More gears?

[capoach]

Hi all,

How much work is involved to increase the gearing on my 2011 Giant Defy 2 18 speed? Would like the extra help when climbing as seem to be struggling with what I currently have.

It has a full 18 speed Shimano Sora shifting and chain set. Cheers

 

[ColinJ]

How many teeth do you have on your chainrings (front) and sprockets/cogs (on the cassette at the back)?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not much work. Probably.

According to this link you have an 11-25 cassette and 34/50 chainset. (can you confirm that?)
So you need to put an 11-32 cassette on it which will also require a new chain.
And possibly new rear derailleur. I'm not sure of the answer to that.
Edit and while you're at it you may as well replace the rear gear cable. Unless it's really new.

 

[Tim Hall]

Having "more gears" won't make gill climbing any easier. Having lower gears will.

<x post with Colin>

How many teeth on the small chain ring? How many teeth on the biggest sprocket?

 

[S-Express]

12/50 Tim.

Cheers

If you climb in 50/12, no wonder you are struggling...

 

[capoach]

How many teeth do you have on your chainrings (front) and sprockets/cogs (on the cassette at the back)?

12/25
34/50

 

[S-Express]

You can swap the cassette for 12-28 with no other changes. Anything else is going to get more costly.

 

[capoach]

You can swap the cassette for 12-28 with no other changes. Anything else is going to get more costly.

How much of a difference is this likely to make? As you can probably guess I'm a bit of a novice to the cycling game!!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Should be no problem putting an 11-32 on.

I did this on a friend't Giant Avail recently with no problems. That was Claris though. The key question is the capacity of the rear mech, can it handle the additional range and can it handle a 32T big sprocket?

If it can't you'll need a long cage rear mech in addition to a new cassette and chain. Shopping list:
11-32 9 speed cassette: about £20
9 speed chain: about £10
Possibly Sora long cage mech. About £20.

If you're doing it yourself you may need some new tools: Chain whip & casette removal tool

 

[S-Express]

How much of a difference is this likely to make? As you can probably guess I'm a bit of a novice to the cycling game!!

An extra three teeth on the back will be nice to have if you are struggling. It won't transform your riding though - only sticking at it will do that.

 

[Dogtrousers]

How much of a difference is this likely to make? As you can probably guess I'm a bit of a novice to the cycling game!!

34/26 is about a 35 inch gear.
34/28 is about 32 inch
34/32 is about 28 inch.
For comparison your top gear of 50/12 is about 110 inches.

Don't worry what gear inches really mean, it's just a number.

My completely subjective take: A 28" gear will make a TON of difference. a 32" gear will make a significant difference.

 

[bonsaibilly]

How much of a difference is this likely to make? As you can probably guess I'm a bit of a novice to the cycling game!!

Will definitely help. Less so than just keep pushing yourself though.

 

[Tim Hall]

34/26 is about a 35 inch gear.
34/28 is about 32 inch
34/32 is about 28 inch.
For comparison your top gear of 50/12 is about 110 inches.

Don't worry what gear inches really mean, it's just a number.

My completely subjective take: A 28" gear will make a TON of difference. a 32" gear will make a significant difference.

There's the 24" gear for when it all gets too tricky.

 

[capoach]

Thanks for the feedback, will take a look into this and see what I can do for a relatively cheap but effective fix

 

[mjr]

There's the 24" gear for when it all gets too tricky.

And usually no need to even fit it to the bike - comes free with most riders!

Maybe useful comparison data points: I can climb 12% with 42" but it's a real effort to restart on it so I usually switch to 24" if I must stop. I can just about do 33% with 30" but I have to stop after 10m and gasp for air, then cannot restart uphill!