What Road Chain Set ?

[Mr Moofo]

I have had a RoadRat for years - which I very rarely ride. But the last spate of shit weather and amount of rain/mud/ potential hospital visits on my usual MTB rides means I have to consider using it.

When i bought it , it was single speed - it has gone 9 speed and now 10 speed.

Bucking the trend , I am thinking of changing the single 40 isa tooth chainring on the front to a double - and stick a front changer on it.
Shimano 24mm BB ( as far as I can remember) - what are the best cost effective options?

Thanks ...

[weeksy]

TBH i'm not convinced i'd go road set, what would be the logic ? You can easily get a 42/24 MTB double or even a 36T narrow wide single and run it. There's going to be very few times you'd need the extra gearing at either end, especially if you went with a 11/42 cassette for example. The only thing you may miss with wide gearing is ideal cadence in a particular gear.

My turbo bike is running your basic Shimano cranks with a 48/34/24 which covers all bases and i'd expect would be really cheap.

[Ditchfinder]

I agree with weeksy, lots of MTB doubles out there will work fine with a road front mech but a wider range cassette and rear mech with a narrow wide ring is going to be cheaper than new chainset/bb/lh shifter/front mech

[lostboy]

Are you going flat bar or drops? Putting decent slick rubber on it?

In a break with the other posters I'd be thinking 50/34 "compact" with a 11-28 or 11-30 cassette there's a huge gain in speed to be had, you're rarely in the wrong ratio (because they're very close) and 34/28 or 34/30 will let you do just about any road climb you want to do. I'd be thinking Shimano 105 for the chainset and run whatever mech and changer suits - road mechs will cover the range but the pull is the same so you can put it to MTB/flat bar shifters if you're going that route.

[Mr Moofo]

Lostboy - thought about drops - but it is a RoadRat long ( from when they did the short and long) - it means with drops it would be quite stretched.
Plus I would have to buy road levers and changers- so shots the cost up. So it will be flat barred ... with bar ends ...

Will check what is on their now - but it is around 11-36?
But I do have a 11-42 10 speed sun race that will fit - so I would get a wide enough spread without going 2x. That said , I will go out to the garage and check ...

[lostboy]

Lostboy - thought about drops - but it is a RoadRat long ( from when they did the short and long) - it means with drops it would be quite stretched.
Plus I would have to buy road levers and changers- so shots the cost up. So it will be flat barred ... with bar ends ...

Will check what is on their now - but it is around 11-36?
But I do have a 11-42 10 speed sun race that will fit - so I would get a wide enough spread without going 2x. That said , I will go out to the garage and check ...

If you have that lying around I'd just do the gearing calc based on the spread that 50/34 chainrings would give you and get a front ring in the low-mid 40s that's going to get you closest to the range that the double would offer.

[Mr Moofo]

Turns out it is a 42 tooth Bontrager chain set
11-34 rear cassette

[lostboy]

Bung it into a gear calculator and see what it says.

[Mr Moofo]

Which suggests I would gain very little by going x2 - other than closer ratios

[weeksy]

Gain in what context?

[Mr Moofo]

Gain in what context?

Either end of the range - giving more flexibility

[weeksy]

Gain in what context?

Either end of the range - giving more flexibility

Do you need gains both ends though?

[Mr Moofo]

Nope - need more climbing gears - so going to stick on the 11-42 and see if I can get up Ditching Beacon without dying ....

I have never spun out on 42-11