Just picked up a 2006 bianchi via nirone with Sora.
It's got a 53/39 double on at the moment… I'm in Wales so quite hilly… How far down can I go?34t? 30t?
Rear is 13-26t
Not sure if I'm going to run into chain length issues as well as currently it's not shifting into small small as the rd is sitting on its stop. I'll have a play adjusting that but wouldn't have expected to see it.
by Murky_Worldliness_33
6 Comments
If this is a 130 BCD crankset you can’t go much smaller than 39, maybe 38 anyways. You’d need to buy a new crankset to go smaller.
Shortening a chain is easy. That’s the least of your worries.
It’ll be much easier to buy a sora R3000 compact chainset & you’ll also need a RS500 bottom bracket
Should be able to source an inexpensive used 50-34 Shimano crank set on eBay. I paired mine up with a longer cage ultegra rear derailleur and have a 34-11 cassette in the rear. That 34-34 is sure a nice option on the punchy climbs. Not sure how big you can go with the Sora rig but your may be able to go up to 32? Scroll down and you can see the changes in my post everything old but new again. These shouldn’t be expensive upgrades and will vastly improve climbing performance.
I would look into getting a wider cassette. This depends on what rear hub you have. There are different splines. HG11 is a common one. SJS Cycles in UK does a lot of tandem and touring bikes. I would see what they suggest.
In the US Universal Cycles has some very nice wide range Prestacycle cassettes steeply discounted. It may be worth the shipping etc. They offer some very wide cassettes in different road splines. I’m running an 11-42t in 1×11.
Sheldon Browns Bicycle Gear Calculator is useful.
[https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html)
But a compact 50/34 crankset would be a good start also. With an 11-34t cassette you should be in pretty good shape.
Hopefully you didn’t pay very much for this bike? Maybe selling it and buying one that suits your needs would be a lot easier than changing the groupset on this.
That is likely a freewheel in the rear, not a cassette which will limit your options in the rear. Can we get an in-focus photo of the entirety of the small cog with the wheel off the bike?