Moving from 16 to 24 speed

[ksteinke]

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying a used carbon roadbike that currently is a 16 speed. It has Shimano 600 components. (TREK 5200 OCLV) Two positions on the front dérailleurs are just not enough for the mountainous terrain I plan on using this in. It is reasonable to buy this bike and then change the range of gears of the front derailleur, or is this too much trouble?

The bike seems quite a bargain but I live in Switzerland and I do need very low gears.

This is my first time posting here so I hope this is a reasonable question and I hope I'm in the right place.

thanks,

ks

[cyclerUK]

If you want to "add" an extra front ring (triple) then you will probably need to change:-
A new chainset.
A new triple front derailleur.
A longer cage rear derailleur (to take up the extra free chain length)
A triple left STI lever.

You might consider instead to use a "compact" version chainset. (50x34) and larger cassette at the rear but even this may need other changes.

Another option is to fit a much larger cassette (11x34) but will require a new MTB rear derailleur to match. Don't know if this will give you the low gearing you require.


Overall it may be cheaper to buy a different bike unless the Trek is really a "good" buy?