Agh! My ´compact´ turned out to be 53-39. Advice requested!

[cameramanjim]

I bought my first road bike back in October having being commuting on a single speed (Charge Plug) and using a Trek 7100 hybrid with the kids. I´d really caught the cycling bug and knew that a road bike beginner like me should go for a compact chainring.
So when the guy at Condor said the Acciaio Veloce I was admiring in the sale was a compact I nodded wisely and headed out for my test cycle round the (no hills) local streets. I was really impressed and bought the bike straight away.
I´d failed to get up the steepest hill in Richmond Park on the Plug so headed there on the Acciaio on my next day off. Well I made it up the hill ok but I had to admit it was more of a struggle that I was expecting, and after a couple of months of only gradual improvement I had a chat with my LBS (the excellent London Cycle Workshop in Battersea). They suggested a 13-29 cassette (from 12-25) and there was a definite, though smallish, improvement.

What neither of us had noticed though (I told them it was a compact), was that the chainring was a 53-39 and not the 50-34 we had believed it to be.
I´ve worked out that the gear range is 35.6" - 117" whereas if I get a compact it´ll be 31.1" - 101.9", a difference my LBS says will be noticeable going uphill. Is that right?
I trust their judgement but does anyone have any experience of making a change similar to this? Also, I love bombing down hills flat out but will the 101.4" gear make me spin too fast? 117 to 101.9 sounds like a big gap.

I´m also about to take advantage of the C2W scheme, which my company is introducing, to buy a carbon bike, and I´m going for a Ribble Sportive Bianco with Campag again, and want to make sure I get my gearing right. I was going to go for a compact but can´t decide between the cassette options. 12-27 or 12-29.
Oh, I´m 54, 6´3" and 12 1/2 stone (I´ve lost a stone since starting cycling 6 months ago), reasonably fit now I´ve recovered from an old knee injury caused by football. I´ve got my 3 lap Richmond Park time down from a sluggish 1 hr 28 mins to a slow 1 hr 16mins) and cycle just under 200 miles a month.
BTW I believe the guy at Condor made an honest mistake. I see him quite a lot and there´s no way he would have misled me deliberately.

 

[totallyfixed]

I'm surprised actually that it wasn't spotted, but never mind I think you have the best option. I'm not a fan of compacts, you get some horrible chain lines, in fact I have just changed one of the compacts to a normal double for one of our club members because she was fed up of constantly changing gear front and back. Your 39T front allied with 29 back gives you a gear of around 36" which will get you up most hills you are likely to come across.
The best option of all is a triple, I have got up a 25% climb on a 42T x 25 which is about 45" but with the triple it's a nice bit of insurance.
I'm not sure if you have given the bike a test ride yet but if you haven't take it up the steepest hill around and see how it feels.

 

[gaz]

Compact just refers to the fact that it just has two chain rings at the front. Not which sizes they are.
Someone please correct me if i am wrong.

 

[HLaB]

Compact just refers to the fact that it just has two chain rings at the front. Not which sizes they are.
Someone please correct me if i am wrong.

No, a Double refers to two chain rings and you get a Traditional Double (53/39 or 52/38) or Compact Doubles (50/34 or 50/36). :-)

 

[buddha]

Sounds similar to a situation I had.
Used to riding single speed bike. Bought road bike online (compact), but a (better spec) bike with 53/39 was delivered. After a mutual agreement I kept the delivered bike - it was much nicer

TBH, the fact that I had gears at all was a bonus, and to date I have never had to use the lowest gear - even on really steep stuff. 35" is quite a low gear IMO, especially if you are used to riding s/s.

 

[dellzeqq]

camerajim

it depends where you are riding. I'd have thought those ratios would be easily sufficient for southern England with very few exceptions - Friday Street comes to mind.

I've a friend whose lowest gear is 34/27 and she's not a particularly strong cyclist.

 

[asterix]

It wouldn't be low enough for N. Yorks but it'd be fine for the London area IMO.

..and there is adifference between hils depending at what stage in the ride you are at. After 100km of hills you may find the lower gear is more useful than you ever thought. After 200km of hills..

..and then there is rider weight to consider.

