melcooke

What are my options for getting lower gearing. My significant other's Fuji Cross 2.0 is new and I got a great deal on it at Performance bikes. The intended use is mostly for gravel roads in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Range, translated "climbs". Is it possible to modify the rear drive train to get to a 32 tooth cassette?

Current setup:

Vlaam4ever

You will likely need a mid/long cage rear deraileur.

Andy_K 

Yeah, the short cage rear derailleur won't work with a bigger cassette. Shimano has a new Ultegra derailleur that's designated 6700A which is designed to work with a 30T cog and would probably be OK with 32T. A 9-speed Shimano MTB rear derailleur would get you up to 36T compatibility. (Note: Shimano's 10-speed rear derailleurs aren't compatible with 10-speed road shifters but the 9-speed MTB models are.)

fietsbob

Get a MTB cassette and RD.. & chain , any thing in the crank end will cost a lot more to replace All.

the the low is 1:1 But the others going around the course will run by you carrying their bike..

Velo Dog

My first thought was, "smaller chainring," but it seemed so obvious I wasn't going to mention it. I swapped the stock useless 30t rings on two of my bikes for a 24 and 26. Shifts fine, no other changes required.

Andy_K 

You can't usually go much smaller than a 34T with a compact double crankset because of the bolt pattern. There are 33T rings available, but that doesn't make much of a difference.

GrayJay

Rather than changing out the casette and RD, another option would be to add a MTB triple crank to the front of the drivetrain (22t granny gear) but that might necessitate a different front shifter too if the current shifter is only indexed for a double. (good reason to use campy ergo shifters that are micro-adjustable for shift and trim of the front derailleur).