Should I change the gearing?

[Barbelier]

Training for JOGLE in September and overall I'm happy with the progress I'm making.

However, having a problem with bigger hill.

Long steady climbs are no problem - select the right gear and I feel I could climb all day.
But I cannot get up some of the really steep hills. Even in the lowest gear I can't physically move the bike up the slope, even though I don't feel as if I have run out of legs or breath.
I am probably a couple of stone overweight so I'm wondering if the gears are simple not sufficient to move the weight of the bike and me up the slope (and I don't yet have the loaded panniers on either).

Should I therefore change the gearing?

Bike is a Revolution Country Explorer and current gearing is 26-36-48 and 11-32.

If I changed to 22-32-44 and 11-34:

1. Would it make a significant difference?
2. How easy is the chainset to fit (I've already changed a cassette with no problem)?

I'm looking at the following:

Chainset
Cassette

 

[andym]

You only need to change the rings - although unfortunately it often costs more to buy the rings separately than to buy a new chainset. It's worth gettin a decent tool for the chainring bolts (although you can undo them with a decent flat-bladed screwdriver and allen key).

It will make a noticeable difference - although don't expect miracles.

 

[Ben M]

It must be a cliff if you can't get up it with 26 32 at your disposal!

Are you struggling when your bike is loaded up? Maybe you need to pack lighter?

As an example I've toured with quite a lot of weight with 34 25 being my lowest gear and not been physically unable to continue up any hill, even after a week of 70+ miles a day.

 

[betty swollocks]

Any lower than a 26 running to a 32 and you'll be going at walking pace and poss have balance problems.
Might as well get off and push.
You got your bike set up right - saddle at correct height etc?
Practice climbing out of the saddle. Not as efficient, but gives you that more power for the really steep bits.

 

[willem]

UK hills can be steep indeed. Although changing the gearing as you suggest (you do not need that crappy xt chainset for it, however) will make a bit of a difference, it will not be dramatic. The only way to really change things is quite simply to take a lot less. Reducing your load from for example 25 kilo to 15 is a quantum leap, as is going on a diet yourself.
Willem.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I run 48-36-22 front rings on my trike.

So you may get away with just swopping the 26 ring to a 24 ring or even a 22 ring.
You need ~1 mm per tooth, so if you have ~5-6 mm between the chain and the bottom of the front mech, you can do this.
You'll also need to check that the rear mech can take up another couple of links.
This will drop your bottom gears without altering your top end.
But it can make it a little bit more tricky to shift from the small ring to the middle under load.

Luck ...........

 

[andym]

Any lower than a 26 running to a 32 and you'll be going at walking pace and poss have balance problems.
Might as well get off and push.

That's a complete myth. (Either that or you walk very fast, or you have balance problems).

With a 22T front ring and a 34T cog at the back you can still ride at a sensible pace (7/8kms per hour) while maintaining a sensible cadence. (There are plenty of bike gear-speed calculators on the web so if anyone doesn't believe me they can easily check). OK you aren't normally going to ride at that pace, but that's the point of having a low gear: at the end of a long day even a steady 7 kph is better than pushing. Most cyclists should be able to ride at 4kph without any balance issues - if you can't then maybe a bit of practice would be order.

I'm not sure what's 'crappy' about the XT chainset. Bear in mind that it's a hollowtech chainset which means that the bearings are on the outside of the BB. The system has it's advantages for off-road but it's probably OTT for on-road touring. The price looks pretty steep to to me - my BB failed on tour in Spain recently and the shop fitted me a new Dear Hollow tech chainset for 90 euros or so. at that price definitely just replace the chainrings - and as people have said, you may be able to get away with just replacing the small one.

 

[betty swollocks]

26 onto a 32 with a 700c tyre is, at 60rpm, about 3.8 mph.
Faster than you'd be able to walk up the hill.
Andym is correct.
22 onto a 32 at 60rpm = 3.2 mph and 22 onto 34 is 3.0 mph.
At 80 rpm (more realistic), the values are 5.1, 4.3 & 4.1.
Quite honestly, I don't know whether lowering your gearing by these amounts will help you.
I have two suggestions though;-
i) try and minimise the weight you're carrying
ii) ensure bike is set up properly especially saddle at correct height.

 

[willem]

A slightly lower and more forward handlebar may also help. As for climbing speed: I can climb at 4 km per hour, but on this bike that is my limit. So yes, I do think a slightly lower gear will help a bit, but the real help will almost certainly come from a lighter load. Are you currenly a heavily loaded tourer? The reason I think the new XT cranks are crap is precisely because of the vulnerable external bearings. But even if they were fine, changing cranks because you want a smaller chainwheel is a bit like trading in the car because the ashtray is full. A small steel chainwheel will cost next to nothing. And next time you buy a new cassette, by all means get one with 36 teeth (34 is no longer the largest number you can get).
Willem

 

[Muddyfox]

I am probably a couple of stone overweight so I'm wondering if the gears are simple not sufficient to move the weight of the bike and me up the slope (and I don't yet have the loaded panniers on either).

Are you currenly a heavily loaded tourer?

I'm not qualified to give an answer to this really but i would firstly look at the Bike set up and then climbing Technique .. if your going to lower the gearing start with the rear cassette first and try to explore the cheapest way of doing it .. well done for having a bash at LeJog and dont beat yourself up about being slightly overweight, there are plenty of racing snakes that can hold a fast average MPH and climb like mountain goats on higher gears but would never consider doing LeJog

Simon

 

[Barbelier]

Thanks guys for all the really helpful responses.

