BestChainset

[photoman125]

Just rebuilding my Carlton Corsair for my 310 mile ride. At present it has a stronglight 52/42 chainring on. Now I have some big hills to climb and wondered if the chainset is fine as is or should I consider adding another ring.
I was planning on taking it back to original but having it ride for a 3 day ride is more important

 

[Tel]

What stronglight chainset is it? a Stronglight 100 can be a triple, or perhaps a TA would be fitting....

 

[photoman125]

I do have another stronglight chainring which I could add. By sheer chance I was given some new ones with the same spacing as the set on the Corsair

 

[photoman125]

The other choice is sticking with a double but using a smaller ring

 

[photoman125]

I have a spare 38t but without changing the whole chain set that's the smallest I have. As it will be used for touring and hill climbing would it be better going to 42/38

 

[Tel]

If you think 38t is low enough and a 42t is high enough then yeah why not.

I think traditionally the touring standard was 36, 48 for a double. Obviously you can fit whatever rings you think are suitable.

The stronglight 80/ 100 take anything from a 28 to a 52+ and can be used as a double or triple.

 

[photoman125]

Thanks everyone, the ride isn't until September so I'm going to try a few local hills and see which chainring I feel happier with, luckily I have a killer hill round the corner from my house
The next decision is to use pedal cages or not. I don't want to over modernise the bike and doing bike recycling I have boxes full of period parts