Reduced Gearing

On 8/9/2015 9:13 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 09 Aug 2015 09:48:04 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/8/2015 6:02 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 3:54:30 PM UTC-7, JoeRiel wrote:
AMuzi writes:

On 8/8/2015 3:31 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
AMuzi writes:

On 8/8/2015 10:20 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 6:05:27 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/7/2015 10:48 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
I'm looking to reduce the gearing somewhat on my road bike, which
currently has a 53/39 and 23-12 cassette. It's 9-speed Super Record,
about 15 years old. Am wondering if I can even find replacement
cassettes. Would a Veloce or Chorus casette work? From the pictures
I've seen their cassette splines are symmetric, whereas mine has some
asymmetry (one of the splines is wider, one is smaller), so that seems
doubtful. I could also look at going to a compact front-end.
Any thoughts? Am mainly trying to figure out what is feasible.


Campagnolo CS-9 are of the current spline style, same for
9-10-11:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/CACS890.JPG

(Eights were overly clever with a symmetric spline to allow
various gear combinations which required a chart to align
the index ramps on the sprockets. The change to the better
big-bearing hub also incorporated the asymmetric cassette
spline format)

Since nine cassettes are less available and about the same
price as Tens, you might use a Ten cassette and rearrange
sprockets.

Some notes about that:
Lockrings are different OD to match high gear size. Too
large a lockring will hit the chain plates.
Only the basic model crmo sprocket models can be swapped
around. Aluminum carriers can't. Re use your nine spacers.
Lowest gear on a Ten is shaped and so unsuitable to a nine.
Look to the second-largest sprocket in the set.
Nine cassettes seem to be only available in 23 and in 28 low
gear now. If you have the short cage rear changer, 26 max is
the spec.

Oh, one more thing; compact crank is another path to lower
gearing.

So, to be clear, he can buy Veloce 9 speed? Those seem to be available from a number of sources. Speaking as one on the downward spiral towards utter decrepitude, a compact is nice.

-- Jay Beattie.


Yes, he could. We have them, as do others.
That would be a better choice if there were nine cassettes besides the
23 he has now and the 28 which Campagnolo says is too big for a short
cage changer.

Any suggestions for a good compact crank? I'm a lightweight (less than
130 lbs), so durability is rarely an issue, though I value reliability
and longevity.


Campagnolo's current offerings are both much lighter than yours and
rings are enhanced to shift better. Compatible in your nine system
despite the 'eleven' graphic. (p.s. your bike may be super, and it may
be Record, but in 1998 there was no Super Record).

Whoops. My mistake. Is the 11 speed stuff narrower, hence faster
wearing? How do carbon cranks handle the occasional dropped chain?
Do they get terribly gouged?

We also like the classic design Sugino XD compact 34-48 or 34-50 all
crank lengths. It costs less than carbon Campagnolo models.

I imagine.

Your 1998 front changer unless worn or damaged will shift a compact
nicely, just lower it. A brazed mount may introduce a problem there.

It's a clamp-on, so repositioning it is not a problem.

What type of BB do you have?

-- Jay Beattie.


Doesn't matter. After 16 years of frenetic innovation,
whichever current model crank he buys will need the current
matching bearing assembly.

Andrew, out of curiosity, in your long history in a bicycle shop have
you noticed any measurable difference in service life of bottom
brackets? Is any one specific type actually better?
--
cheers,

John B.


Not categorically.
There are good and bad examples of every system and
prep/setup is a huge variable too

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 8/8/2015 1:31 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
AMuzi writes:

On 8/8/2015 10:20 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 6:05:27 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/7/2015 10:48 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
I'm looking to reduce the gearing somewhat on my road bike, which
currently has a 53/39 and 23-12 cassette. It's 9-speed Super Record,
about 15 years old. Am wondering if I can even find replacement
cassettes. Would a Veloce or Chorus casette work? From the pictures
I've seen their cassette splines are symmetric, whereas mine has some
asymmetry (one of the splines is wider, one is smaller), so that seems
doubtful. I could also look at going to a compact front-end.
Any thoughts? Am mainly trying to figure out what is feasible.


[big snip]

Any suggestions for a good compact crank? I'm a lightweight (less than
130 lbs), so durability is rarely an issue, though I value reliability
and longevity.

Compact versus triple is a very personal decision, or so I've gathered
from lurking here. Just in case you are even possibly interested,
here's the argument for a triple:

You get a very wide range of gearing, while maintaining the short steps
you currently enjoy. The chainring "shift points" are the same, except
you now have an additional option. I tried compact briefly, and found I
needed to do a front shift far too often for my taste, with many
commonly-used gears needing a lot of "cross-chaining."

You can ignore the granny ring until you need it, all for a very small
weight penalty. And all Campy brifters of the ~2000 era support a
triple front w/o modification of the brifter.

You can still get new old-stock Campy triples (typically Centaur or
Veloce) on Ebay, which easily allow switching the 30-T small ring down
to a 26 or even 24. Some Record/Chorus NOS can be found, but not so often.

I've had great success with Campy using 50-40-26 (26 is a non-Campy
ring) and a 12-25 rear (recently converted from 9S to 10S); my latest
carbon wonderbike is 26-39-53 by 12-25 (a FSA crank, since the only
Campy cranks available for my new BB form factor do not allow the 30T
ring to be swapped out).

Having the super-low bailout gear is nice on the insufficiently rare
10-14% pitches on the backroads around here, especially after 100 miles.

The downsides a Need new BB (also available on Ebay), long-cage rear
derailleur. Front shifting isn't perfect, but it's quite good with fine
tuning. Few shops or even people have any idea for parts/support for
triples in this context (Muzi being an important exception.)

Mark J.

On 8/8/2015 3:51 AM, Duane wrote:
Joe Riel wrote:
I'm looking to reduce the gearing somewhat on my road bike, which
currently has a 53/39 and 23-12 cassette. It's 9-speed Super Record,
about 15 years old. Am wondering if I can even find replacement
cassettes. Would a Veloce or Chorus casette work? From the pictures
I've seen their cassette splines are symmetric, whereas mine has some
asymmetry (one of the splines is wider, one is smaller), so that seems
doubtful. I could also look at going to a compact front-end.
Any thoughts? Am mainly trying to figure out what is feasible.


Mid compact (52/36) is a good compromise IMO.

That's getting to be a large difference in chain ring sizes.

If a a 13-26 Veloce cassette would work then it might be a better, and
cheaper option to achieve lower gearing. From what I have read, the
Veloce cassettes are compatible with SR.

What is the cage length on the SR? 13-26 & 53/39 works with the short
cage, but there were longer cage versions available for cassettes up to
29 teeth. Of course not being able to use the smallest cog with the
smallest chain ring might not be an issue since it would not be a
commonly used combination.