Coast to Coast: gearing and brakes

[wnyrider]

Yes, Sheldon Brown does have great information. I also use this site for gear inches:

http://home.earthlink.net/~mike.sher...no&TITLE=Moose

It gives me a better visual of speeds that may correspond to the gears. Right now I may go with a 28-44 combination chainrings on the sram crank with a 11-36t cassette. That would give me a range of 21-104 gear inches. Not too bad. Still playing with the numbers right now.

Look up Wolf Tooth Tanpan and GoatLink. A couple options compatible with Shimano.

[north woods gal]

It will be cheaper to try a smaller chainring on the crank, but switching to an 11-32 cassette on the rear also works. Either way, you'll need to make sure your derailleurs can handle the wider range. If not, changing out derailleurs will get expensive in a hurry. Compacts and the derailleurs they use only have so much latitude as to what gear ranges they can handle. Be sure to check.

I much prefer disc brakes on all but my road bike (add a lot of weight), but it's not a simple conversion. The bike has to be pretty much be built around them, wheels and all. Will cost you an arm and leg to convert over, even if it is possible on your particular bike. If you really think you need disc brakes, you're better off buying a new bike. Then you can also get a triple if that's a concern. Nothing wrong with caliper brakes, though, as long as you keep them properly adjusted, keep your rims clean and replace pads as needed (and be careful when the rims get wet).