GEARING. .

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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nigzy
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Joined: 29 Dec 2011, 2:20pm
Location: merseyside

GEARING. .

Post by nigzy »

I have a 7 speed hybrid,which I'm goin to change to a 8 speed,

I brought sram x3 rear and front mech and griptwisters(they came at a good price and read somewhere 8 speed gearing better for touring) . . .would you say this is a wise investment?? it has a 8speed fsa crank

My plan's are uk and Europe so believe shouldn't be a worry, I hope I brought wisely.
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foxyrider
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by foxyrider »

Your choice of cassette will be the defining factor in whether it'll work out for you, there certainly isn't any reason for it not to work in principal
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
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cycleruk
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by cycleruk »

There may be a problem with the rear wheel.
If it is a 7 speed "freehub" then an 8 speed cassette will probably not fit so may require a new wheel or hub.
If it is a 7 speed "freewheel" then that will require a new hub or wheel.

For touring the main thing is to get the gear spread so that you can climb the steepest gradients with the load you carry.
Personally I would have gone for 9 speed as there is a better range of gearing etc' available.
Having said that there is nothing wrong with 8 speed.
(These are of course my own thoughts. :roll: )
You'll never know if you don't try it.
nigzy
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Location: merseyside

Re: GEARING. .

Post by nigzy »

I received the bike from my brother who used it for commutering. .
It had a 7 speed tourney rear mech nexave front mech and 7/8 speed shifters,so I'm assuming the cassette's 8 speed ,

The bike had be dropped so rear mech got damaged, I'm new to touring( well haven't actually been yet) but want to get the bike up to scratch for when I do this year,short tour into wales
Was looking into 9 speed but the 8 speed came at a good price and good reviews.
thanks for your advise so far
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Sweep
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by Sweep »

cycleruk wrote:Personally I would have gone for 9 speed as there is a better range of gearing etc' available.
)[/i]

Care to say more? I thought there was a good supply of 8 speed cassettes with teeth up to 34. Why would you need more?
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nigzy
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Location: merseyside

Re: GEARING. .

Post by nigzy »

I read in the adventure cycling tour book,most tourist who built bike from scratch would use 8 speed

just hoping with the sram I gone down the right avenue or should of gone for the alivio set up?

I stickin with 8 speed
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BeeKeeper
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by BeeKeeper »

For me the issue wasn't the number of gears but the lowest ratio. My first touring bike was a Dawes Horizon and it's lowest gear was just too high for getting up hills loaded with camping gear. I changed the front chain wheels for some MTB ones which had a 22 tooth little chain wheel. From memory the largest sprocket on the back was 32 teeth. I could then get up hills!
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Vantage
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by Vantage »

If this is a long term upgrade, go for 9 speed. I personally run 8 speed and see no need for any more but unfortunately Mr Shimano and his mates are slowly phasing it out in favour of more and more sprockets at the rear. 9 speed will give you a useable system for longer and better spacing if using big gears.
The jump from my 34 tooth to the 27 ( I think it's 27 anyway!) is huuuuuuge.
Bill


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
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meic
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by meic »

I stickin with 8 speed


I agree with that especially the bit about sticking with what you have.
I dont think there is a right answer here and would not be worried about setting off on a tour with any number of gears.

It is a matter of balancing the different strengths.Usability, durability, availability and price coming to mind.

I tour on 6, 8 and 9 speed bikes. The nine speed gives me the smallest gaps between gears and is the easiest to ride.
They can all run on a Campagnolo C9 chain so no issues there. Changing between 8 and 9 is to me only restricted by the price of the STI units, cassettes and chains wear out soon enough derailleurs dont matter.
The six speed will be upgraded to a seven when the cassette runs out only because I have had the last 6 speed cassette in the country and the seven speed replacing it is the last 7 speed of the type in the country. Thumbshifters for that bike have been bought in advance for £4, so that is not the same issue as it is with STIs.

For durability I think the old Shimano 7 speed hub was the optimum and that would probably be my choice for that one of my bikes.
However they are not as available, you can fit 7 speed cassettes on 8 speed hubs but that isnt the same thing, they are not as durable. So in which case you may as well leap to 8 or 9 speed.
In the meantime I will be using the old seven speeds that I have managed to find.

So my ideal would be an old seven speed but due to restricted availability and compatibility I would go for whatever was the best value eight or nine speed STIs. Probably nine as they are a tiny bit more luxurious.

Since Tiagra went ten speed, they have made ten speed widely available and affordable, I am put off by the fact that the chains are not re-rivetable and (as I have not ridden a ten speed :wink: ) I think the gear coverage from a nine speed is perfect enough

Nothing would posses me to replace a functioning geartrain with a different one just for the number of gears but I am frugal with my money and like to get full mileage out of anything fitted.
With thumshifters at £4 or similar bargains from CRC you can change non-dropbar bikes gears (6 through to 9) as frequently as the rear cassette. With £200 105 STI units you are rather tied in to your original choice. My 8 speed bike will be staying 8 speed and I have no problem with that.
Yma o Hyd
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meic
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by meic »

The jump from my 34 tooth to the 27 ( I think it's 27 anyway!) is huuuuuuge.


I had one of those once back when I had a double chainset.
This is the perfect case of how a nine speed can be a great improvement as it just slips an extra gear into that gap.

For a long time I used an eight speed that went 21,26,32 and my otherwise identical nine speed went 21,24,28, 32.
Coming from an eight speed like yours this was bliss. I later went on to using an eight speed that had closer ratios with a bit less range (an 11-30 cassette) and the smaller gap compensated for the slightly higher bottom gear.
Yma o Hyd
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squeaker
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by squeaker »

cycleruk wrote:There may be a problem with the rear wheel.
If it is a 7 speed "freehub" then an 8 speed cassette will probably not fit so may require a new wheel or hub.

IME it depends: more info (lots!) here 8)
Way back, I sucessfully converted a 7-spd late 90's Trek MTB to 8-spd with just a new cassette and shifter (and removal of a spacer?).
As others have said, 8-spd can be OK provided you are not looking for a wide range with reasonable steps between gears (as nicely illustrated by the Shimano Megarange 11-34 8-spd with its 26 to 34T jump to bottom gear :shock: can work if you are psychologically up to it, but I just found it a pain to use).
"42"
bainbridge
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Re: GEARING. .

Post by bainbridge »

cycleruk wrote:There may be a problem with the rear wheel.
If it is a 7 speed "freehub" then an 8 speed cassette will probably not fit so may require a new wheel or hub.
If it is a 7 speed "freewheel" then that will require a new hub or wheel.


This is is the most important thing to do first.

More gears aren't necessarily better, it depends on what your highest and lowest gears are and what aspect you wanted to change.

My tourer is a 7 speed triple and the granny gear and 1st on the back will go up anything (albeit slowly), however I'd run out of speed in top gear on descents or a strong tailwind.

A quick bit of google research confirmed I have a freewheel rather than a cassette and for £18 there was a replacement freewheel with the same number of big teeth on the biggest cog (32) to tackle hills but 12 teeth on the smallest (instead of 13). £3 on top of that for the removal tool and I had a faster bike for £21 with no reduction in hill tackling ability.

Find out exactly what you want to achieve before changing things.
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