Who rides a standard crank?

[Svendo]

A crank is already an arm, since its meaning implies a lever on a spindle. There is no such thing as a crank arm. Left crank, right crank, crankset. A chainsest is a set of chains. I have no idea how many chains in a set.

Yes there is such a thing. It's a brewery in N. Carolina. In all seriousness, it's a tautological term that is useful to specify just the crank part of a crankset when that's previously been abbreviated to crank and also to distinguish it from a 'zealous eccentric' 'grouchy person' or low grade methamphetamine.

 

[Svendo]

Forgot to say due to busily being a smart arse, I have a semi-compact on my commuter (36-52) and standard on my good bike (39-53). The compact has 11-25 and the good bike is 11 speed and has the same cassette with a 28 added to the low end.

 

[Andywinds]

Well if I keep this bike for a bit I will swap out the 12/23 cassette that's for sure!

 

[totallyfixed]

Damn right it's hard to climb! I think in terms of gear inches - which has a pedigree going back to 'ordinaries' aka penny farthings - in which you travel forwards pi * number of inches, which was originally the diameter of the front wheel. Anyhow, I'd consider a gear of 40" suitable for most climbing (at my age and weight I'm now looking at 30" or so!). Your lowest gear, calculated as teeth on chainring * nominal diameter of wheel / number of teeth on rear sprocket, is 40 * 27 / 23 = 47 (rounded to nearest integer). By the same calculation, your top gear is 117", plenty high enough not to spin out in normal riding.
Your options are to fit a smaller chainring, fit a cassette with more teeth on the largest sprocket, or as you suggest, both.
Firstly, it may be possible to find a solution with your existing chainset; the obvious first suggestion would be a different cassette. Is it Campag, Shimano or something more exotic? Working on the assumption that it's Shimano, you could fit a straight 8-speed replacement HG50 13-26, to give a new low gear of 41.5.
Other options include 11-28, 11-30 and 11-32, BUT you'd probably never use the two smallest sprockets on these, and might well need a longer rear derailleur.
Next to consider is your chainset and what the bcd (bolt circle diameter) is. Measure (fairly accurately!) the distance between the centre of two adjoining bolts: if this is 76.4mm you have 130 bcd and can swap the 40 for a 38 tooth and a worthwhile reduction in bottom gear, if it's 79.4mm you have 135 bcd and could only reduce to a 39 tooth, scarcely worthwhile. Maybe time to think about a compact? Try the 13-26 cassette first, though.

Do you have a square taper bottom bracket? An "upgrade" to this month's latest flavour would require you to replace this with one which is likely to wear more quickly.
While I'm denigrating "upgrades", can I also suggest that an 11-speed cassette might not fit your hub? Nowt wrong with 8 speed!!!!!!

Now there's a novel idea, using gears to climb .

 

[Poacher]

Now there's a novel idea, using gears to climb .

I've met your sort before, comin' on 'ere sneering jus' 'cos you live in the flattest county in England!

 

[ColinJ]

I've met your sort before, comin' on 'ere sneering jus' 'cos you live in the flattest county in England!

Which is very true apart from the 'flattest county in England' bit!

 

[Tin Pot]

1:6 is that 17% in this millennia's parlance?

I'm still converting from shillings and groats too.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Yes there is such a thing. It's a brewery in N. Carolina. In all seriousness, it's a tautological term that is useful to specify just the crank part of a crankset when that's previously been abbreviated to crank and also to distinguish it from a 'zealous eccentric' 'grouchy person' or low grade methamphetamine.

Thanks for the support.
I'll forgive the brewery for its tautology, breweries have a special place in my life, as I will anyone who calls me a crank over my stance on this issue. I also stand educated on the low-grade meth stuff. But I'm gonna remain cranky over chainset and crank arm.

 

[Tin Pot]

Thanks for the support.
I'll forgive the brewery for its tautology, breweries have a special place in my life, as I will anyone who calls me a crank over my stance on this issue. I also stand educated on the low-grade meth stuff. But I'm gonna remain cranky over chainset and crank arm.

 

[Poacher]

Which is very true apart from the 'flattest county in England' bit!

Did I really type flattest? What a faux pas! Of course, I really meant smallest. Honestly.
Considering the ominous silence from a certain poster, I suspect dire retribution may be coming my way on any future Rutland Ride, in the form of OS map chevrons - there must still be scores of hills in Rutland and surrounding counties that I haven't yet walked up!