[MtnBikerChk]

In October while IAB runs his first marathon, I'm signed up as a bike volunteer.

I figured riding my old cromo rockhopper would be a better alternative to my road bike (more upright, don't care if anything happens to it in the city etc).

It's set up with Alivio 7sp cassette in the back and a an lx crankset (triple) on the front. How big can I/should I go in the front so that I can keep up with the roadies?

It's already got slicks on it and I have the rigid fork it came with and might put it back on.

Maybe I'll make this a commuter bike (for the 1 day a year I Ride the 30 miles to work).

What d'ya think?

 

[Serial Midget]

With your rigid fork and new slicks you should have no trouble keeping up with the roadies - back in the day I could easily ride my Y-22 (with fork and shock locked out) at 18 to 20 for 40 or 50 miles with Mythos IRC tires pumped to 70psi.

Your chromo rig most likely weighs more than 25LBS but the lighter tires should make up for the excess poundage.

Also - I would never want road gearing for a commuter bike.

 

[MtnBikerChk]

With your rigid fork and new slicks you should have no trouble keeping up with the roadies - back in the day I could easily ride my Y-22 (with fork and shock locked out) at 18 to 20 for 40 or 50 miles with Mythos IRC tires pumped to 70psi.

Your chromo rig most likely weighs more than 25LBS but the lighter tires should make up for the excess poundage.

Also - I would never want road gearing for a commuter bike.

I'll weight it and let you know - but remember it's also SMALL - I bet it's light.

I don't think I can keep up with them the way it is now.

 

[skunkty14]

You'll keep up fine with the roadies. Assuming your LX triple is a 22/32/44 you'll easily reach 20+ mph even if your cassette is the goofy 14-28. If you have an 12 or 11 small cog you'll be reaching 25mph @ 80-90rpm cadence. The gearing jumps between each cog in the cassette will be annoying more than anything when riding with anyone on a road bike since a road cassette typically has much tighter ratio spacing.