Recommendations for a road bike with low gears

[billy80]

I am looking for a road bike with low gears.

I am in my late fifties, not particularly fit and have a bit of arthritis in my knees. I have a bike I happily use for fairly flat commuting which has a lowest ratio of 34 at the chainset and 28 at the cassette but it hurts my knees if I use this bike on day trips or tours on hillier routes.

I am hoping to get something that is fairly lightweight but has a very low granny gear.

I would rather get something off the peg, than try to customise a bike. First, I have previously tried to adapt my existing bike using a gadget that allowed the rear mech. to accommodate a bigger-than designed-for cassette, but it didn't end well. It might not have had anything to do with the big cassette or the gadget, but the rear mech. jammed and ripped of the hanger on a recent trip, so I would prefer to get something off the peg, rather than customise a bike. Second, I am confused (and getting bored) by tech specs of all the various options so I would like to keep it simple.

I have read a lot about the double vs. triple debate and have no problems using a triple if I need it to get up the hills and the extra weight isn't a big deal to me.

I really don't care about the top ratio, I am happy to cruise downhill.

Can anyone recommend a road bike with very low gears in the price range £500-£1000.

Thanks,

Billy

[Brucey]

Currently most 'road bikes' come with a compact double and this can get you to a similar low gear as you have at present. Triples are rarer. I think you will struggle to find something off the peg.

One option is that you can buy a road bike , with a compact double, then fit it with a spa triple chainset, using only the middle and inner rings.

A cheap option is to buy a basic Btwin Triban (with a triple chainset, 30T inner ring) then swap the cassette and the rear mech for different ones. You should be able to fit a 9s shimano MTB rear mech and a wide-range 8s cassette (or whatever it needs).

Get a decent LBS to fettle the bike, do the conversion, and service it thenceforth.

BTW do not ignore the very real possibility that something to do with your riding position or setup is causing your knees to hurt; if so, no amount of lower gears will solve the problem.

Also, are you going to be comfortable on a typical 'road bike' with low dropped handlebars? You might be better off on a touring/audax bike (maybe having fitted it with lightweight wheels?), or something like that.

BTW have a look here;

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/m1b0s21p0/Bikes/Touring-Audax-and-Sportive

plenty of good bikes there and Spa will sort out lower gearing for you if you need it.

cheers

[Bonefishblues]

Or an alternative approach here:

https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/sonder-camino-alloy

They too will gear it as you wish, and there are some good flat bar and drop bar options to consider.

Basically lots of choice out there!

[landsurfer]

Would certainly agree with the Decathlon BTwin Triban 500 SE. I fitted a new freewheel with a 32 tooth large sprocket and sold the triple chainset on ebay for £25. I fitted a SPA single 36 tooth chainset and have never looked back ... in fact all my bikes are single front ring now and my knees thank me for it.

Also take 7 Seas joint active supplement ..... all ways wary about these wonder products, but took it for 2 years and my knee pain went after the first month, stopped taking it for 2 months earlier this year and my knee pain started to re-appear ..... so back on it again... I don't care if it actually works or its placebo effect ... my knees don't hurt and its cheap via Holland & Barrett on line ...

[markfh]

It partly depends what you mean by a "road bike". As noted by Brucey "road bikes" with triples are increasingly rare. Also they may not give you as low a gear as you may want. A "road bike" triple typically has 30/39/50 chain rings as is on the Decathlon Triban referred to by Brucey - I take it he was referring to the Triban 520 which has 3 x 9 gears or even possibly the Triban 500SE which has 3x8 gears as the Triban 540 has a 2 x 10 gears. It may take fewer changes than Brucey suggested to lower the gearing on a Triban 520. The Decathlon spec sheet is silent on which model Sora rear derailleur is fitted (3500/3000) to the Triban 520 and whether it is a short cage (SS) or mid cage (GS). Given that it is a triple it should be fitted with the mid cage (GS) rear derailleur as the short cage (SS) is only specified for a maximum front (chainset) difference of 16 teeth but it would be as well to check. The RD-3500-GS rear derailleur has a total range of 41 teeth, with a front range of 20 teeth (e.g. the existing 30/39/50 front chainset) leaving 21 for the rear e.g. a 11-32 cassette. The RD-3000-GS rear derailleur has a total range of 43 teeth, with a front range of 20 teeth leaving 23 for the rear e.g. a 11-34 cassette. Therefore provided the rear derailleur is a mid cage (GS) then a rear cassette of up to 11-32 if it is a RD-3500-GS rear derailleur or up to 11-34 if it is a RD-3000-GS rear derailleur should be possible without having to change the rear derailleur. You may however also have to replace the chain if the supplied chain is not long enough to handle the new large-large combination. A 30 - 32 set up should give you a significantly lower gear of 24.8" versus the standard configuration (30-25) low gear of 31.7".

