It might be a bit late to answer your question, but I just came across it. We ended up not changing out the inner chainring, due to finding an easier and cheaper solution: simply replacing the rear cassette with one that had a better range of gears (11-32T, actually a mountain bike cassette). Since the FX 7.6 already has a long-cage rear derailleur, able to handle the longer chain necessary for that ultra-low gear, the cassette and the chain were the only things we had to replace. A Shimano Deore 11-32T cassette can be had for less than $35.

The result was two additional low gears, including one that Maria hardly even uses because it can pretty much go straight up a brick wall. She now has zero problems on steep hills, while I huff along beside her in my more “normal” road bike gear range. Shimano recently came out with a new 11-28T cassette in its Ultegra 6700 grouping, and I’m giving serious thought to buying one…

Yohanna, my reason for calling the FX a “beginner bike” is that its frame geometry, upright riding position and other features allow a newbie to start out with very little confidence, and not be intimidated by the bike itself. This in no way detracts from the ability of the bike to keep more advanced riders happy, and in fact that’s one of the reasons we chose it — as an investment that Maria will still enjoy riding five years from now, when she’s left her beginner days long behind her. I can tell you that it performed very well for her during Cycle Oregon, and hers wasn’t the only FX we saw on that ride!