My elderly father (80 in September) is 'struggling' (only slightly) with his current chainset (compact 50/34) & 12/28 at the rear. He lives in a hilly region.
He has an old steel framed Pennine and I'd like to lower the gearing on this bike. It has gear changers on the downtube and has a seven speed freewheel on 130mm spacing.
I happen to have a spare NOS 7 speed 13/30 freewheel; if I were to purchase a Oxale 2 chainset (44/29) would these work together ? It would give him a lowest gear of 29/30 which should be fine. He virtually never uses the 50 ring of the compact, so I think that the 44 of the Oxale 2 would be just the job. Out of interest, what kinds of speeds could be attained with the high gear of 44/13 ? - with a fitter rider ?
A problem which might occur is that on the 29 chainring, only the lowest 3 or 4 gears at the back should be used - in the interests of smooth running.
He is adamant that he does not want a triple chainset !
I hope that my suggested combination would work, as it may give the old boy a few more years of cycling.
Thank you for any suggestions/advice
Gears for older persons
Re: Gears for older persons
pubrunner wrote:Out of interest, what kinds of speeds could be attained with the high gear of 44/13 ? - with a fitter rider ?
As it happens, 44/13 is the top gear on my tourer, and it was chosen after some thought. I've been over 50mph (downhill!), and it's fine for cruising around. In this gear, 100rpm is 27.1mph, so I'd guess for speeds at anything over about 30mph I would feel under-geared. I've never felt the need for bigger gears yet, even though I'm used to them on other bikes.
To be quite honest........ there is a better answer.
My MiL is now 86 - at 75 she was having problems in a similar way and we invested in an electric bike.
One that requires pedalling (i.e. assists the input as opposed to actually powering the bike) it was an entire new lease of life. SHe was able to maintain her exercise, but still manage hills with relative ease.
Not for everyone, but do consider it.
My MiL is now 86 - at 75 she was having problems in a similar way and we invested in an electric bike.
One that requires pedalling (i.e. assists the input as opposed to actually powering the bike) it was an entire new lease of life. SHe was able to maintain her exercise, but still manage hills with relative ease.
Not for everyone, but do consider it.
pubrunner wrote:Will the front deraileur be able to cope with such a setup ?
Possibly might have a problem if it's a "braze on". If it's band on then you should be able to lower it to suit.
Why doesn't he want a triple. - gives the best of all worlds.
Mid gear for general use.
Low gear for any hill
and large gear for sprinting. 