What mods/upgrades do you have planned for your bike?

[SkipdiverJohn]

After today's ride, I'm thinking 28mm tyres, for comfort (shoulder suffering from bumps with 23c tyres), and a 46-36-26 chainset, to really give me some low end grunt. Despite the huge cassette on the back, 52-42-30 is just too big.

What's the biggest tyres you've got clearance for? 28 mm might be bigger than 23 but it is still a skinny size in my book. My old drop bar bike ran imperial rims with 1 1/4" wide tyres - the nearest 700c equivalent would be 32 mm now. My Pioneer hybrid runs 35 mm Delta Cruisers which are comfortable enough but I don't think I would go any narrower.

Your overall gearing looks pretty high to me; unless your idea of fun is to bomb downhill as fast as possible (mine isn't!), I don't see much need for anything bigger than 48 on the front going to 14 on the rear. That's my current highest gear and I rarely use it. In fact, I've come to the conclusion that a 46T large ring would probably be optimum for me, with 39T on the middle if I could get that combination.

 

[DCBassman]

I think 28 is probably as big as I could go, and I'm not sure about even that.
The cassette and rd have already been swapped from Sora 12-25 to Alivio and 11-34. This swap has seen me able to do things that I couldn't until now. Just want to make it that last bit easier.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Your original set up must have been pretty punishing with that close ratio rear cluster combined with a large front chainring. Real hardcore roadie speed merchant gearing. I'm not surprised you've been tweaking it.

 

[DCBassman]

Indeed, although it was always a triple.
My aim was always to convert it to a light flat bar hybrid, and I'm getting there...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

There's no point in having silly high gears on a flat bar bike, the aerodynamics are never going to let you reach the speeds you could on drops. 22 mph is the fastest I've ever gone on the level riding my hybrid, and that was only because the wind was blowing in a favourable direction. Normally I never get over 17-18 mph max, and that is only for short bursts, around 14 mph is a more normal tarmac cruising speed - for me at any rate.

 

[xzenonuk]

Got a Manitou suspension fork on order from decathlon for my old rockrider 540, it's an old model fork but reduced by 60 percent from 500 to 200 and decathlon will fit it for me at half price since I'm buying it from them.

Manitou r7 is the one to replace my old suntour fork

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/manitou-r7-fork-id_8138754.html

 

[DCBassman]

There's no point in having silly high gears on a flat bar bike, the aerodynamics are never going to let you reach the speeds you could on drops. 22 mph is the fastest I've ever gone on the level riding my hybrid, and that was only because the wind was blowing in a favourable direction. Normally I never get over 17-18 mph max, and that is only for short bursts, around 14 mph is a more normal tarmac cruising speed - for me at any rate.

Indeed, the upper reaches of the cassette, and the big ring, rarely see much action!