back of the hybrid?

 

[fattony]

Ohh this is way more complicated than I thought....

I’ll get him to go to a shop but yes his front derailleur has 3 x chain rings

 

[vickster]

Ohh this is way more complicated than I thought....

I’ll get him to go to a shop but yes his front derailleur has 3 x chain rings

Is it a modern bike? Can you not find a link online to the two bikes?

 

[roadrash]

do you know the make and model of both yours and your friends bikes

 

[sleuthey]

From the info you have given you will not gain anything by changing the rear derallier or shortening the chain.

It sounds like he needs larger chainrings on his chainset (the round things with teeth by the pedals). In which case you would need to extend the chain

 

[adamhearn]

In the highest gear on his 21 the bike hits top speed and he can’t peddle any more despite still having energy to do so.

Have to ask but he's definitely in the large ring at the front and the smallest at the rear?

A 21 speed hybrid is *likely* to 48-38-28 or 44-32-22 rings at the front at anything between 34/30 - 12/14 on the rear. All figures are guess work of course. If the smallest cog on the rear is a 12 there's not a great deal you can do (11 is possible but may be difficult [not impossible] to source a freewheel, again a guess given it's a 7 speed, and you're only going down a single tooth). If the rings at the front are the smaller of the two mentioned then you should be able to fit new larger rings and increase the chain length as appropriate.

Just take some clear pictures or count the teeth at @Cycleops has mentioned.

 

[Sharky]

...…. he can’t peddle any more despite still having energy to do so......

He should concentrate on riding a bike, rather than selling goods.

Seriously though, CC members on here who ride single speed or fixed will claim speeds over 30mph (descending) on quite modest gears, so changing gear set up, probably won't make much difference.

 

[vickster]

He should concentrate on riding a bike, rather than selling goods.

 

[MichaelW2]

A hybrid bike usually had a greater range of gears from low to high, compared to road or cx bikes. The greater range requires a derailleur that can take up more slack chain in lower gears.
Long cage rear derailleurs are a bit more sluggish than short cage racing ones but not so much that anyone complains about it.
Do they have the correct length of chain?

 

[Tigerbiten]

Also what tyres are on each bike ??

Tyres can make a big difference to how a bike feels.
Heavy stiff tyres tend to make a bike feel dead while light supple can make the same bike feel more lively.
So if he has heavy semi-offroad tyres and you're using light road tyres then that could well explain the difference in feel between them.
The down side is lighter tyre tend to have less puncture protection, with all that entails ......

 

[fattony]

Wow so much info thanks.

Well mine is 11-32T 9 speed and his is a 11-36T 10 speed, he went to a bike shop and they said it’s too expensive to do.

Surely at the back it’s just change the rear cassette, not sure how easy the front is to change or if it’s required?

Then new shorter chain and the expensive bit is the shifters?