Wednesday 21 May 2014

Reduced gearing for better hill climbing

Well this is an upgrade I have been toying with for over a year now. I've always had trouble going up hills so needed a little help. So here is BBB's latests upgrade.

2013 Brompton 44T Chainring & Guard for "Spider" Crank
13T & 16T Rear Sprockets & 98 link Chain

Which the new "Spider" crankset from Brompton it's very easy to change over the front chainring. Just the 5 bolts & swap. Dead easy.

2013 Brompton 50T & 44T Chainrings for Spider Crank

Anytime you change over anything to do with the chain always change the wheel cog(s) to as they wear together at the same rate. If you don't you will have problems with a slipping chain etc. The big front chainring doesn't need to be changed though unless you see major wear. With the reduced gearing I had to also reduce the amount of links in the chain to 98 links. You can buy the brompton chains to the right length so no need to mess about breaking links if you don't want to

5 Bolts


2013 Brompton 44T Chainring

All fitted and tightened up, easy. While I was upgrading BBB I took the chance to do a proper clean of the rear wheel before fitting the 2 rear cogs.



New cogs fitted

This upgrade reduces the gearing by 12% so should make it easier up steep hills. I've done a short test ride & a short sharp hill & it was much easier. Another thing I noticed is that my legs "spin" faster as a result of the reduced gearing but I'm used to spinning quiet fast with my high cadence which I can do in the 90-100 range for good periods of time.

Only thing that's left is to get a 44T chainring guard in yellow which should be arriving in the next day or so. Will be reporting back as I do more miles with the reduced gearing and give a better insight into the new reduced gearing.

1 comment:

  1. I had reduced gearing form the factory and have always enjoyed it, although I can pedal it out on the flat. However I have always taken the view that the Brompton wasn't made for racing!

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