I too think they just made a mistake tho'

 

[vorsprung]

If the bike is fairly new...less than a month and if you have a bit of paper from the bike shop describing it as a compact 50-34, take it back and ask for a compact chainset 50-34 to be fitted at no charge. This is not unreasonable. Oh I just noticed you've had the bike a couple of months.

I guess you could get a 50-34 chainset, but you will have to pay for it.
If it is a "compact" but with a 53-39 it will just be the cost of the chainrings. If you can use a screwdriver/allen key you can do this yourself

Compact means the "bolt circle diameter" is 110mm, instead of the standard 130mm
34 tooth inner does not fit on a 130mm BCD spider

 

[GrumpyGregry]

How steep is the steepest part of the steepest hill in Richmond Park? and how long does it go on for?

 

[cameramanjim]

How steep is the steepest part of the steepest hill in Richmond Park? and how long does it go on for?

The steepest part is around 20% but only for 1/5th of a mile. I can get up that ok with my current gearing but I doubt if I´d be able to keep going if it was for maybe 1/3rd mile or more.
I´m going to try a compact front ring in a day or so, and hopefully that´ll give me the gearing I´d like in order to make the hills a little easier. I sometimes cycle down in Somerset where there sure are hills!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

A different perspective.....


In other places I'm sure you'd be told to MTFU. Which is a rude and insulting way of saying you should/could persevere with the gearing for a bit longer and then the hills you encounter will baulk at the prospect of you rather than vice-versa.

31" gears, and below, have their place, for me this at the end of a long days ride when 'home' is atop the last hill, or worse, across the last line of hills. Which is why my 'road' bike has a triple. With a bit of training/effort/practise your legs could soon make the lower gears redundant for day-to-day leisure cycling. With practise, a few more miles, and a bit of core & upper body strength work, I reckon a whippet like you could scalp that Richmond climb even with the Plug's stock gearing of around 70"

(I'm no spring chicken; 4 years younger than you, and inch shorter and one heck of a lot wider/heavier!)


Anyway come and ride the Cheam and Morden Hilly 50km out of Dorking in early March. Proper, puke inducing, hills on that one.

 

[cameramanjim]

A different perspective.....


In other places I'm sure you'd be told to MTFU. Which is a rude and insulting way of saying you should/could persevere with the gearing for a bit longer and then the hills you encounter will baulk at the prospect of you rather than vice-versa.

31" gears, and below, have their place, for me this at the end of a long days ride when 'home' is atop the last hill, or worse, across the last line of hills. Which is why my 'road' bike has a triple. With a bit of training/effort/practise your legs could soon make the lower gears redundant for day-to-day leisure cycling. With practise, a few more miles, and a bit of core & upper body strength work, I reckon a whippet like you could scalp that Richmond climb even with the Plug's stock gearing of around 70"

(I'm no spring chicken; 4 years younger than you, and inch shorter and one heck of a lot wider/heavier!)


Anyway come and ride the Cheam and Morden Hilly 50km out of Dorking in early March. Proper, puke inducing, hills on that one.

Good advice and I suppose my times & performances have improved a bit week by week.
Might take you up on the Cheam and Morden Hilly 50km. Is the headware compulsory though?!

 

[buggi]

i rode a double for the first few years and then decided to go to a compact when i did my first trip to Paris, as it was easier to change to that, than a triple. i've ridden a compact ever since. i like it. i don't see thep point in killing myself with a double!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

So when the guy at Condor said the Acciaio Veloce I was admiring in the sale was a compact I nodded wisely and headed out for my test cycle round the (no hills) local streets.

He was referring to the frame being a compact (i.e. sloped top tube) per chance?

Probably because it gets steeper and steeper until you get to the top, Broomfield Hill (aka Heart Attack Hill) clockwise at Richmond Park half kills me on 52/42Tx12-28T everytime. But it is fun in a masochistic sort of way

. One could always go anti-clockwise if one wants an easier ride.

 

[Garz]

Gears assist in a big way to an unfit rider, or a casual one. If you ride your bike a lot most of the battle shifts over to mental and how fatigued you are. Unless you live in a hilly area or plan to ride a lot of hills then a normal double will be fine for the majority of your rides.