dougf4

I recently began riding a bike after decades of not doing so.

I bought a 1994 Bridgestone MB-6 and it is so far a very comfortable fit for me. I'm 56 and am having some hip issues on the outside of the left hip. I just installed a "Cloud 9" seat yesterday and after some fore/aft adjustments am hopeful that this might be helping the hip issue. I am contemplating adding an inexpensive Nashbar suspension post as well.

My question is regarding the crank for this bike. Would I benefit at all by changing it out for something with larger gears? I do not anticipate pulling any arduous, long hills or such. I am too much of a newb to know how to describe such things, but I find that the front derailer on the middle gear and rear on 5,6,7 is the most comfortable for me on relatively flat surfaces. In reality I think a 6-speed would probably suit me just fine,,,,but who knows, I might just turn into a wildman as I get in better shape and want to use all kinds of torquey gears!

The bike, per literature I have found on-line for this bike shows a 42X34X24 Crank and Alivio STD Shifting System. Specs Here

Any advice/thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking forward to all I can learn here and hopefully at some point be able to offer some useful help as well.

If anyone has any advice re; my hips whether equipment related or exercises, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance!

“Hey Bud, It’s Not Purple, It’s Wild Orchid!”

BassNotBass

Since you say you keep it in the 2nd of three available chainrings, then I wouldn't bother swapping out the crankset at all unless you were looking for shorter or longer crank arms than what you have. As is your bike has a decent range of gears:
small chainring; 22.1-56.2 gear inches
mid chainring; 31.3-79.6 gear inches
large chainring: 38.6- 98.3 gear inches

If you change out to just a single chainring that would cost money and also limit you to a lower top gear than what you have now... hopefully as time goes on you'll get stronger and need your larger chainring.

Igo

Wide seats on an otherwise properly sized bike are the greatest contributor to hip discomfort. On the down stroke they tend to force the rider to spread his legs while maintaining contact with the peddle. This is contortion manifested at knee and hip, regardless of minimal degree.

fietsbob

By putting a wide seat , there is no benefit , for a casual rider to have any Monster big high gears,
as far as your body's issues ,. talk to a Doctor, MD
this is a bunch of people blabbing about bikes and their parts..

Maybe you can substitute the 42 and fit a 48t,, or lose the outer entirely .. put the 42 or
'whatever' 0n the middle as a single chain ring the middle is where you want the chainring.
since its centered in the middle of the rear cog cluster..

stick a 48 or whatever on the outside if you wish,

sort out the numbers ratios and proportions , and determine what range is best
for where you live and ride.

BassNotBass

My parts are stout... my bikes... not so much.

ThermionicScott 

Changing the crankset won't do anything to help your hip problem.