I'm a newbie. Just bought an '04 Lightspeed with Ultegra components. It has a 9 speed rear gear set with 25/23/21/19.../13/12 teeth. The front gears have 53/39 teeth.

It seems like I am "running out" of gears when climbing. Is this something I will overcome as I get stronger or do I need to change these ratios a bit? What gearing do you recommend?

I'm kind of worried about encountering a major hill.

Steve
St. George, UT

There's no real way for us to tell you what gears you need, because we can't tell how strong you are or how fast you are improving. Your current gears would be low enough for a strong rider on most climbs, but completely inadequate for very steep climbs for many people. You may well get stronger and be able to get along fine with your current gears, but you may also find that they just are not low enough. Only time will tell. You say that you are kind of running out of gears now, but you also suggest that you aren't climbing the real steep stuff yet. There are some killer climbs in your area (like in Zion Nat. Park) but if you stay away from them while you build your abilities, you make find that you come into your own with experience and some miles in your legs. You're the only one who can really say that your gears are/are not low enough.

You've got a couple of choices. Choose your routes to stay away from the more difficult climbs and work on your speed and strength, keeping your current gears, or gear down (with a triple, compact, or 27 tooth large cog). If you do re-gear, consider that you probably have no use for that 12 and that you can get better ratios with something like a 13-25 or 13-27 (available special order from Shimano, I believe).

Really tough to say, everybody is different. How fit are you. How tough are the climbs? Do other local riders ride doubles or triples on those hills? What do you weigh? With a 12-25 and 53/39 many riders are capable of climbing most hills, albeit some are more difficult than others.

You've got a good quality bike there, do a lot of riding...ride hard...challenge yourself. In time you'll be impressing yourself with what you can do on the bike.

A 12-27 would help some or you could try a custom cassette like a 13-28 or 14-30.

Thanks for the info guys!

I am 44yo. 6' 200 lbs. I've got 15 - 20 pounds of fat on my body. I just bought the bike. I have ridden it every day (4). Today for 1.5 hours. I've pretty much gone up the hills around here, but have skipped the mountains, which are pretty common.

Right now it's a trade off. Sometimes my legs are burning, sometimes my legs are OK, but I'm breathing hard. I think that my limiting factor right now, is that I am more winded than fatigued when going up a steeper hill. That's why I was thinking having some more options in the gears may help.

If I end up with something like a 13-28, what are the draw backs? I'm thinking there will be greater seperation between the gears. I rarely use the large front gear anyway, so I could use this more, to compensate for the loss of the 12 toothed rear gear....right?

Would I need a new chain, for the larger rear gear?

Would a different sized front gear be cheaper/better?

I'm going to put 100 - 200 miles on it before taking it back to the LBS, so I'm just going to ride it for awhile.

Thanks again
Steve
St. George

Thanks for the info guys!

I am 44yo. 6' 200 lbs. I've got 15 - 20 pounds of fat on my body. I just bought the bike. I have ridden it every day (4). Today for 1.5 hours. I've pretty much gone up the hills around here, but have skipped the mountains, which are pretty common.

Right now it's a trade off. Sometimes my legs are burning, sometimes my legs are OK, but I'm breathing hard. I think that my limiting factor right now, is that I am more winded than fatigued when going up a steeper hill. That's why I was thinking having some more options in the gears may help.

If I end up with something like a 13-28, what are the draw backs? I'm thinking there will be greater seperation between the gears. I rarely use the large front gear anyway, so I could use this more, to compensate for the loss of the 12 toothed rear gear....right?

Would I need a new chain, for the larger rear gear?

Would a different sized front gear be cheaper/better?

I'm going to put 100 - 200 miles on it before taking it back to the LBS, so I'm just going to ride it for awhile.

Thanks again
Steve
St. George


I only started riding seriously again last year - after a 30 year lay-off. Wish I'd only had 20-odd pounds to shift...

If you're new to riding, don't overdo things. I rode last year with a triple and even though I changed the 'stock' cassette from a 12-25, which is what Shimano pretty much has decided we all want, for a 12-23, I needed the 30T on odd ocassions. After 3,000 miles last year, and 40-odd pounds lighter, the triple got replaced by a double 38/52 (yes, I know, Shimano doesn't make one of them :) ).

However - sounds like what I call a hill, you'd call your driveway! So lower gears are going to suit you better until you figure out your climbing skills and get some mileage behind you. Last thing you need to do, if you are starting up from scratch, is to over-do things to where you decide that maybe being a couch potato or ballwhacker (golf ;) ) is more your sporting thing

Cheap route - a cassette with bigger teeth on the bottom end, lets you keep your rings and shifters. I have a 13 - 28 assembled from two odd cassettes I acquired over the last couple of years - that's a real attractive route at times, if you have the stuff to start with.

Fairly pricey route - compact chainset that drops onto your present BB, maybe that bigger cassette too.

