Quick question regarding replacing gears on a Raleigh Ascender

[chrismisterx]

I have an old Raleigh Ascender, from 1993.

How hard and expensive would changing the gears be for a novice?

found this run down of the bike specs online http://www.ply.me.uk/bits_and_pieces/bike.html

would it be possible to go from the current 15 gears to 27 with nice low gears to help with climbing hills with a load on?

And if a hard job for a novice to do, would it cost the earth to get done?

 

[TheDoctor]

It can be done (anything can be done!) but I'd hesitate to recommend it. To go from 15 to 27 gears you're looking at replacing the entire drivetrain, gear levers and the rear wheel. The cost would be prohibitive just in parts, let alone labour.
If, however, you just want some lower gears, that's more affordable. Get a 5 speed freewheel at about a tenner. A triple chainset, like the Altus 24/34/42 one that Decathlon do for £18, and a new chain - maybe £6. The key thing here is the chainset - you want to be sure that the new chainset has fewer teeth than the old one, as that's what will give you the lower gears. Everything else can stay as it is.
You're not replacing anything other than the drivetrain, and using cheap stuff to do that. 5 speed stuff is a *lot* cheaper than 9 speed.

 

[chrismisterx]

It can be done (anything can be done!) but I'd hesitate to recommend it. To go from 15 to 27 gears you're looking at replacing the entire drivetrain, gear levers and the rear wheel. The cost would be prohibitive just in parts, let alone labour.
If, however, you just want some lower gears, that's more affordable. Get a 5 speed freewheel at about a tenner. A triple chainset, like the Altus 24/34/42 one that Decathlon do for £18, and a new chain - maybe £6. The key thing here is the chainset - you want to be sure that the new chainset has fewer teeth than the old one, as that's what will give you the lower gears. Everything else can stay as it is.
You're not replacing anything other than the drivetrain, and using cheap stuff to do that. 5 speed stuff is a *lot* cheaper than 9 speed.

Thanks for the reply, my current is according to the internet
Chainrings 48T-38T-28T /
Freewheel SHIMANO SIS MF-Z015 14T-17T-20T-24T-28T

Could a complete novice swap these out after watching a few videos or would it be best to take it to the shop?

 

[Tigerbiten]

With a 5 speed block on the back, you've probably got a 120 mm gap between the back forks.
A 6 speed block needs 126 between the forks to fit, a 7 speed needs 130 mm and a 9 speed needs 135 mm.
So unless you make the gap bigger by cold setting the frame, a bigger number of sprockets won't easily fit.

As for just swapping the chainrings, unless the chain and back block are almost new then they will probably need swapping as well.
The cost soon mounts up.

 

[roadrash]

A novice could do it with the help of YouTube IF the novice has the right tools

 

[raleighnut]

Without fitting a new back wheel you could fit up to a 7 speed as it's likely to be a screw on freewheel. all you'll need then is a new shifter and a chain.

8 speed and up you'll need a new back wheel with a freehub so it gets a bit (well a lot) more expensive.

FWIW I've uprated 2 old Raleigh MTBs, the first was a Mustang then after that got nicked an Outlander but they were both major upgrades and cost @£400 as I changed pretty much everything from the handlebars back and used mainly Deore components.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Without fitting a new back wheel you could fit up to a 7 speed as it's likely to be a screw on freewheel. all you'll need then is a new shifter and a chain.

Iffy .....

A 5 speed block is 24 mm wide and a 7 speed block is 32 mm wide.
So you'll need around 8-10 mm of spacers on the axle to make up the difference.
This is longer the the length of the axle sticking out of the hub, so a longer axle is needed.
Now you'll be trying to put a 130 mm hub into 120 mm dropouts.
That's just doable but not easy as you need to force the dropouts out to fit the hub.
So you'll probably need to cold set each dropout 5 mm outwards and then make sure they are still parallel.
To finish off you then need to re-dish the wheel so the rim is over the new centerline of the hub.

So it's all doable, just not simple.

Luck .........

 

[Cycleops]

So in summary it's not much of an Ascender then and a bit of a PITA to make it one.

 

[raleighnut]

Iffy .....

A 5 speed block is 24 mm wide and a 7 speed block is 32 mm wide.
So you'll need around 8-10 mm of spacers on the axle to make up the difference.
This is longer the the length of the axle sticking out of the hub, so a longer axle is needed.
Now you'll be trying to put a 130 mm hub into 120 mm dropouts.
That's just doable but not easy as you need to force the dropouts out to fit the hub.
So you'll probably need to cold set each dropout 5 mm outwards and then make sure they are still parallel.
To finish off you then need to re-dish the wheel so the rim is over the new centerline of the hub.

So it's all doable, just not simple.

Luck .........

I've never come across a Raleigh Mountain Bike with 120mm rear spacing.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I agree with @TheDoctor .
I'll guess the rear dropouts are 126mm (for that age bike) so a 6 speed freewheel would screw on fine. Sticking to a 5 speed would save having to replace the thumb shifter (assumed to be indexed 5sp), 14-28 freewheel gives a decent range and the RD has the capacity to cope with that. A shifter allowing 6sp (either if the current one is friction or a simple (cheap) replacement 6sp thumb shifter) would allow a 6 speed freewheel to be used, still 14-28 but with closer steps between gears (a good thing).
OP wants "nice low gears to help with climbing hills with a load on" so going for 42-32-22 would give the OP a 20+% lower low gear. Just worth bearing in mind that the top gear would be 12% lower for going down the same hills.

And if a hard job for a novice to do, would it cost the earth to get done?

The OP would need to check that the FD can be dropped about 7mm to set the cage correctly with the 42t chainring.
Replacement of the chainset with another one (square taper) is fairly straightforward - the only 'specialist' tool (apart from a spanner/hex key and a mallet) needed is a crank extraction tool - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/x-tools-crank-extractor-1/

 

[Cycleops]

I agree with @TheDoctor .
Replacement of the chainset with another one (square taper) is fairly straightforward - the only 'specialist' tool (apart from a spanner/hex key and a mallet) needed is a crank extraction tool - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/x-tools-crank-extractor-1/

If you're not fussed about preserving it you could 'drift' it off with a lump hammer.