cassette ranges

[Styler]

planning a trip to the alps for later this year has got me thinking about gears and so on. my bike is set up with campag 10 speed - 53/39 at the front and 13/26 at the back. it should be fine for some biggish hills, but it would be nice to have the option of using a 13/29 at the back. however, as i'd have to change the rear mech for the longer cage version this is far more trouble than it's worth!

what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad, and do any of you gat around the problem of campag mechs by changing to smaller chainrings?

[Pete Biggs]

Styler wrote:
> planning a trip to the alps for later this year has got me thinking about gears and so on. my
> bike is set up with campag 10 speed - 53/39 at the front and 13/26 at the back. it should be fine
> for some biggish hills, but it would be nice to have the option of using a 13/29 at the back.
> however, as i'd have to change the rear mech for the longer cage version this is far more trouble
> than it's worth!

You could give a 13-29 a go with your existing mech. People have claimed it works with short cage
mechs (and it definitely will with a medium cage). Search archives of rec.bicycles.tech via Google
Groups. The shorter the chain, the better for this, to pull mech away from sprockets - although
you've got to be careful about the largest chainring + largest sprocket combination (chain should
really be long enough for this in case it's accidently selected).

But fitting a new mech is hardly a lot of trouble. It could be left on for smaller cassettes. Short
cage mechs are used to save weight: one is not essential for 53/39 13-26.

~PB

[Chris Gerhard]

Styler wrote:
> planning a trip to the alps for later this year has got me thinking about gears and so on. my
> bike is set up with campag 10 speed - 53/39 at the front and 13/26 at the back. it should be fine
> for some biggish hills, but it would be nice to have the option of using a 13/29 at the back.
> however, as i'd have to change the rear mech for the longer cage version this is far more trouble
> than it's worth!
>

This all depends on what kind of riding you are doing and what kind of rider you are. I got rid of
the 13/29 in favour of a 13/26 as I never used the 29 on a road bike. I only had it fitted in the
first place as I was used to touring and did not fully apprieciate that without all that camping
gear the hills would be less of a challenge, well at least a different kind of challenge.

Alpine climbs don't tend to be that steep, 10% is normal, but obviously they go on and on. So you
need a gear you can turn and turn and turn but you are not going to be faced with 20% hills very
often, if at all, and where they are that steep it is for short sections.

> what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad, and do any of you gat around the
> problem of campag mechs by changing to smaller chainrings?
>

I certainly did this when I toured the Alps on a 10 speed (That is a 5 speed with 2 chain rings).
52/34 stronglight chain rings with a 14/28 block.

Chris Gerhard

[Mseries]

Styler wrote:
> planning a trip to the alps for later this year has got me thinking about gears and so on. my
> bike is set up with campag 10 speed - 53/39 at the front and 13/26 at the back. it should be fine
> for some biggish hills, but it would be nice to have the option of using a 13/29 at the back.
> however, as i'd have to change the rear mech for the longer cage version this is far more trouble
> than it's worth!
>
> what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad, and do any of you gat around the
> problem of campag mechs by changing to smaller chainrings?

I got over the Madelaine, Galibier, Lauteret, Mont Genevre, Sestriere on
39/27. I am not a climber so I struggled but did succeed.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk (http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk/)

[Dave Larrington]

Styler wrote:

> what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad

Personally I retain my 12-34, but I imagine that's not /quite/ what you wanted to hear ;-)

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
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[Kenneth Clement]

"Dave Larrington" <legs_larry@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bujm43$i4qtq$2@ID-120318.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Styler wrote:
>
> > what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad
>
> Personally I retain my 12-34, but I imagine that's not /quite/ what you wanted to hear ;-)

Me too, and a 22 at the front.

Ken.

[Alex.Clarke]

"Kenneth Clements" <kenneth.clements@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:EegPb.7796$YV1.6649@newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net...
>
> "Dave Larrington" <legs_larry@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:bujm43$i4qtq$2@ID-120318.news.uni-
> berlin.de...
> > Styler wrote:
> >
> > > what cassettes do people take with them when they cycle abroad
> >
> > Personally I retain my 12-34, but I imagine that's not /quite/ what you wanted to hear ;-)
>
> Me too, and a 22 at the front.
>
> Ken.
>
>
Used a 12/23 with a 32/42/52 triple on the front on Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez etc. a couple of years ago
though I didn't always use the lowest gear available. Didn't have to stop mid climb. If you have
lower gears you can always change down for a "rest" if needed.

Alex

[Styler]

cheers guys. i've cycled over the pyranees on a mountain bike with mountains of gear in panniers. but haven't had much experince pushing bigger gears but a much lighter bike. i think i mihgt experiment with the 13-29 on my current set-up, as i can't imagine it'll cause too many problems.

anyway, i think i'd be better off training more rather than spending money on extra cassettes!