Real Pricey route - convert your bike to a triple - new chainset, BB, front and rear derailleurs, maybe shifters too. If I lived where you do, my choice would likely be Sugino's Cheap-O 110mm triple chainset - okay, it has a prehistoric square taper BB but it also comes with 26/36/46 rings. With that and a 12-25, you could about ride up a house wall sat down. You could spend around five times what a Sugino costs and buy a TA from Peter White Cycles...

There's a considerable range of BS written to justify (or not) changing your gear ratios. Mostly, it can be covered by you asking yourself a couple of questions. If one of them is "Whyinell is it so hard to ride up this hill", chances are the answers are "I ain't fit enough to" or "I need lower gears". My favourite answer would be to move to Florida because I really have always disliked climbing, but wifey says it's rather impossible right now :)

If another cassette sounds the best bet, try Harris Cyclery, they have a bunch of different ratios, and even sell individual cogs. The stuff's around, but it's not mainstream LBS or big bike manufacturer stuff.

Hope that helps

Dereck

> Cheap route - a cassette with bigger teeth on the bottom end, lets you keep your rings and shifters. I have a 13 - 28 ....

I'm thinking this may be the way to go. Do you know if they jump from 25 teeth to 28, or is there a 26 or 27 toothed gear in the middle? If there is, I'd get 2 extra hill climbing options, over what I have now.

Thanks for your feedback,
Steve

> Cheap route - a cassette with bigger teeth on the bottom end, lets you keep your rings and shifters. I have a 13 - 28 ....

I'm thinking this may be the way to go. Do you know if they jump from 25 teeth to 28, or is there a 26 or 27 toothed gear in the middle? If there is, I'd get 2 extra hill climbing options, over what I have now.

Thanks for your feedback,
Steve

Off top of my head - a dodgy and slippery region ;) - SRAM make a 9sp cassette for Shimano with a 26 big 'un. Shimano make one with a 27 bottom in Ultegra 9sp - this can be tricky to find. A good LBS may be able to order one for you, Harris Cyclery claim to have them at a premium price, though Bike Parts USA - http://www.bikepartsusa.com/index.phtml - appear to have them in stock at 'normal' looking price.

My home-made is a combo of two odd cassettes - one Shimano, t'other's a SRAM MTB cassette. It gives me 13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-28 and changes as well as my others. I like to have the right gears for me! The 24 - 28 jump is a bit much in practice, but I miss a 12T like a hole in the head. My 52 x 13 top is bigger than anything I rode when I did this seriously, and I seldom use it now - don't appear to have improved much over 30 years of secondhand smoke, bad diet and wild living.

Regards

Dereck

[QUOTE=Trvlngnrs]Thanks for the info guys!


Right now it's a trade off. Sometimes my legs are burning, sometimes my legs are OK, but I'm breathing hard. I think that my limiting factor right now, is that I am more winded than fatigued when going up a steeper hill. That's why I was thinking having some more options in the gears may help.

If I end up with something like a 13-28, what are the draw backs? QUOTE

Your observation about being winded is an important one. It takes lots of aerobic fitness to spin up hills, so if you get real easy gears now, you may not be able to make good use of them. The difference between a 25 and a 28 is about 12% so if you're climbing a hill with your feet spinning at 60 rpms, you'd be able to take the same hill at the same speed with a cadence of 67.2 rpms on a 28. Some help, but not that much.

The biggest down side to changing early is starting a series of changes that all cost money. After you've ridden a little more, you'll have more fitness, be able to spin faster and know whether or not you want to bother with the mountains. Make the decision then.

Good advice guys.

Today I concentrated on geting out of the saddle more. At first I felt wobbley, but I was soon amazed how much faster I could get up the hills. It seems that my legs became more tired standing than sitting though. I'll have to ask some questons regarding this in the beginers forums, as I don't want to learn bad habits right off the bat.

I bought the bike in Las Vegas, which is 120 miles away, and it is pretty flat there, so maybe it was geared for that terrain.

Lots of fun though!

Steve
St. George, UT
'04 Litespeed Siena with Rolf Prima Vigors

If I end up with something like a 13-28, what are the draw backs? I'm thinking there will be greater seperation between the gears. I rarely use the large front gear anyway, so I could use this more, to compensate for the loss of the 12 toothed rear gear....right?/QUOTE]


You can convert your 12-25 to a 13-28 by replacing the 12 and 13 with a first position 13 with built-in spacer. Take the spacer that was between the 13 and 14, put it behind the 25 and add a 28. The ratio jumps between cogs will be nearly the same as before. The only draw back is a slight weight gain and the cost of the parts. Plus you'll need a cassette tool and a chain whip. Individual cogs and/or custom cassettes usually available from Harris Cyclery http://www.sheldonbrown.com.

[QUOTE]Would I need a new chain, for the larger rear gear?

Depends on the present condition of the chain, measure it for stretch, replace if needed. The length will probably be the same.

Would a different sized front gear be cheaper/better?

You can replace the 39 inner chainring with a 38, smallest possible on a 130 BCD crankset, but that's a very small gear reduction.



Al