Super low gears on a road bike

One of my bikes, the Gunnar Sport, is set up with 9sp Ultegra triple. I wanted much lower gears in back than a regular road bike, so I have a 34t with an XT rder. I love it. We have a few hills here in Colorado. haha.

When I did Bicycle Tour of Colorado, a few folks were ogling my set up on the big passes.

My other bike is a Ruby with 10sp Ult triple, 25t in back. I'm spoiled by the gearing on my other bike and wasn't always so happy with the higher gearing on the Ruby.

Shimano recently came out with 10sp mountain cassettes. They go up to 36t!
I wanted it!

So we ordered a 36t cassette and I had an XT Shadow rder. The Boy set it up (he loves playing with things like that) and so far it seems to be working well, although I've only done a spin downtown with it.

There probably aren't too many Rubys with a pie pan like that!

My friend has a new Madone 4.5 with 10sp 105 triple and she wanted that set up too, so we just did hers up with 36t and an SLX rder (works same as XT Shadow).

So if you've got 9sp or 10sp and want much lower gears, it can be done.

We did something similar with my Cervelo and SRAM components. My knees are MUCH happier with something smaller than a 34 - 25. That gearing worked fine on my HIM in May with 6,000 feet of climbing. But most of those climbs were fairly short, most less than a mile. And the ones longer than a mile, weren't very steep. But anything longer than 5 miles and more than 5%, was NOT fun. I did add 4 ounces to my bike making the change. :rolleyes:

Veronica

I just got a second wheelset for my Fuji Cross Comp. Stock it has 36/46 up front and a 10 speed 12-25 in the rear. Im on the Front Range, so I know those "hills" you're referring to ;)
My second set will have slicks on it (stock has xc knobbies), and I ordered an 11-28 for the cassette on it. Im excited to have that 28 on the low end AND that 11 for some extra speed. Cant wait for it to come in!

When I wanted to outfit my 9 speed triple (with a 26 or 27 large cog) as my brevet/touring bike, I just changed the small front chain ring to a smaller size (pretty sure it is a 28). A lot easier and cheaper than switching the back and it give me plenty of gears. Cost me about $50 ordering the touring ring off Peter White's site.

(This may only be able to be done with Campy, but I don't know why that would be.)

I ride with lots of folks who have compact doubles paired with SRAM or Shimano MTB rear derailleurs and dinner plate cassettes.

I'm currently running a compact 50/34 up front and an 11-34 in the back on my BMC. My knees thank me for it every time I point the bike uphill.

Like many of you here, we have been doing this sort of thing for customers for quite some time. As many of you have mentioned, it certainly helps the knees when you live in the mountains. :D

Back in 2002 I added an XTR casette and derailleur to my Lemond Zurich with 9 sp Ultegra. I love having the low gears!

However I had to make a tough decision, in having my new bike built I decided to add SRAM's new XX cassette which comes in 32 or 26. I thought the 36 was too much so opted for the 32 (together with Ultegra 10 sp). I might come to regret that decision some day. Oh well, what won't kill me will make me stronger... right?

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=33252

I just switched the cogs somewhat.

I was told that the Shimano MTB RDs don't work with STI shifters and I would have to change to bar end shifters. Was I told wrong?

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

I was told that the Shimano MTB RDs don't work with STI shifters and I would have to change to bar end shifters. Was I told wrong?

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It is the front derailleurs that are the problem.

I'm certainly old enough to be a granny, so there's no reason not to have a proper granny gear!

oh man, I think I need to do something like this. I wrote about it last year when I changed from a similar set up (specialized tricross triple w/ 11-34) to a Trek Madone 5.2 compact with a 11-25. My poor knees and hips were so mad! I switched the 11-25 to an 11-28, but sometimes I still miss those last few gears.

Anyone do a similar swap out with a compact? I see the option to change the front chain ring. Anyone have experience?

You should be able to do the 36t cassette and XT (or SLX) rder set up with a compact crankset up front.

We have some friends who will be setting up their bikes exactly like that soon.

As far as I know, you have to use a 9sp Shadow rder, not the 10sp rder.

MDhillslug... you definitely can use mtn bike rear derailleurs on a road bike. It sounds as though many of the above people have done exactly that, and I have set up MANY customers like that myself. The concern is that if you have a Shimano drivetrain, then obviously make sure that you use Shimano rear derailleurs. Whether you are using bar end shifters, or STI shifters.. it definitely WILL work. You can not mix Shimano and SRAM shifters and mtn derailleurs though.:rolleyes:

My Ruby came with full Ultegra and a compact double. A few years back, before a big hilly ride, I switched out the rear cassette to a 10 speed 11-34 cassette from IRD. Added a long cage Deore XT derailleur and I love it. That big ring is kind of like insurance. I don't use it often but it's there when I need it. We have some hills in Eastern Washington too. :rolleyes:

Speaking of happy knees, I also replaced the small front ring on my Surly LHT to a 24t ring. Let me tell you how happy my knees were after spending most of the day climbing a big ol' mountain pass pushing 80 pounds of gear and bike! Very, VERY happy! :D bikerHen

BikerHen - my LHT has a full XT mtn bike drive train set up, so my low gear is a 22-34. I sure liked that on Red Mountain Pass!

:D I have developed a real apprecation for the granny/granny combination. It makes crawling up mountain passes almost fun. :rolleyes: bikerHen

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Originally Posted by bikerHen

:D I have developed a real apprecation for the granny/granny combination. It makes crawling up mountain passes almost fun. :rolleyes: bikerHen

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Either Granny/Granny or Granny/Grampy, it could be a preference.