Ryno317

I'm looking to change my rear gearing from 8 speed 11-34 to something a bit easier for an middle aged out shape father trying to keep up with his son, mainly on the hill climb sections. I currently ride the middle ring(34T) staying in the middle to easy gears on the cassette. I rarely ever drop to the granny gear on the chainring, to much spin for me. I have been looking at other 8 speed cassette's 11-46, to do a swap. But the step up on looks drastic. So I was pondering about doing a 9 or 10 speed to smooth out the shifts with a 30 or 32T single front ring. Is this a good set up or am I missing something? What do you suggest?

Also if I swap to a 9 or 10 speed, who has a good clutched RD.

My ride is a Dick's special GT Aggressor Pro. Thanks

DMC707

if its a 26" bike, an 11 speed swap with a 11-42 cassette would be a dramatic improvement -- not sure it would play nice with a small chainring granny setup though, but to eliminate confusion, you could ditch the granny and run a 2x system - just adjust the front derailleur accordingly

Shimano is your friend for all of this ---- an 11 speed cassette will fit on an 8 speed cassette body - probably Deore would be a reasonable way to go if money is a determining factor - its good stuff , just a little heavier than the higher end stuff

Ryno317

Thanks for the shimano suggestion. It has 27.5 wheels.

travbikeman

Shimano has some nice affordable Deore with clutch offerings for 10 speeds. SRAM, I don't see they offer too often what I consider affordable with a clutch.

Don't discount Microshift Advent and Advent X as well. Advent is a 9 speed system with clutch and AdventX is the 10 speed. I put the Advent X on my Aspect and am impressed.

BUT, you will have to do research on any of the above on finding who has any of these in stock.

DMC707

you could bump up to an 11 speed 11-46 then if you really need some climbing gears.

Now that my memory is better, i converted my old 3x9 Santa Cruz 26,er to 1x10 with a Zee rear derailleur, Zee shifter, (Zee is Shimanos gravity oriented setup, but roughly the same price point as Deore or SLX) an SLX 11-34 cassette and a 32 tooth Race Face narrow wide chainring that fit my stock Deore crankset.
Works great -

admittedly its my backup bike now, so the setup has less than 5 hours time on it , butthe times i have ridden it have beentrouble free.

scubaman

Maybe Microshift Acolyte 8-Speed 1x? https://bikerumor.com/2020/09/10/mic...ack-to-basics/

Can't tell from the photos & specs on this bike if the triple crank can be dismantled to fit a single chainring. If not, it looks like this bike sells with a square taper bottom bracket, and you might be able to find a decent used square taper crank that can be set up 1x in parts bins at the local bike shop.

Ryno317

Thanks for the suggestions. I like the MircoShift and will look to see who has what in stock and go from there. Would I benefit from an Oval front chainring?

c_m_shooter

If the little chainring is "too spinny", then a bigger cassette will be also.

Happy Feet

Just to clarify,

You have a lower chainring but don't use it but want to swap out cassettes so you can climb better?

If so it's a lot of swap for what you probably already have. If you are going to a larger cassette you'll potentially need a different body, cassette, derailer and shifter.

Not saying it can't be done but map it out first as it could turn into a major surgery for a gain you already have.

VicBC_Biker

My opinion also.

A good starting point for me when I think about gearing changes is an online gear claculator. That way I can see what's on the bike now, and how I should be using the gears I have (remembering to avoid the big-big and small-small chainring-cassette combos).

Something like: https://sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html

Posting the gear calculator results would let readers know exactly what you are dealing with.

BTW, One problem (for me) with going to ever-wider range cassettes is that the 'jumps' between gears can be uncomfortably large. One gear is 'too spinney' but the next one up needs a bit too much 'push' from my legs. (Always looking for that 'Goldilocks' gearing combo.... )

Kapusta

Add me to the list of not understanding why you want lower gearing when you already find your lower gears too low.

anga

How many teeth in the granny ring?
What is the progression of cog teeth in the cassette?

prj71

Critical thinking skills are a thing of the past these days...

Ryno317

zandoval 

I hear Ya!!! Sure, going to another gear set is a possibility and allot of fun making the transitions and adjustments in doing so.

It certainly does your body good to try and keep up with your son but "come on man..." ain't gonna happen...

If I am going to ride with my boys, even if they ride slow, I better get an e-bike.

VicBC_Biker

Good. Some folks prefer the 'gear-inches' numbers, but that will be fine.

You don't want to use the big-big and small-small combos.
From the chart you can figure out possible shifting patterns.
I marked one possibility here:



I usually pedal on the middle ring if it's rolling country - I know it's ok to use any of the cogs on the rear cassette from the middle chainring on my bike.
If I see a big hill coming up (and I'm going slow) I sometimes shift to the small chainring sooner, when the rear is still on a cog in the middle of the cassette.
Downhill- after a point when I'm spinning on the middle chinring, I usually coast.

spikyone

Hi..just to share on my experiences with this, more experienced riders may disagree or point out things I may have missed:

I converted from a 3x8 30T to a 1x9 42T with a single 32T chainring. In terms of gearing its more or less the same. But I had to change:
cassette, cranks, chain, shifter. There are 8 speed wide range cassettes available but the stepup i feel would be too much for me.

I feel now its a lot of shifting up and down the cassette, maybe i have trigger finger so that obviously contributes to the “issue”. Others with healthy hands may consider it a non-issue. I felt that maybe i should have changed to 2x instead. However my bike has lightened up heaps.

Another of my friend also riding a 3x8 setup says that there is an “emptiness” when he rides rolling terrain which doesnt give enough time to flick through both front and rear gears at the same time, I think he means he cant get into a fast gear quick enough for downhill momentum and vice versa.

so make of this what you will, have fun deciding!

spikyone

Just to add; i suppose if you are always staying in the middle ring and shifting both ends of the cassette, you could technically just get a larger cassette, longer chain and a goatlink for yr rear derailleur and ride it as if like a gravel bike 1x system? Just dont change down or yr chain will end up being too long.