What rear cassette for Eroica Britannia. Help!!!

Hi folks, I am building a bike for the Eroica in June and wondered what your recommendations would be for a rear cassette to get me up those hills. I have Shimano 600AX running gear, which is a 52/42 chain ring combo and currently a six speed Shimano Uniglide cassette.

Q: Should I or can I swap this for a MTB 14-34 or what?

I tried my back up bike which has a 28 rear and at 15 stone had great difficulty on the big hills!

Cheers Pete

Re:

If possible I would try and replace the 52 / 42 chain rings as well as your cassette .I know it may not be feasible with your present crank arms . T A chain sets are the best IMHO .By far the greatest choice of chain ring size .
If trying to use a 14/34 you may need a long arm rear mech .
Or how about a compact . I take it you are using square taper .
I would not / could not ride round hills on a dinner plate size c/s . Not fun

I would check Sheldon Browns web site

Re:

It's doubtful your rear mech would cope with 34 teeth.

I asked a guy who used to race in the 70's and 80's how on earth they coped with hills with the gearing that was available back then, "we used to get off a walk".

Well, that blows the myth that they were all just tougher in those days.

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Last year I used a 42x24 as my smallest gear; that Mam Nick (sp?) was tough but I still got up it ok ...

As it is the UK none of the climbs are very long so a few shortish climbs but they are soon over ....

You only have to ride Mam Nick on the 100 miler; its not part of the ladies routes

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I just put a Sugino touring chainset on my wife's 80's Trek. Its set up as a 50/36 currently, but its also a 110 BCD so I could swap on some other smaller rings if this is too much for her. She will have a 5 speed freewheel in the back when the bike is in its vintage set up so I'm thinking a 28 max rear gear. That being said I don't have the vintage mechs for it yet and I could slap on a long cage touring mech in the back and maybe run something in the 32/34 range for a granny. She'd probably love me for that.

If its 6 speed could you run a Sugino AT or similar chainset? They made those in doubles and tripples and at 110BCD you have lots of room for customizing your ring size. Not as much as one of those 56 BCD versions, but a 48 or 46 big ring paired to a 34 middle/small should be plenty low.

Do shimano make a Deore triple that looks retro and will have a good spread of chainrings up front?

Shaun

PS I don't remember too many pros walking up hills bitd . My avatar is me on a hill climb with a 42 sugino ring up front, mind you I hgsd proper shaped legs then lol

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Midlife":2j9z6zav said:

Do shimano make a Deore triple that looks retro and will have a good spread of chainrings up front?

Shaun

PS I don't remember too many pros walking up hills bitd . My avatar is me on a hill climb with a 42 sugino ring up front, mind you I hgsd proper shaped legs then lol

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I think it depends on how vintage you want to go. I don't believe that Shimano started to manufacture their own chainsets until the mid/late 80's. Prior to that it was all mix and match. Pick a Suguio, Sake, TA, or Middleburn crank, add some Shimano, Suntour or Campy mechs, throw on some diacompe brakes and some Suzue hubs, Araya rims, Magura brake levers, and away you went.

I was thinking more about the OP's legs . I had Shimano first gen in the mid 70's along with Suzue hubs,

Blimey that takes me back, I still have my suzue hubs / fiamme rim wheels in the garage lol.

Shaun

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Midlife":y6v65vgx said:

I was thinking more about the OP's legs . I had Shimano first gen in the mid 70's along with Suzue hubs,

Blimey that takes me back, I still have my suzue hubs / fiamme rim wheels in the garage lol.

Shaun

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Oh, that's right. Shimano was producing cranksets on the road side in the 70's and early 80's. I've seen some 1st Generation Dura Ace on CraigsList locally. Did they do any touring cranks?

Don't Stronglight make something with a funny spider that will run basically anything you could possibly desire...?