Righto. Just bought me a new commuter. To cut a long story short it's undergeared. I'll be spending most of my time in top gear – 42/12 – as it's a 26in wheeled bike with slicks

The easiest way to gear it up is a cheap new chainset (I'm talking a £25 FSA sq taper here. Nothing expensive) but, looking at the pic below, you you reckon there's enough room to move the mech up without hitting that bottle cage boss? I tried offering up a 44t ring, and that would need the mech moving up about 2mm…..

Touch and go, I reckon. Whaddya think?

I'd go for it , lower end components seem to cope with gear extremes better than the pricey stuff. I changed my old rigid Raleigh's 44t ring to a 48t without any problems.

Ugly , yes , practical , yes.

Looks like it'll be ok. Take the bolt out if it gets in the way? The mech clamp should 'mould' to shape around the slightly raised boss thread.

Wouldn't swaping the 12T sprocket for an 11T be easier/cheaper

Ditto what SV says, i ran a front mech for years mounted on top of the bottle boss, you could get a bottom swing mech or run it with a single ring up front otherwise.

get a low clamp front mech off of flea bay for a minimal amount of beer tokens?

or get a big ass front ring and run it with a single ring oop front?

you could get a bottom swing mech or run it with a single ring up front otherwise.

True, but if I spend too much it sort of misses the point of a cheap commuter, if you see what I mean. 🙂

i ran a front mech for years mounted on top of the bottle boss

Cool. Looks like it might be worth a shot then. 🙂

The bike is a new 2009 model Carerra Subway 1, by the way. £300, currently on sale at £220 but if you reserve on line you get another 10% off then instore they give you a £20 accessories voucher! 🙂