Alaskan
Well-Known Member
Although I am not familiar with your particular bike, I can offer the following general advice.
The easiest thing you can do is change out your front chainring for one with 2 or 3 more teeth which would make it a larger circle and reduce rpm at a given speed in your 13 cog gear in back. The problem is that you also loose leverage in your bigger climbing cogs in your rear cassette. If you live somewhere relatively flat where the hills are not so steep such that you seldom or never required to use the lowest gears, you would be good to go. If, however you really need to go all the way to your lowest gear to make it up the hills where you live and ride, then a cassette change with a larger top gear will help you recapture the climbing ability you lost by putting a larger chainring on up front.
Often making changes to your rear cassette will require changing to a compatible derailleur. If you lack the tools or know how to make these changes your self, you should consult with a tech at a local bike shop to help you sort out the options and the costs before doing anything that will interfere with proper operation of your drive train. There are numerous compatibility issues that need to be sorted and settled before you proceed like proper chain length, derailleur range, hub compatibility with your derailleur Having a good bike mechanic figure out the best and least expensive way to help you achieve higher speeds by gear changes will be money well spent.
I got lucky in replacing my chain ring with one with just two more teeth got me a lower cadence and easier pedaling at higher speed but did not cost me too much climbing power so for $100 (new chain ring and longer chain) I was able to get what I wanted.
None of this changes assist levels. These changes affect what you can accomplish with your legs. A larger chain ring slows your cadence down in each gear on your cassette such that when you are in you smallest and fastest cog, your cadence is reduced to an rmp that is comfortable for you to sustain.
The easiest thing you can do is change out your front chainring for one with 2 or 3 more teeth which would make it a larger circle and reduce rpm at a given speed in your 13 cog gear in back. The problem is that you also loose leverage in your bigger climbing cogs in your rear cassette. If you live somewhere relatively flat where the hills are not so steep such that you seldom or never required to use the lowest gears, you would be good to go. If, however you really need to go all the way to your lowest gear to make it up the hills where you live and ride, then a cassette change with a larger top gear will help you recapture the climbing ability you lost by putting a larger chainring on up front.
Often making changes to your rear cassette will require changing to a compatible derailleur. If you lack the tools or know how to make these changes your self, you should consult with a tech at a local bike shop to help you sort out the options and the costs before doing anything that will interfere with proper operation of your drive train. There are numerous compatibility issues that need to be sorted and settled before you proceed like proper chain length, derailleur range, hub compatibility with your derailleur Having a good bike mechanic figure out the best and least expensive way to help you achieve higher speeds by gear changes will be money well spent.
I got lucky in replacing my chain ring with one with just two more teeth got me a lower cadence and easier pedaling at higher speed but did not cost me too much climbing power so for $100 (new chain ring and longer chain) I was able to get what I wanted.
None of this changes assist levels. These changes affect what you can accomplish with your legs. A larger chain ring slows your cadence down in each gear on your cassette such that when you are in you smallest and fastest cog, your cadence is reduced to an rmp that is comfortable for you to sustain.