If you want an even lower gear you will need to look for a bike with a different chainset or change the front chainset and possible bottom bracket as well.

Another thing you might want to consider is the relative steps between gears of the various possible cassettes. Some people find having a large step between adjacent gears adds to the strain on their joints due to the larger change in loading when changing gear. This is likely to be more of a problem with wider range cassettes.

[mapman]

There's a chap selling a Ridgeback Panorama in the for sale section of this forum. Lovely bike and very low gears I believe. Might be worth a look

[rmurphy195]

I echo the comments re Spa Cycles and getting lower gears. I would think you could discuss this with almost any bike shop - what you are really after I think is touring gearing or gearing similar to that fund on Hybrids (e.g. Shimano "Tourney" gears). Though this is easier said than done 'cos most of them in my experience are happy to sell you an overgeared bike oe a Hybrid (of which they stock lots) rather than something with touring gearing.

I have a triple setup - 46/36/26 on the front and 11-32 8-speed cassette on the back. This gives me a very low bottom gear of 22inches. In comparison, assuming you have 700c wheels yours is nearer 32 inches(I have 3 rear sprockets which are each lower than that!). This means that in your lowest gear you travel half as far again as I do for each turn of the pedals, and have to put in a corresponding higher amount of effort and knee strain to do it!

I have to add that when I had my bike out together, I had the LBS put on the cheapest chainset with 3 sprockets figuring I could sort it out later - this gave me an "old-fashioned" square taper bottom bracket, which in turn opened up my options for a relatively easy conversion - so I went from cheapo tourney gears to a nice setup from Spa cycles which was an easy swop (for a non-techy person like me).

If you are not sure what I mean by "inches" you can use the information on the following link to work-out your "inches" and see the comparison - basically the lower the number of inches the lower the gear and the easier to pedal! This page also has a link to download a calculator http://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-libra ... sion-gears.

Much easier and less techy is the rule-of-thumb approach - I wouldn't look at a bike that doesn't have at least 2 rear sprockets that are bigger than the smallest chainring!

At 66 years old and getting my fitness back, I am using the lower gears less and less but would not be without them. My highest gear is 112", and I do spin-out above 25mph

I am assuming by "road bike" you mean dropped bars but with less-than-sporty gears, so maybe something in this range might suit http://dawescycles.com/product-category ... es-touring or something similar or as Brucey said look at Spa cycles offerings - depends where you live, really.

And has been said elsewhere - a "road" bike probably gives you a too-stretched-out riding position, whereas a touring bike - even with dropped bars - allows a more relaxed riding position. The dropped bars as you have probably noticed by now do give you a range of positions from almost bolt upright to hunched-over into the wind!

[fatboy]

A cheap option is to buy a basic Btwin Triban (with a triple chainset, 30T inner ring) then swap the cassette and the rear mech for different ones. You should be able to fit a 9s shimano MTB rear mech and a wide-range 8s cassette (or whatever it needs).

I've had success with a 24t on the inner ring on my road/audax bike and it's the cheapest way to get low gears I reckon

[mattsccm]

If you go for SRAM gears its easy to fit a MTB rear mech which will allow a much bigger low rear sprocket. You can also run a MTB chain set. I use a 28/42 chain set with an 11 _32 cassette.
SRAM Rival mechs, medium rear.

