Originally Posted by
jonathanf2
On the streets 11-34t is a breeze, it's just for these steep mountain fire roads I'm climbing where I feel I could go one more gear lower. Do you think 11-36t would affect my big front gear though? Not that I ever ride the 46t front with the 34t rear, since it's better just to drop to the small chainring, I just want to keep the bike riding smooth while gaining slightly better climbing. Thanks for the help so far!
Just do not cross-chain the big-big combination. You should not do that anyway. When you ave the cassette on and while bike is in a stand clowly and CAREFULLY hand crank the bike and work your way up too he big-big combination. watch the rear derailleur as the chain comes up and if it is starting to reach the limits of stretch STOP and get a longer chain... The longer chain will then work in the big-big combination if you go there by accident, but you still should avoid the combination.