Mt Washington Hillclimb- gearing query

[Lookbiker]

Hi,
I intend to ride Mt. Washington next year and would like to accumulate the appropriate components over the winter. I run Campy 11 with a PF30 frame and my knees are sensitive to drastic pedal stance increases (like over 165 q-factor).

Looking a getting a SRAM XX crankset (q factor of 156) with an inner ring of 26T (I know that the Campy 11 front derailleur will not work with this set-up so the outer ring will be useless), coupled with a Campy 12-29 cassette. A new chain would also be used.

Does anyone foresee problems with this set-up? As I stated above, the outer ring will not be used at all but will I able to use the inner ring and the entire 12-29 cassette?

Thanks

[Valbrona]

If you have dodgy knees you might like to note that Campag do an 11 speed Athena triple group. This would allow the permanent use of a triple crankset with something like 26/36/46 rings, assuming you switch to 74/110BCD. However, stay with a more conventional road-triple BCD and you would still be able to use a 26 inner ring. Road-specific 74/110BCD triples are in short supply, especially ones with integrated axles/external BB cups.

[WMW]

Remove the outer ring and the front derailleur and shifter... well you can anyway. Depends on how serious you are.

You may have some difficulty with chainline on the 12 and 13, but it should be ok on the larger cogs... which is where you will be nearly all the time.

[upside]

Depends how strong you are and your power to weight ratio. I have set up many of bikes for this event. I have seen 50X34 and a 11X32 on the back and others that have gone the opposite direction. Those will have a 30 on the front and a 11X32 on the back, so it all depends on the rider. A 1:1 ratio gearing is common.

[Getter]

Out of curiosity...does anybody do this even with a mountain bike? Put some road tires on your 29er...or would a mountain bike be too heavy?

I run a 1x setup on my 29er...and with a 30x42 low gear...you can probably go up at a pretty decent cadence?

[Lookbiker]

Thanks for the help. I believe that my SR rear derailleur cannot handle anything greater than a 29T cassette.

[jooo]

If you're worried about Q-factor, why not run a Force/CX1 crankset with a spiderless chainring? It's narrower than the XX crank and the weight will be similar because you get to use a spiderless chainring.

[Lookbiker]

If you're worried about Q-factor, why not run a Force/CX1 crankset with a spiderless chainring? It's narrower than the XX crank and the weight will be similar because you get to use a spiderless chainring.

Thanks for the suggestion but I will need a 28T ring or smaller to get the gear ratio I want.

[efeballi]

Depending on the RD hanger, a 30 or 32 cog cassette could work. I would experiment with that before trying a MTB crank.


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[jooo]

Thanks for the suggestion but I will need a 28T ring or smaller to get the gear ratio I want.

What's your point? Spiderless rings can be found in 26T quite easily.


I think there was someone offering a 22/24T but it may not have been for SRAM cranks. There are also custom options.

25T is as small as you can go on XX's 80mm BCD anyway.

[ergott]

For a limited event like this I strongly suggest just getting a cheap triple used online and just leaving the little on. A lot of guys use that setup for a ride. I kept and extra bottom bracket for just such occasions. Q will be less than mountain bike and there's a road triple with 48 36 26T.
http://tinyurl.com/l8l55ht

You can ditch the font mech and just run a chain drop protector like a dog fang.

I crammed a 32t rear into my old Record rear mech, but it took some finessing. A medium cage would be fine.

Unless you are flushed with money it's a nice project to see how you can do this on the cheap. Ditch the rear brake, a used triple with just the low ring, one bottle cage, mountain bike cassette, etc.

[runner999]

I retrofitted my friend's Sram Force component/compact crank Cervelo by changing out the derailleur with a Sram WiFli derailleur and a 11-36 XT cassette for the 2014 Mt Washington hill climb last month. He did do several months of hill repeat training on some smaller local hills and mountains in preparation.

Overall he did pretty good on his first attempt and said he still had some gas in the tank at the top:

Distance 7.60 mi | Time 1:43:31 | Avg Moving Pace 13:37 min/mi | Avg Speed 4.4 mph | Elevation Gain 4,678 ft

[farva]

I saw lots of the local top guys using 1 x mtb setups on Washington & Equinox
Most of their rigs were in the 10-12 lb range, 1 brake, 1 shifter, on ultralight wheels & frames
Everyone else, myself included, just put on a 11/32 cassette or busted out the triple

I guess dropping big coin on a very specialized machine is all good if you're really into it, but if you show up on such a rig, you'd better be able to bring it.

[farva]

also on a slight thread detour - what is up with guys jumping off their bikes & running them, then hopping back on later? It's not cyclocross. I saw this a few times on Washington. If your bike is not busted then you need to ride it. OK, that is all

[xnavalav8r]

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