towing toddler trailer - gears

[Katharine & Paul]

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

 

[DaveB]

Katharine & Paul wrote:
> 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

 

[Mike]

Katharine & Paul wrote:
> 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.

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2006-10-23, Katharine & Paul <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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

 

[adam85]

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

 

[frankv]

adam85 wrote:
> Katharine & Paul Wrote:
> > 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

 

[Katharine & 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.

In Warwick - no where near Melbourne unfortunately






>
> Cheers
>
> Joel
>
>

 

[Katharine & Paul]

Does trailer plus toddler add 50% weight?
>
> HTH.

It would actually.

I'm about 61kg.

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