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I have a city bicycle with an internally geared hub. The problem with it is that all the 3 gears are too small, and I have a few hills around.

Is it possible to tune the gears so that they larger?

nsn
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1 Answers1

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This is done by changing the primary gear ratio with your chainring and, if possible, the cog on the hub.

If you make a large change or if the your existing chain is sufficiently worn, you'll likely need to get a new chain as well.

As mentioned in the comments, you need to be careful about making the gearing too small (easy to pedal), as you might end up exceeding the max torque for your hub. It sounds like, however, that you'd like the gear to be larger, not smaller.

Paul H
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    There's also max torque issues with rear hubs. If you go too low, you can exceed the torque the IGH is designed for. Check the docs. – freiheit Feb 10 '15 at 00:25
  • excellent comment @freiheit. I've added that info to the answer. – Paul H Feb 10 '15 at 00:49
  • Hi Paul. Thanks. How can I change the primariy gear ratio? – nsn Feb 10 '15 at 09:43
  • @nsn like the answer says: by swapping the chainring and cog for differently sized new parts (i.e., with different numbers of teeth). see this question about gear ratios: http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/13191/comparing-gear-ratios-on-different-bike-types – Paul H Feb 10 '15 at 15:08
  • @PaulH One last question. That would imply shortening the chain a bit not? – nsn Feb 12 '15 at 11:46
  • If the total number of teeth decreases enough to add more slack than you can take up in your horizontal dropouts, then yes. @nsn – Paul H Feb 12 '15 at 15:28