Increasing the number of gears

Húrin

Hi folks, I have a bike and I want to increase the number of gears, because the granny gear is not easy enough for getting up hills. Ideally I would like to add a new, smaller third sprocket to the front cassette. This currently has two, a 42 and a 52 (these are written on it, and I assume they refer to the number of teeth).

However, I took that cassette apart and decided it would probably be easier to add one or two larger sprockets to the rear cassette instead, or buy a new rear cassette, in order to create lower gears. I've never done this before as you can probably tell. Is tinkering with the rear cassette generally, as I suspect, the easier thing to do?

No fixie trolling please.

Explosive_Cornflake

You could get a 39 or something smaller even to replace your small chain ring on the front. Adding an extra gear will mean changing your derailleurs and possible your shifters.
You could also change your cassette on the back.

DirkVoodoo

wow, 42 that's a big gear! 39 and a new cassette might help, assuming you haven't already maxed out the largest ring on the back (unlikely). Why did you get 42 originally? You must be a pretty powerful cyclist or else enjoy torture more than most.

A 39-27 would probably make a big difference if you are running 42-25 already.

Fixie trolling? No, never...singlespeed all the way

Capt'n Midnight

adding a third chain ring at the front is well neigh impossible unless the spider is designed to take a third ring.

yes 52 / 42 refer to the number of teeth and if you pedal resonably fast 52 is probably too high for the average cyclist

the spider is the five armed thing that hold the chainrings
different brands have the bolts in different positions, so you generally have to match the brand , and in many cases there are different sizes in the same brand

mountain bikes are usually 48/38/28 and have a smaller spider

the third chain ring is closer to the frame so not only might you need a new front changer , you might even need to change the bottom bracket axle too


Changing the rear sprocket / cassette might be another option , and probably the same price as the chain ring. if it's a very old bike it's probably 14-24 teeth , and changing to 14-28 would give you a another lower gear.


what type of gear levers do you have ?
do they 'click' into place ?

blorg

Changing the rear cassette is indeed cheaper and easier.

Going to a triple is quite involved.

Alternatives would include a 39 front chainring, or swapping the entire crankset out for a compact (generally 34/50.)

42 used to be the standard inner ring some years ago- is it an old bike? What sort of gears do you have on it?

BTW, you don't really have a "granny" ring with a double, certainly not a 42 .

Húrin

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll put up pics if the issue remains unresolved.

The bike is a road bike, and since I got it second hand I don't know its age. Its appearance suggests that it's between 10 and 25 years old (if maintained well).

The whole set is Shimano. In any case, going to a triple would probably, as blorg suggests, be more trouble than it's worth. I might well change the front pair, i.e. remove the 52 and pair the 42 with a 34. However, the spider does not seem able to take a smaller ring than the 42. The crank and spider are separate pieces of metal, but I don't know how to separate them.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

adding a third chain ring at the front is well neigh impossible unless the spider is designed to take a third ring.


the third chain ring is closer to the frame so not only might you need a new front changer , you might even need to change the bottom bracket axle too

Changing the rear sprocket / cassette might be another option , and probably the same price as the chain ring. if it's a very old bike it's probably 14-24 teeth , and changing to 14-28 would give you a another lower gear.

yes these are the reasons I would be more inclined towards leaving the front cassette alone. The biggest sprocket at the rear has a mere 22 teeth!

what type of gear levers do you have ?
do they 'click' into place ?

The levers are mounted near the top of the down tube, and they do not click.

Capt'n Midnight

The levers are friction so that means you should be able to replace the 5 speed block at the back with a 6 speed, if it clicked then you would have to get a block with the exact spacing the old one had, with friction you don't

22 teeth at the back is small
you can easily get up to 28 block , but might need a new derilleur (sp) with a longer arm to take up the slack between the lowest and highest gears
sometimes they have 24 or 28 marked on them and in the distant pass some even had an adjustable spring so you could move it to the 28 position

best to change the chain and block at the same time so they wear evenly less jumping and all that, the front isn't so critical as there are lots more teeth , unless they look like sharks fins which is not good , another reason to replace the chain is that a bigger block needs a slightly longer chain ,or you could just not use the extreme combination of 52x28

Eoin D

blorg wrote: »

BTW, you don't really have a "granny" ring with a double, certainly not a 42 .

Out of curiousity what is considered a granny gear? Does this mean I don't have to be embarrassed dropping down to my 39?

TinyExplosions

Eoin D wrote: »

Out of curiousity what is considered granny gear?

blorg

Eoin D wrote: »

Out of curiousity what is considered a granny gear? Does this mean I don't have to be embarrassed dropping down to my 39?

Generally the granny ring is understood as the smallest chain ring on a triple chainset. A double thus does not have a granny ring. In any case you should use the gear best suited to you and the terrain, I don't understand the idea that huffing up something in the big ring (while probably cross-chaining) is somehow better if you are beaten by someone using a more sensible gear.

TinyExplosions

blorg wrote: »

I don't understand the idea that huffing up something in the big ring (while probably cross-chaining) is somehow better if you are beaten by someone using a more sensible gear.

But what if you don't have a granny gear, and beat someone that does have a triple? Like say up an Alpe (for example)... does that give one bragging rights?