Changing gears

[Jdaniel343]

I currently have a cassette with 14-28 gear set and a 48 tooth crank gear.
When I'm in the 14 tooth I tend to air pedal with no resistance doing 16mph or more.
Should I change out the crank gear to a 54 or 56 tooth or the cassette to a 11-32 tooth?

 

[Maz Shaw]

A difficult one. For context, I have a huge amount of spares so I do one or the other depending on the type of bike it is and sometimes I do both - the cassette/freewheel for the wider range of gearing and the larger chainwheel to get rid of that spin at higher speeds.

 

[Hoggdoc]

I currently have a cassette with 14-28 gear set and a 48 tooth crank gear.
When I'm in the 14 tooth I tend to air pedal with no resistance doing 16mph or more.
Should I change out the crank gear to a 54 or 56 tooth or the cassette to a 11-32 tooth?

First of all a 54 or 56 would be way too tall gearing. If you change the crank sprocket it will affect the entire gear range. If you change the Freewheel to 11-32 you will get the higher gear for speed and increase the hill climbing gear, the rest of the ratios are spread between the other 5 gears.

Note: changing the crank sprocket is much easier than changing the Freewheel, but both are pretty easy if you have the proper tools and solid mechanical skills.

 

[Vinz]

You also need to consider the clearance of the new chain ring from the chain stay. I recently went from a 42T to 46T chain ring, and the clearance is rather tight. I don't think I could move to a bigger chain ring with my bike frame.

 

[Hoggdoc]

You also need to consider the clearance of the new chain ring from the chain stay. I recently went from a 42T to 46T chain ring, and the clearance is rather tight. I don't think I could move to a bigger chain ring with my bike frame.

There are chainrings with different offsets to help with that issue.

 

[Vinz]

There are chainrings with different offsets to help with that issue.

That's true, in fact both my 42T and 46T rings are offset - toward the bake frame. I chose this in order to have a (nearly) centered chainline. I have a 10-speed cassette, and I wanted to be able to use all cogs with minimal chain distortion. I have a Bafang BBS02, so the chainline can be an issue. Anyway, the chain stay clearance on the 46T is OK, and it's working great for me!