Changing gear ration on Cannondale c300?

To change the ratios you have to change lots of stuff. Let me think...

First, I'm sure you know that the C300 is a comfort bike and as such it is intended for slow, easy riding. The low gears were entirely intentional and well suited for it's intended use. From all the information I can find it was only made 1 year (2000) and had a 24 speed drivetrain (3 in the front, 8 in the back).

Unfortunately, because of it's position in their entry level series it will cost a lot to do what you want to do.

The fastest way to give yourself higher gearing is to change the chain rings (in the front). The problem is that the rings are riveted to the crank arm so the entire crank has to be swapped out. You should have a 22/32/42 setup and going with one with a 48 top gear you would increase your highest gear by about 12%. You will also have to change your front derailleur AND rear derailleur because they can't handle the larger capacity. Chain will have to be replaced with a longer one as well.

According to the original specs the bike also has a 11-30 cogset with "519" series rims. This is about as far as you can go towards high gears but you can buy a cassette with a closer ratio- maybe 11-25 but you would lose ALL your low end without the chance for a "bail out" gear on the occasional climb.

If you have the specialty tools to do the swap of course you can do it youself. Just pay attention to correct fits and make good use of the technical manuals and proper torques... you DO use a torque wrench, don't you?

I think that your higher gear is 42/11 = 3.8.

You can't go with anything smaller than 11 so you will have to increase your chainring. Instead of 22-32-42 you could go with 28-38-48, That will make your higher ratio 48/11 = 4.3.

The upgrade will cost about $50.

what?

a. you can;t possibly be outrunning the top gears. (if so you need a road bike anyway)

b. if you replace the lowest gears, what if you need them?

c. the ones you would replace them with, are ALREADY THERE!

d. it;s not that hard, start with a different cassette - use a road bike one - though that would not change your top ratio, it can remove the pesky lower gears you seem to see no need for - you will also need to change chain length, or maybe not

Can I do this myself?

you do need tools

chain breaker

chain whip

cassette remover

then you can put them back when you find out it doesn;t do anything really

and or you can change the chain rings

harder

probably need to change f derailleur and chain length again too

wle