[blackbike]

Why not adapt your current bike to take a MTB triple chainset with 42/32/22 teeth?

This is what I've done on my tourers and road bikes and the range of gears is just what I need. I am a similar age to you. A 42/12 top gear of 98 inches on a 700c wheel is as high as most riders need, and why many not so young road bike riders hardly ever get anywhere near their top gears.

The simplest way to make this arrangement work is by using bar end levers.

[billy80]

Wow, thanks for all the advice and concern!

I suspect you are right that I may not get what I want off the peg, sadly, but maybe if I let the LBS to do the work, I should be more confident that it will be reliable.

You are also right that I am not looking for an aggressive position, stretched out, head down and backside in the air. What I am thinking of has drop bars, definitely, but is also lighter than your average tourer – no luggage rack or mudguards, probably. We tour from B&B to B&B so we don’t need much (10Kg), so I have been looking at luggage that doesn’t need a rack. A few years ago, a traditional tourer would have appealed more, but now I am looking to see if a lighter bike might make a difference, particularly on day trips with no luggage.

Between the Spa and the Sonder bikes, there is a lot to chew over – some surprising configurations in there. I have a soft spot for Dawes and my LBS showed me a 2016 Ridgeback Panorama in their sale and it is certainly geared right but, as I said, they are not quite what I have in mind. (Maybe what I need is a tourer, but what I want, irrationally, is something that looks like a modern road bike.)

I am taking the “rule of thumb” approach – how many more teeth are there on the biggest rear sprocket compared to the smallest ring? Giant’s Revolt 2 or 3 are close to what I am looking for, but there are only 2 more teeth. That is similar to what I toured in Cornwall on this year, without pain, but there were times when an even lower gear would have been very welcome and we walked many of those hills.

I’d rather not adapt my current bike – it is just about perfect for my commute and that is about half the miles I do. I’ve decided to use two bikes – a commuter and another one.

Billy

[yostumpy]

The two bikes will start to feel at odds with each other. The road bike will feel odd but fast, but the more you use it, and adapt, then the commuter will feel cramped and slow, and you'll be fettling for ever, as neither will be right. Fitting a triple to your current bike will cost you little, will not 'alter' the bike in a way as to make if unsuitable, the gears you use for commuting will still be there, and you'll know for sure that a triple is the answer, before you shell out a multiplisimo of wonga, on a bike made of soot.
Comfort is another thing. Yes modern road bikes look good ( if you like that sort of thing) but mudguards and min 32m tyres would be a better choice.

[531colin]

So, lets see.....
Its got to look like a modern road bike
Its got to be cheap
You don't want stretched out head down bum up
You are going to carry 10Kg luggage, but you don't want the weight of mudguards and carrier
......and they say middle-aged men have no fashion sense!
Break the piggy bank, get one of these http://www.spacycles.co.uk/m1b0s21p3552/SPA-CYCLES-Elan-%28105-triple%29
First go to the shop and test ride it.
Statement of interest....I designed it. I designed it so a 69 year old man (me) could have a bike thats both fast and practical.
Thread here....http://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=109407
I would have this chainset in 24/34/46T http://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s109p3052/SPA-CYCLES-TD-2-Touring-Triple-Chainset-with-Zicral-Rings

[pwa]

Colin has, as he says, an interest in the Spa Elan. But he is right. If you can stretch your budget you will be able to get something that will tick all the boxes and be a bit special too. Make sure you ask for the low gears, though.

Mudguards weigh next to nothing and keep the muddy spray off you when the road is wet. I'd not look to save weight there.

[djnotts]

Off the shelf stuff with LOW gear options is indeed increasingly hard to find. And at a sensible price all but impossible. The Spa offering with a 24/34/46 (and min 32T at rear) is about as good as it gets - but calls for very deep pockets. After looking at '00s of otherwise "attractive" bikes I've found the only way is an mtb front set up with a 22T inner and a 32 or 34T biggest rear. But then I don't want drops. And I like 26" wheels.

All the bike shops' drivel about compact just as low as triple is just that - drivel.

Good luck!