In answer to some of the questions:

1. Which hills are giving me the problem?
Example from my session last Saturday around the Berks/Bucks border taking in part of the Chiltern Hills:
Hill 1 long steady climb from 120ft to 550ft over 2 miles in the bottom 2-3 gears which I ground my way up without stopping
Hill 2 short sharp climb from 200ft to 300ft over 300 yds which I got two thirds of the way up in bottom gear but could not move the bike any further even climbing out of the saddle (no run at this hill possible because you hit the bottom of it immediately after a junction). I will climb out the saddle sometimes, but I have a slightly dogey left knee so try to keep it to a minimum.

2. Weight & fitness
Yes I know I need to lose weight!. Have already lost 10lbs since I've been training for JELOG, but not realistic to expect I can lose another 2 stone in the next 6 weeks.
No panniers on the bike yet (ordered, will be fitted as soon as they arrive and start to load them up progressively), although I do train with a small back pack with 2L bladder, tools, spares, nosh, etc

1,300 miles training so far and have gone from having to having to have a nap after a 10 mile ride, to now doing 200 miles a week and single sessions of 75 miles. So I think I am doing okay so far. (Simon - thanks for the encouraging words. As time goes on I get more and more confident that I can make it)

3. XT Cranks
Don't really understand the comment about these being crap. Read lots of reviews & feedback from people who purchased them and they were all very positive.

4. Racing Snakes
Those buggers that fly past me in their colour co-ordinated outfits and 2mm wide tryes (where's a good pothole when you need it! ). I tell myself they're probably only able to do 10 miles at that speed before they collapse in a crumpled heap, whilst a Cyldesdale like me can plod on for 70 miles+


So I think I will investigate just changing the smallest ring first and maybe the cassette. Had a quick look, but couldn't really find anywhere to buy just the one ring - any suggestions?

Thanks again

 

[andym]

1. Which hills are giving me the problem?
Example from my session last Saturday around the Berks/Bucks border taking in part of the Chiltern Hills:
Hill 1 long steady climb from 120ft to 550ft over 2 miles in the bottom 2-3 gears which I ground my way up without stopping
Hill 2 short sharp climb from 200ft to 300ft over 300 yds which I got two thirds of the way up in bottom gear but could not move the bike any further even climbing out of the saddle (no run at this hill possible because you hit the bottom of it immediately after a junction). I will climb out the saddle sometimes, but I have a slightly dogey left knee so try to keep it to a minimum.

One oif the advantages ofmetric is that you can work out how steep a hill is (or I should say I can work out). If the altitud increase by more than 7 metres in every hundred metres then it's steepish, more than 10 then it's really steep and more than 12 very steep. Not sure what your hills are, but the chilterns do have some fairly cheeky little climbs (another technical term)

3. XT Cranks
Don't really understand the comment about these being crap. Read lots of reviews & feedback from people who purchased them and they were all very positive.

The short answer to your question is that you don't need to change the chainset and if you did you could do it more economically. You probably have a bottom bracket bearing that's in a sealed doobrie inside the frame - ie different from the Shimano XT chainset. You could probably change the chainset without changing the bottom bracket which would be cheaper. But probably not as cheap as simply changing one or more chainrings.

The longer answer is that the diameter of the bottom bracket shell (ie the round bit in the frame) is limited. This means that engineers designing the bottom bracket have to make a trade-off between the axle diameter and the size of the bearings in the unit. Many (most?) touring bikes come with 'square taper' axles which work fine and are very reliable. if you have one of these I would leave well alone.

Some time ago the bike industry decided to change things and make the axles bigger and, allegedly 'stiffer'. However, this meant making the bearings smaller and these smaller bearings are more vulnerable to failure if water gets in (as happened to me). The philosophy of the external bearings is that you can have the advantages of both - a big stiff axle plus bigger bearings. On the other hand this means the bearings are outside the frame instead of safely inside it. Whether this means the bearings are more vulnerable is a bit debatable (as they are in sealed units), but on the up side, in theory they can be more easily replaced.

Oh, and if your head isn't already spinning, the industry is considering a new standard with the aim of making the bottom bracket shell bigger.

But the bottom line: don't change your chainset ulness you really need to, and if you already have a square taper bottom bracket, leave it alone and only change if when/if it fails.

 

[Barbelier]

...but the chilterns do have some fairly cheeky little climbs (another technical term)

....more like hilariously lung bursting! There's one hill (mountain more like) just of the M40 nr Stokenchurch that even the car complains about climbing!

 

[andym]

Oh, and now I've got my brain in gear: a climb of 300ft in 300 yards is of course 1 in 3 (even in metric). 200 ft in 300 yards 22per cent. Even allowing for you laying it on with the proverbial trowel that's still b*stard steep. I suspect that most of us would walk that one.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Oh, and now I've got my brain in gear: a climb of 300ft in 300 yards is of course 1 in 3 (even in metric). 200 ft in 300 yards 22per cent. Even allowing for you laying it on with the proverbial trowel that's still b*stard steep. I suspect that most of us would walk that one.

Its only a gain of 100ft, 200ft -> 300ft, so only 1 in 9 or around 11%.
Thats about as steep as mainroads get, but not over steep.

To buy a new inner chainring, look somewhere like Chain Reaction Cycles.
You'll just need to get the inner ring which matchs your crank spider, 4 or 5 bolts.

Luck ................