I've always wanted to improve the climbing ability of my Bike Friday tikit - and the cheapest way is to reduce the size of chain ring from 53t to 42t. I managed to find an unused 1980s new Shimano Biopace elliptical 42t chain ring at Rebound Centre which was duly installed on my tikit.
Effectively reducing the gearing by 20%, the tikit now can really tackle those hills easy. Downside is the downhill performance isn't so good as you tend to spin out faster - after 35km/h or so. Such are the things in life I suppose.
.
More info about the advantages of elliptical chain rings here by the late guru, Sheldon Brown.
.
Best $30 zhnged mod ever, I reckon...
2 comments:
I've been happy with my Tikit's gearing so far, but I haven't tried touring on it yet. Thanks for the post...I'll my eyes open for a chainring that fits so I have make the mod should I feel the need.
=-)
Vik
Another easy option is replacing the rear cassette with one that has 32 or 34t. The Microshift seems to be able to handle the larger cog just fine. I installed the Microshift on another bike when I replaced it with an SRAM X.9. The larger range on the cassette also means you don't lose the high gears.
Post a Comment