Upgrading my gears ... is it possible?

[djnotts]

And the moral.....do not fall for the current sales drivel which proclaims that a 50/34 plus a 32 rear gives the low, low, gearing that will get you up any hill. I've had an urge (and even the cash!) to buy an actual brand new bike - much taken with the gravel/adventure genre - for some weeks and have looked and looked. None of those I've drooled over will get ME up even a modest hill.

[thirdcrank]

Again thank you all for your replies .... its like learning a new language!

IME, one of the things that's misunderstood by some first-time buyers is that even a bike with 30 - or perhaps nowadays 22 - gears may not have a range of gears suitable for all purposes: eg in this case they were relatively high. Unfortunately, it seems this also isn't fully understood by the people employed in some shops to advise customers. This is probably exacerbated by the nowadays general sale of off-the-peg bikes, rather than bikes built to an individual customer's spec. It's not that low-geared bikes are not available - there seem to be plenty of mountain bike-type machines with gears low enough to twiddle up a house wall - but fitting that type of gearing to a bike intended for riding longer distances - let's call it a touring bike - for sale off-the-peg is less common. It's perhaps a rare sales person who will advise a prospective customer that they don't sell what's needed, even if they have the knowledge and experience to do so.

All that's before the language of gears in inches or development in metres.

[Brucey]

....Anyway, try as I might, I couldn't get the thing to misbehave in any way, shape, or form.
....

I'm tempted to say 'give it time...'

cheers

[531colin]

....Anyway, try as I might, I couldn't get the thing to misbehave in any way, shape, or form.
....

I'm tempted to say 'give it time...'

cheers

I don't see why it should be any more prone to premature wear or any more maintenance-hungry than any other 11-speed system?

You can't blame me for the fashion for ever-increasing numbers of sprockets; I have got 9-speed on one bike, all the rest are 8-speed, and I don't own any STIs.
You can't blame Spa for fitting what the manufacturers currently supply, they can hardly scour E bay for 6-speed Uniglide stuff .....and, in any case, more often than not, its what the customer wants. I have tried telling them it isn't what they need, and it never ends well.

[Brucey]

goodness me I didn't mean it as a criticism of any kind, Spa have to tread a (difficult) line between what they think is best, what they can buy at a reasonable cost, and what folk want to buy. I do not envy the decision!

For the money the current 105 11s is -like many 105 versions before it- good value, but some parts of it do not seem terribly durable to me. For example the RD top pulley has a very narrow bushing that seems to wear quickly and I have even seen one where the lower knuckle was (at low mileage) seized solid; I think that water can penetrate the pivot bushing somehow. Maybe this one had been over-enthusiastically cleaned or something. Like you say it is probably no worse than a lot of other 11s stuff, and perfection has yet to be acheived, so....

In an ideal world bike bits would be tolerant of wear, use in all weathers etc, and yet be fairly easy to fix when required. Maybe I'm looking at it through the wrong coloured spectacles or something, but even on an averagely grumpy day, it seems to me that a lot of modern kit is falling short in both respects, such characteristics being sacrificed on the altar of (often imaginary) 'performance'.

cheers

[rmurphy195]

Again thank you all for your replies .... its like learning a new language!

I should have added my rule-of-thumb to my original post, which is -"There should be at least 2 rear sprockets that are bigger than the smallest chainring"!

[531colin]

goodness me I didn't mean it as a criticism of any kind, Spa have to tread a (difficult) line between what they think is best, what they can buy at a reasonable cost, and what folk want to buy. I do not envy the decision!

For the money the current 105 11s is -like many 105 versions before it- good value, but some parts of it do not seem terribly durable to me. For example the RD top pulley has a very narrow bushing that seems to wear quickly and I have even seen one where the lower knuckle was (at low mileage) seized solid; I think that water can penetrate the pivot bushing somehow. Maybe this one had been over-enthusiastically cleaned or something. Like you say it is probably no worse than a lot of other 11s stuff, and perfection has yet to be acheived, so....

In an ideal world bike bits would be tolerant of wear, use in all weathers etc, and yet be fairly easy to fix when required. Maybe I'm looking at it through the wrong coloured spectacles or something, but even on an averagely grumpy day, it seems to me that a lot of modern kit is falling short in both respects, such characteristics being sacrificed on the altar of (often imaginary) 'performance'.

cheers

I come across lots of "problems" that could be surmounted by the timely application of a drop of oil. The other day I came across a screw-on block which had been returned because it no longer freewheeled; it was rusted solid. I somehow doubt that occurred after a single exposure to water and road salt, I think that would take repeated exposure to a corrosive environment with no maintenance. I have had a wheel returned because the (stainless) spokes were "rusting".......which was actually rusty water running out of the Shimano freehub.
On modern cars, theres no greasing up the propshaft universal joints, or the suspension bushes, theres no cleaning and adjusting the points gap, no setting the timing with a strobe lamp, no topping up the SU dashpots with oil. Lots of people have no experience at all of personally performing routine, preventive maintenance. Cars and boilers have become so complex and at the same time so reliable that I have joined the trend and all I do is pay a monthly direct debit. If that's the limit of your involvement with maintenance, I think people's expectations will have been shaped by modern ultra-reliable cars, heating systems, etc.....maybe you could build a bike with a chaincase, and hub brakes and gears which could survive on an annual maintenance, but I have never owned a bike which would.

[Brucey]

anything new is a learning curve and that includes new bike parts I suppose. I do wish that there was more of a choice in quality parts though; it seems to me that you could make durable stuff instead of fancy stuff, but (with a few exceptions) it seems that the big players don't see that as a priority.

On the subject of maintenance, and returns, in an LBS near me they had a chain returned that had 'worn out prematurely'. The chain was a basic KMC 8s one, that would normally last at least 1000 miles even with no maintenance, and maybe 2000 if given the occasional drop of oil. This one wore out (badly) in less than 200 miles. Amazingly the owner had believed the guff that some folk spout about 'the factory lube being no good' and had carefully cleaned all that off in a solvent bath. He had replaced it with some kind of rubbish that had failed to penetrate the bushings much at all. Pleased with his work, he then used it normally for few weeks, in the dry, and was surprised when the chain wore out after very few flattish miles....

The things that folk take for granted in any generation are bound to change, but that so many people today have almost zero appreciation for things mechanical is a source of some bafflement to me....

cheers