# F95



## Johnpembo73 (Jul 28, 2011)

HI all,

I have been using the F95 for a few months now and have found it to be an excellent bike, but I do find it hard getting up steep long hills and I was thinking of changing the crankset to a 3 pc. So the question is can I change the standard 2 x 9 speed integrated Shifter/brake Lever, Sora clamp on Front derailleur, Tiagra Rear derailleur, FSA TEMPO compact, 3-pc, Aluminum, 50/34T crankset, Sunrace R90-series 9 Speed 11-25T cassette. I was thinking of just changing the 2 pc to a 3 pc similar to this 3-pc, Aluminum, 52/42/30T crankset used on the 100 or this Product Hopefully with out changing anything else on the bike. Is this possible and has anybody else changed the 2pc to a 3pc crankset?

Thanks for reading

John


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## bobones (Mar 29, 2011)

You can't just change the crank: you would also need a new left shifter, and front and rear derailleurs. You'll also need a new hollowtech II bottom bracket with that crank. All that is going to cost a fair bit and you'd have a good bit of work to do installing it. Not worth it IMO.

A better and cheaper option would be to change your cassette to an 11-28 or 12-28. 34 front and 28 rear will give you almost exactly the same low gear as 30-25. If you need lower still then you can fit a mountain bike rear derailleur and go with an 11-30 or 11-32 cassette.

Play around with www.gear-calculator.com and set what gears the various combinations get you.


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## Johnpembo73 (Jul 28, 2011)

Thank you for the reply. This is my my first real road bike and I am learning whats what on it. Also finding my limiting factor right now are hills cat4 and greater. I keep searching for less gear and there isnt any left  very frustrating.
Can you purchase individual cassette rings then and build your own?
Am I limited to the Sunrace brand for cassettes?

Thanks for helping

John


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## bobones (Mar 29, 2011)

I only just started about a year ago and then my lowest gear was 39-28. I struggled on most hills and ended up fitting a compact crank so my lowest gear was 34-28. This was an improvement and I managed to get up most hills OK. My new F85 has 34-25 as its lowest gear, but I'm quite a bit fitter than when I started so I'm sticking with the 25 tooth cassette because I want to get up the hills faster and try to push bigger gears. 

To answer your questions: you can buy individual cogs for some cassettes, but many of them are made in blocks and it's not possible for the biggest cogs. I would just buy a full cassette that matched your needs. No need to stick to Sunrace as any 9-speed Shimano compatible cassette will do including those by SRAM, which can be found online at reasonable prices

Your bike shop can fit this quite easily, but if you want to do it yourself you'll need a cassette removal tool, a chain whip and a large shifting spanner or socket wrench. You'll probably need to make some tweaks to the rear derailleur settings like adjusting the B screw. Chain length should be OK for up to 28, but you might need a longer (i.e new) chain for anything bigger.


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## Johnpembo73 (Jul 28, 2011)

Brilliant reply. Thank you bobones.:thumbsup:


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## Johnpembo73 (Jul 28, 2011)

I changed the rear cassette to a Shimano 11-28 code CS-HG61. Cost was £45 fitted. There was no need to change anything else. So now the teeth going up is
11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24 and 28.


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## scottzj (Oct 4, 2010)

I was in a similar boat last year with my felt and ended up changing it all out, not knowing I could change out just a cassette to help. However now with a full Ultegra and Dura Ace set up, I love it much more and parts seem to withstand more of my pounding. My F95 has since seen a full transformation as no factory parts left but the frame haha.


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## Johnpembo73 (Jul 28, 2011)

I have seen this picture before, I love your wheels. Id like them or similar but the price eeek.


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## orlin03 (Dec 11, 2007)

On my fiancee's ZW95, we also made many upgrades. She too wanted to make it easier to go up hills, but before we changed the gearing, we swapped out the crank and wheels, which dropped a substantial amount of weight. She no longer had trouble getting up the climbs! If she does run into trouble down the road, we'll also go the route of cassette changes rather than a triple.








The reason we swapped cranks was because the stock crank shifted horribly and kept letting the chain get stuck between the rings, usually at the bottom of a steep climb. We've put quite a bit into the bike, but the frame is light and responsive, so I feel it's worth it to upgrade. I built the wheels myself using Kinlin 30mm rims and hubs from bikehubstore.com; they were my first set and, even with the truing stand, they cost under $400 and come in at around 1475 grams. The seat, post, stem, and aerobars were all added for fitting purposes (but why not save some weight at the same time?)


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