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I’ve had it for a few years but my old legs are struggling with the steeper stuff, even more so when carrying a bit luggage.
I currently have fsa 46-34 chainset and a rear 12-30 cassette. Shimano 105 short cage mech.
Whats my cheapest options?
Thanks in advance.
Buy a triple - changes of cassette will be incremental at best.
Going triple may be the ideal solution but won't be cheap: new chainset, front mech and shifters. You could go "super compact" (a configuration sold by Spa Cycles or you could make your own), which is a square taper triple chainset using rings on the inner and middle positions, with a longer BB spindle to reposition the chainline.
Hi,
33t Stronglight chainring, Roadlink, or cheap knock-off from China and 11/32-11/34 cassette.
That should help.
What shifters are you on? 9, 10 or 11 speed?
In case of 10, invest in Alivio MTB 9speed mech, 11/36 10 speed cassette and 33 Stronglight chainring. Same for 9 speed. Not sure about 11 though...
Cheers!
I.
As above - variety of options with increasing complexity/cost depending on how much lower you want to go.
If you can determine that and your budget it will help your choice a lot. You may need a new front mech with a new chainset (eg triple) and new sti for a triple?
Mountain bike double crankset? That'll get you pretty low.
A change in rear mech would let you put a wider cassette on as well.
FWIW when I go touring my roadrat gets a MTB double with 28-40 and a Tanpan so I can use a MTB rear mech with 11-36 out back. (I'm aware 28/36 isn't that low for touring but I tend to travel fairly light. I could drop to an even smaller set of chainrings if I wanted.)
Cheers for the replies.
Found a spare 11/34 mtb cassette in the shed. Stuck it on and it works fine?
It will give me an extra gear (and half).
See how it goes.
Impressed you can get a 105 mech to play nicely with that: mine never even got on well with a 30.
I had a 105 10s mech doing 11-36. The trick is to take away the gears at the front! The top pulley is offset so you can use chain 'tension' to give you more clearance. Doesn't work if you're going to be trying to clear the biggest sprocket in the smallest cog though.
And the capacity, obviously.
Seems to be ok. Had a quick 10 minute ride and all is well, it’s a bit tight big/big but I’ll never use that.