towing toddler trailer - gears

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Anyone tow one of these???
Just bought one. The bike I have it hooked up to currently has 52 & 42 front
chainrings, and a 12-21 7 speed rear cluster.

First ride found this to be woefully inadeqate. I normally dont use less
than the 19 on normal road riding.

I dont want to spend much money (its a pretty old road bike).

What are some opions. Would a cluster going to 28 be enough?

Paul

Depends on the terrain you're in, but around my house it's pretty hilly
and most rides with the trailer bike I get at least some use out of the
28 (front) 26 (rear) combo, especially if my daughter is being lazy.

DaveB

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Anyone tow one of these???
Just bought one. The bike I have it hooked up to currently has 52 & 42 front
chainrings, and a 12-21 7 speed rear cluster.

The correct gear is determined by your speed, since legs like a constant
cadence of around 80rpm. Bottom gear means hill-climbing, where speed
is directly proportional to weight, so if 19 is OK normally, 28 should
be plenty with the trailer. Does trailer plus toddler add 50% weight?

HTH.

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Anyone tow one of these???
Just bought one. The bike I have it hooked up to currently has 52 & 42 front
chainrings, and a 12-21 7 speed rear cluster.

First ride found this to be woefully inadeqate. I normally dont use less
than the 19 on normal road riding.

I dont want to spend much money (its a pretty old road bike).

What are some opions. Would a cluster going to 28 be enough?

Paul

Probably, if it's not you might be able to swap the inner chainring
for a 39 which would give you a large range of low gears, if you're
in Melbourne the CERES bicycle re-cycle shed provide the parts and
know-how to do this much cheaper then a bike store.

Cheers

Joel

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Anyone tow one of these???
Just bought one. The bike I have it hooked up to currently has 52 & 42 front
chainrings, and a 12-21 7 speed rear cluster.

First ride found this to be woefully inadeqate. I normally dont use less
than the 19 on normal road riding.

I dont want to spend much money (its a pretty old road bike).

What are some opions. Would a cluster going to 28 be enough?

Paul

Depends on the engine and the terrain really. I use a MTB for mine but there are no really long big hills where I take it. A big hill into a strong headwind would have me looking for something lower than 42-28.

Adam

adam85 said:

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Anyone tow one of these???
Just bought one. The bike I have it hooked up to currently has 52 & 42
front
chainrings, and a 12-21 7 speed rear cluster.

First ride found this to be woefully inadeqate. I normally dont use
less
than the 19 on normal road riding.

I dont want to spend much money (its a pretty old road bike).

What are some opions. Would a cluster going to 28 be enough?

Paul

Depends on the engine and the terrain really. I use a MTB for mine but
there are no really long big hills where I take it. A big hill into a
strong headwind would have me looking for something lower than 42-28.

Adam

--
adam85

Quoted message said:

Probably, if it's not you might be able to swap the inner chainring
for a 39 which would give you a large range of low gears, if you're
in Melbourne the CERES bicycle re-cycle shed provide the parts and
know-how to do this much cheaper then a bike store.

In Warwick - no where near Melbourne unfortunately

Quoted message said:

Cheers

Joel

Does trailer plus toddler add 50% weight?

Quoted message said:

HTH.

It would actually.

I'm about 61kg.

The Toddler is about 12kg at the moment. Trailer about 15kg