I few years ago I got into cycling again to help keep fit. I still had my mountain bike from when I did some easy trail riding.
I'm mainly riding on the road now and I was wondering if I can change the crankset or cassette might give me a little more speed. A couple of months into the warm weather and I top out the gears even on a slight downgrade.
There's one very hilly ride I do and the toughest hill I'll sometimes go as low as the second or third lowest gear in the beginning of the season until I get used to riding again. I only ride when it's warm out. If anyone's in the NYC/NJ area it's the hill by the Englewood Cliffs boat basin in PIP.
I have an old Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme (specs in link I think the same year) which has:
- Shimano Altus, 24/34/42 teeth crankset
- 7-speed, 11 - 28 teeth cassette. (Actually cassette might be 8 spd 11-30)
- Shimano Altus top-swing, top-pull front derailleur
- Shimano BB-CT91E, 116mm spindle bottom bracket
In a year or so I might get a road bike but hoping I can get a little more life out of this one. I saw the Shimano FC-M131 48/38/28T 175mm which I like because I'd prefer longer cranks and also the FC-M311 48/38/28% 170mm which both seem like reasonable upgrades to make to a bike this old.
I have no idea if these will fit the bottom bracket I currently have (which seems fine) or if I'll need a new one. Or would I be better off changing the cassette?
I'm not looking to win any races or set any mileage records just don't want to keep hitting the top gear and not having any resistance while pedaling.
I don't know enough bike parts to know if the 2 cranksets I mentioned are easy to swap on my bike or not and would appreciate input from someone who knows more or recommendations on other cranksets that would fit better. The 2 currently are going for 30USD and I don't want to put more than 50-60 into this old bike.
Update:
I haven't changed anything on the bike. I have been working on my cadence and that seemed to be the best approach. With my increased cadence I'm rarely topping out the gears on level roads. Keeping the tires at the upper range of pressure helped too.