Lower gears

jawnn said:

I need a lower gear than he 17.6-gear inch I now have (24 sprockets front divided by 34 rear). Some one told me that I could get an even bigger gear for the cassette. But it may be easier to get a 22-sprocket chain ring for my 5-hole 74mm bolt circle road crank? I don’t want to use a Mt. Tamer adapter unless that’s the only way.

Does any one know where I can get these?

Afaik, 34t rear is the biggest but 22t front is available.

jawnn said:

I need a lower gear than he 17.6-gear inch I now have (24 sprockets front divided by 34 rear). Some one told me that I could get an even bigger gear for the cassette. But it may be easier to get a 22-sprocket chain ring for my 5-hole 74mm bolt circle road crank?

What are your riding --a 29er with 700x58 tires? Obviously, I can't do the arithmetic!

In general, if you/(anyone) really need(s)/want(s) a lower gear, then if the bike has a 700c wheels, switch to a 26" rear wheel ... BUT, you'll probably be going so slowly that I'm not sure that dismounting & walking-or-runnng-with-the-bike wouldn't be a better/faster option ...

N.B., if you opt for the 22t, get a "dog fang"/whatever if you don't have one because you're going to be really unhappy if the chain drops off the granny when you're going that slowly ...

If your bike has a 27" rear wheel, switch to a 700c or 26" wheel -- a 700x32 tire has about the same circumference as a 27.25x1.25 tire, so switching to a 700c rim may not be beneficial for someone using 27" wheels.

If your bike has a 26" rear wheel, fit a 24" or possibly a 650c wheel ...

AND/OR, get some 180mm cranks.

BTW. I seem to recall that there used to be an adapter (which you could make if you're really handy) which would allow you to mount a chainring as one of the cogs in a cassette! You may-or-may-not have a problem getting the derailleur to shift onto the larger "cog" you've created ...

If your bike isn't a 29er & has "regular" road calipers, then you can probably get the additional reach by installing a BMX brake caliper in the rear -- BMX calipers generally have about a 90mm reach -- if a "long" reach caliper isn't long enough.

alfeng said:

What are your riding --

The site he's referring to (http://actionbent.blogspot.com/ )might provide a clue... 'bents tend to run wider ranges.

alfeng said:

BTW. I seem to recall that there used to be an adapter (which you could make if you're really handy) which would allow you to mount a chainring as one of the cogs in a cassette!

Never seen that. OTOH there are adapters that'll turn a front triple into a quad, using a sprocket as a chainwheel.
Unfortunately for the OP, that'st probably the "Mt. Tamer" he don't want to use.