14 gears not enough

duffarama

Hello there,
I've recentlly got my cycling bug back (well we'll see how that turns out over time but so far so good) and have noticed that I'm looking for a stiffer gear quite often. What is the solution? Can I get links taken off the chain to tighten it up or am I going to need a new derailleur?

Morgan

Chain length has no effect on the gearing. In order to get a harder (i.e. higher) gear you'll either need a cassette with fewer teeth at the back, or chainrings with more teeth at the front.

duffarama

I assume any decent bike shop can do this for me? For a reasonable price of course! Cheers for the info

Quigs Snr

Maybe not for a reasonable price. I don't know a lot about the low end stuff, but if you have 14 gears, these drivetrains tend not to be too upgradeable. 7 speed cassettes with decent gearing are hard to come by. If you don't have a 53 chainring on the front, getting one should help a bit. The better half has a Giant OCR4 and I think it has a 53/39 on the front which is normal and what pro's use. Buts its something like a 26/14 on the back and its that number 14 thats the problem at speed. A 12 would be much better.

Go check with your bike shop, it could be that they can help. It might be that you need to upgrade your whole drivetrain. In which case you MIGHT need new shifters, rear derailleur, possibly rear hub/wheel. Maybe Chainset and Cassette also. I.E. Better off, sell and buy a new bike !

duffarama

A Giant OCR 4 you say? How'd you guess?!
That's the very bike I have, so it'll be a problem on the gearwheels on the back? Or could I update that number 14 to a 12 do you think?

Or off to the small ads with my bike?!

Edited to make more sense

Chips Lovell

duffarama wrote:

Or off to the small ads with my bike?!

A new gear cassette would be by far the cheaper option.

seamus

el tonto wrote:

A new gear cassette would be by far the cheaper option.

I know on an MTB, if you need to change your cassette for one with a different number of gears (e.g 7 to 8), you also need to change your chain and shifter. Is this the same with road bikes?

Chips Lovell

seamus wrote:

I know on an MTB, if you need to change your cassette for one with a different number of gears (e.g 7 to 8), you also need to change your chain and shifter. Is this the same with road bikes?

It sure is, but by the sounds of it he's looking for bigger gears rather than more, so just a case of getting another 7-speed cassette.

Quigs Snr

The problem with the OCR4, is the 7 speed shimano shifter. Its difficult but not impossible to get 7 speed Shimano cassettes but the ratio's tend to be limited : e.g 12-28 (huge difference in gears, too big I reckon), or an 11-19 which will be great on a flat or downhill, but goodluck on the steep uphills with that 19 !

Cycleways.com (who are irish) have the 7 speed cassette listed on their site, but do not specify which ratio it comes with - might be a good idea to call them.

What you are looking for is the Shimano HG30 7 speed Cassette: (Make sure whichever version you get has an 11 or 12 tooth ring. 12 is probably ideal for you - also it would be good to have one in the early to mid twenties to get you up those hills). You can get it in an 11-28 (evanscycles has them in this ratio) which would be a very easy hill climb gear and as hard a gear for the flats as you can get.... (big jumps between them though, but that doesn't bother some people, basically your gearing with that cassette would be more like that of a mountainbike with the wide ratios - road bikes tend to have smaller jumps to allow you to make subtle changes to maintain an even cadence)

Chainreaction cycles have someone gotten their hands on some old Shimano 105 7 speed cassettes which might fit the bill (check it out before ordering) for about 25 quid a shot also. Again the gear ratios are limited probably 12-21 would be your best bet if you went this route. (that 21 will be tough on the hills though unless you are very strong/fit, your OCR4 probably has a 25 or 26 which is an awful lot easier on the uphills, if you have to go into your easiest 2 gears to get up hills and couldn't live without them, I would avoid a 21).

Best bet is to bring into your local bike store and tell them your problem. A rear cassette will solve your problem and will be cheap.

duffarama

I'd a 12 speed shimano 105 kit before but that was a long time ago and I'm nowhere near as fit now as i was then... yet. Never had a problem with regards wanting a higher gear with it either.

Cheers for all the info, I'll call into cycleways at the weekend and see what they can do for me.

Edited to say: Hats off to you Quigs Snr, a wealth of knowledge there. I'm rarely in the easiest gears on this bike at all, but then I try to avoid steep hills at the moment!