Replacing double chainset with triple

Donkey Hotey said:

Can anyone advise me on this... I have an aged road bike (Carlton Cyclone , if that means anything to anyone) that I've had since about 1982. It's in pretty good shape but I'd like to give it a good overhaul, and one of the things I'd like to do is replace the gears. It has a double front chainset and I'd like to replace it with a triple to give me a wider range. It still has all the original parts, including downtube gearshifts. Does anyone know if this is technically possible, while keeping the downtube gearshifts (don't mind replacing the levers but I'd rather not change to a different system)? I know it would be more economical to get a good second-hand bike with lower gears but you know how it is - I wanna keep the ol' beast!

You will likely need:
1. New Bottom Bracket for the proper chain line with the new
2. New triple crankset
3. New Front derailer to handle the range of the triple crank
4. New rear derailer to handle the added chain slack
5. New chain
Your downtube shifter likely pulls sufficient cable for the triple front derailer.

You might get the desired lower gears with just a change of the rear cassette or freewheel ... and possibly rear derailer + chain.

If you find a "crashed" road bicycle with all these parts undamaged, you could swap them over and have some other spare parts after you recycle the frame/fork/and maybe rims. (keep hubs & spokes + swap over same OLD rims and you have a "spare" set of wheels... or at least keep the hubs... but take the cassette off or freewheel off before recycling the bent rims).

Thanks Dave! Nice to hear from the Windy City. Good to know that it's possible - I'm looking forward to tackling some of the steep Northumbrian hills that have defeated me in the past!