UKH

so I am planning on doing the Fred Witton in a few weeks. I am not very mechanically minded. My road bike currently has a 52-36 front and 11-28 rear. I am thinking I can simply replace the rear cassette with a 11-32 to make things easier. I will probably need a new chain as well as it will need another link. The rear mech is medium/long cage so will accommodate it but I do not think it will go above a 32.  

The other option is to use my cycle cross bike which is an 11 speed. It is a 42 front and 11-36 rear. I could easily stick road tyres on it. 

Schoolboy punter question but which currently offers the best granny gear? Am thinking it is the road bike. 

Thanks. 

 

 

In reply to The Grist:

36/32 = 1.125  is less than 42/36 = 1.167

2x with 11-32 has a lower gear than the 1x.

But 36/31= 1.161 so 42/36 is equivalent to an 11-31 cassette on 52-36 road bike.

Hence 11-32 not worth the hastle/expense compared to 1x bike.

In reply to The Grist:

Its the road bike but only just 

2.3 to 2.4 for the cross bike according to Sheldon Browns site and gear calculator.

 

In reply to webbo:

Cheers both.

Another factor is the cyclocross bike is heavier. I think I will stick the road tyres on it and then cycle it up winnatts pass. That will be the test. If it fails I will stick a bigger rear cassette on the road bike. 

In reply to The Grist:

you could also be spinning out on 42 x 11

 

In reply to The Grist:

To get up steep hills you need a really big ring on the front and a really small one on the back. 

I’d go 53 x 11 for Hardknott. 

In reply to The Grist:

For what it's worth, I've done the Fred a couple of times, both with a lowest gear of 34-28. I like to think I'm pretty strong on a bike, and I'm not very heavy, but I am honestly not sure I'd make it up Hardknott with a tougher low gear than that. But it is manageable with that ratio. So probably best to stick a 32 on, if it was me at least. Definitely stack the odds in your favour though by riding the lighter road bike, so the preceding miles are as easy on your legs as possible (it's all relative...). Hardknott is tougher than Winnats, but I don't personally think any of the others are. It's a great route.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Yawn 

your jokes are about on the same level as your climbing.

Mediocre 

 

In reply to Strachan: yeah. I just bought a 11-32 to stick on. I agree. Lighter bike is the way forward. I drove over the hard Knott yesterday from Langdale. It seemed crazy steep.......I have ridden a fair bit in the Dolomites but nothing as steep as that. 

 

In reply to webbo:

Yup, the late, great Sheldon Brown is your friend for such questions.

In reply to The Grist:

Are you sure you have 36 as the smallest ring in the front? I thought 34 was a lot more common. 

I'm a mediocre cyclist but getting up hardknott from the west with 34 front 30 back was really tough. And that was without having done the first 100 miles of the Fred first.

Riding it 100 miles into the Fred after the other hills is a different matter entirely. I walked the steep sections both times I was on the Fred, as well as the top section of wyrnose.

In reply to The Grist:

Are you absolutely certain that your back mech can accommodate the new bigger block? I changed the gearing on my CX-commuter-do-everything bike when I moved from flatish Helsinki to not flat all Sheffield and had to change the mech to a long cage Sora mech from the original short cage mech. Only being Sora and finding the relevant one on sale made this fortunately a pretty cheap job!

In reply to The Grist:

If you do decide to get a new cassette then certainly get a new chain as well - the two items wear out together so using an old chain on a new cassette could cause problems, and decrease the life span. And given that cassettes and chains are the components that wear out the quickest, then it is money you will have to spend eventually.

when I did the Fred 2 years ago I managed to ride up Hardknott, but it was a very close run thing. I was on 34/32 and stayed in the lowest gear from bottom to top. If you can, change up in the middle section, so you can go back down when you approach the s-bands - realising you are already in your lowest gear when it ramps up again is soul destroying!

And that’s what did for my mate, normally the strongest one of the three of us, but had something like an 11-25. And he still kicks himself over it, even though we hardly ever mention it to him. Well not every ride anyway....

In reply to The Grist:

The difference being that in the Alps, road building was considered an elite profession and qualified engineers were employed by royalty to expand their kingdoms whereas in Britain roads started out as packhorse trails and a packhorse can scamper up pretty much any slope. 

 

In reply to mountain.martin:

A lot of bikes now come with 52/36 a semi compact rather than 50/34 a compact. 

 

In reply to TobyA:

I've run an 11-32 MTB cassette on my road bike with a short cage mech and it was fine - got me up the Col du Tourmalet in the Etape a few years ago.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I think you'll find that the first road over Hardknott was built by Italians

In reply to webbo:

You're quite the charmer...

In reply to The Grist:

I'd definitely put the 11-32 on the back even if you could manage it with a 28, you'll have more options and will be able to have a better cadence with the 32, especially with that 53-36 up front. I run a compact (50-34) with 11-32 on the back and still have to be all out on things like Honister and the steep end of Newlands. I've as yet been too scared to tackle Hardknott as my little (rock) climbers legs aren't quite up to it yet even with my easy gears.     

In reply to TobyA:

Yes. I have already bought a mid / long cage 10 speed derailler. it will accommodate a rear cassette up to a 32.

Am kind of wishing I bought an even bigger one now.

In reply to mountain.martin:

Yes positive. It is a very light race bike with full carbon everything. I got it reduced years ago from about £3k to £1.5k. It came with a 12-25 rear.

In reply to The Grist:

I did the Fred a while ago now using a 34x27 and was right on the limit, the main problem was a wet section on the steep ramp which meant keeping traction was difficult.  Just get out on the bike and find the steepest hill in your area and repeat it in a heavy gear until you fall off mostly dead, then repeat it once more.  That was my training and it got me round 1second inside 8hours. I had tunnel vision coming into Coniston and nearly binned it on the final corner!  I'm not selling this very well am I?