Upgrade your old bike with a new drivetrain

Seeking new life for your old bike? Here’s one major upgrade…

Are you thinking about selling your old bike? Sure, you had plenty of good times on it and explored plenty of backcountry, but new bikes have better features for more enjoyable, more aggressive riding.

Problem is, new bikes are expensive $$$. Why not upgrade what you’ve got instead? Replacing your drivetrain can be one of the easiest ways to make a big change that will modernize your bike.

The problem with old drivetrains:

If your mountain bike or city cruiser has a front derailleur and more than one front gear, safe to say it’s outdated. These old bike drivetrains, called 2X (two-by) and 3x (three-by – for the number of gears in the front) were the standard from time immemorial up until about a decade ago, when crafty bike engineers figured out how to make rear derailleurs that could shift across massive gear ratios.

Old drivetrains are heavy and clunky, and if anything needs a tune on your bike, it’s probably the front derailleur. Even if they work, you can frequently experience slow shifting, hesitant shifting, chain skipping, and other annoyances.

The benefits of new drivetrains:

New-generation bikes feature drivetrains with a single gear in the front and no derailleur, which is called a 1x or one-by system. All the action is in the back. Instead of the old 7 or 8 speed rear cassettes, new drivetrains have 11, 12, and even 13 rear gears, with cassettes now including gears that range from 10 teeth to 52 teeth on the same cassette, for a whopping 520% difference, meaning that you can get almost the same range of pedaling power from a 1x12 as you can from a 2x8.

While it’s easy to geek out on cassette percentages, what you get from these improvements is clear: No dropped chains, a huge range of gears available from a single shift trigger, and the freedom to just ride freely and not constantly focus on balancing shifting between front and rear derailleurs.

Oh, and 1xs look cool, too.

1x drivetrains: How to choose a system that works for you?

There are many drivetrains manufacturers to choose from, though two brands – Sram and Shimano – make up the vast majority of all systems available today. Both Sram and Shimano are fairly similar, though each has their own fans based on shifting smoothness and trigger type. Other differences include:

Sram is easier to take the rear wheel off

Sram has a positive click

Shimano lets you shift two gears at once

Shimano is easier to change the derailleur cable

Upgrading any system will not be cheap since it is almost a certain that none of your old parts will work on your new drivetrain – you will need a new chain, front cog, cable, cassette, derailleur, and shifter. Prices can range considerably – 12-speed caseates, for example, can cost as little as $75 from a non-name Chinese knockoff to nearly $500 for the latest offering. It’s a similar story for chains, with 12-speed chains ranging from under $30 to nearly $100.

Next steps: Talk to your LBS

With so many choices available to the shopper today and so many decisions to make, it can be hard to know where to start. This is where your local bike shop can do wonders – most drivetrain systems cannot be piecemealed together, and DIY work is impossible without the right tools. Your local bike shop mechanics will be able to look at your bike, examine your budget, and generate a list of options that satisfy budget and riding style.

Pedal the Peaks is a lead contender for the best bike shop in Durango, with seasoned mechanics, the latest industry knowledge, and staff who will take the time to understand your riding style and what drivetrain components best fit it.

Schedule time today to bring your bike in and have it looked at.