Lower gearing suggestions wanted

[paramount]

I want lower gears without much work/expense for my old road bike. I have 52/42 old Dura Ace crankset in front (from 1987, originally from a 6-speed "SG" setup) and 12-26 8-speed in the rear with an old (c. 1992) 8-speed Dura Ace rear derraiuller, capacity 26 teeth. (Dura Ace STI lever for the rear, 105 STI lever for the front, FWIW.)

I think the easiest thing is to get a 38T inner ring in front, e.g., the Salsa sold by Lick Bikes or comparable. But this only lowers my lowest gear by about 10%. Any problems with this plan? Any other ideas? With the 130 mm bolt spacing I assume I can't go any smaller than 38T, right?

(FYI, I set up my wife's road bike with a 50/39 double in front and a 12-32 in the rear using an old XTR rear derraiuller. But unless I steal her parts it would be expensive to re-create this setup on my bike.)

Thanks,

John

 

[Qui Si Parla Ca]

paramount-<< I want lower gears without much work/expense for my old road bike. I have 52/42 old
Dura Ace crankset in front (from 1987, originally from a 6-speed "SG" setup) and 12-26 8-speed in
the rear with an old (c. 1992) 8-speed Dura Ace rear derraiuller, >><BR><BR>

A 38t plus any shimano MTB rear der which will allow you do get much bigger cogs in the back.
Route the cable on top of the rear der fixing bolt, this will still work with the DA 8s shifter
for 8s cogset.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

 

[Paul Kopit]

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 07:53:32 GMT, paramount
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I think the easiest thing is to get a 38T inner ring in front, e.g., the Salsa sold by Lick Bikes
>or comparable. But this only lowers my lowest gear by about 10%. Any problems with this plan? Any
>other ideas? With the 130 mm bolt spacing I assume I can't go any smaller than 38T, right?

You can find 110 bolt pattern doubles or triples that will work fine with your setup. I have a used
Specialized, cold forged (Sugino) 170 arm with 48,50/34,36 rings that will bolt onto your bb. Lower
the front derailleur and take a link out of your chain and you've got all the gears you want. The
cost is $80 which is quite a bit more than a 38t ring but still inexpensive. If you are interested
in 'rare' things, I have a Sugino Mity Tour arm as well but you can find new stuff that costs less.

You can buy new Sugino XD crankset and get you want too. I believe that A. Muzi
<http://www.yellowjersey.org/> and Sheldon Brown <http://www.sheldonbrown.com/> can fix
you right up.

 

[Paul Kopit]

On 04 Jan 2004 14:25:16 GMT, [email protected] (Qui si parla
Campagnolo) wrote:

>A 38t plus any shimano MTB rear der which will allow you do get much bigger cogs in the back.
>Route the cable on top of the rear der fixing bolt, this will still work with the DA 8s shifter
>for 8s cogset.

Perhaps...I don't think that a normal Shimano rear derailleur can directly replace the DA 8 shifter.
It sometimes works if you change the rear derailleur attachment point.

 

[paramount]

Originally posted by Paul Kopit
On 04 Jan 2004 14:25:16 GMT, [email protected] (Qui si parla
Campagnolo) wrote:

>A 38t plus any shimano MTB rear der which will allow you do get much bigger cogs in the back.
>Route the cable on top of the rear der fixing bolt, this will still work with the DA 8s shifter
>for 8s cogset.

Perhaps...I don't think that a normal Shimano rear derailleur can directly replace the DA 8 shifter.
It sometimes works if you change the rear derailleur attachment point.

"It sometimes works..." sounds ominous. I have a 105 shifter for the front and a DA shifter for the rear because I used the partners for my wife's bike; i.e., I used the 105 rear shifter to go with the XTR rear der. Everyone told me that DA shifters only work with DA derraiullers, but I never tested it myself. Do you have any actual experience with mixing DA shifters and non-DA derraiullers?

Thanks,

John