At the ripe old age of 51 I returned to cycling last year and bought myself a Ribble winter training bike which overall I have been really pleased with.As my fitness / bike skills have grown I would now really like to upgrade my bike with a view of tackling a couple of sportives later this year. My current set up is - chainset 39 / 52 and the cassette 12 / 25 is does me fine until I hit the hills which around Huddersfield is quite esily done. So my question is best gearing set up to go for ? Any advice would be really appreciated.
Gearing - wisdom doesn't always come with age
- Thread starter JoeC
- Start date
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Randochap
Senior hunter
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
Wisdom of the Gears comes not so much with age as simple experience ... and you are moving a step closer.
Both your chainrings are too big. There is no need for a 52 ring and something closer to 30 (or 34 on a "compact double") would be appropriate.
On the back, I'd be looking for at least a 27T cog as the lowest (biggest).
Here's my hard-earned "wisdom" on the subject.
Both your chainrings are too big. There is no need for a 52 ring and something closer to 30 (or 34 on a "compact double") would be appropriate.
On the back, I'd be looking for at least a 27T cog as the lowest (biggest).
Here's my hard-earned "wisdom" on the subject.
There are many many opinions on the arguments for compact and triple. Personally, I found that I really disliked the triple and on my 2nd hand Ribble I changed the gears from Triple to a 39/52. I use this bike as a trainer / commuter and pretty much know the hills I will be handling.
On my good bike, that I bought for sportives, I have a compact 34-50 and switch between a 11-25 cassette and a 12-27 cassette depending on the hills I am likely to hit. I have got fitter in the last year and have not used the 12-27 for about a year now.
You will get people on her arguing that the triple is the ideal as you always have a ratio and can spin for most of the day in the middle ring. But, perhaps it was not a good gearset - Tiagra, I just never got used to it and always found myself in the wrong ratio when the pace went up and I had to increase speed to keep with the club.
Have a look around, if you can borrow a triple equipped bike and a compact geared bike, it might be useful to see for yourself.
On my good bike, that I bought for sportives, I have a compact 34-50 and switch between a 11-25 cassette and a 12-27 cassette depending on the hills I am likely to hit. I have got fitter in the last year and have not used the 12-27 for about a year now.
You will get people on her arguing that the triple is the ideal as you always have a ratio and can spin for most of the day in the middle ring. But, perhaps it was not a good gearset - Tiagra, I just never got used to it and always found myself in the wrong ratio when the pace went up and I had to increase speed to keep with the club.
Have a look around, if you can borrow a triple equipped bike and a compact geared bike, it might be useful to see for yourself.
Randochap
Senior hunter
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
gavintc said:
I am, of course, one of those "people on here" arguing in favour of triples beyond a certain ratio spread. And my argument is in fact based on the very issue gavintc blames on a triple -- a problem exacerbated with a so-called "compact" double.
Let's say you are in a paceline, cruising along at 25 mph. Up comes a sudden, steep rise in the road. You bail from your 50T ring to the 34.
There, now you've lost momentum; your legs are spinning like mad and your bike drops backwards -- either off the back, or into the wheel behind you, causing a crash.
Now, the alternative would be to throw a few gears on the back, with a multiple sweep, but this is less precise than a simple drop of one ring, which is just ten teeth on an evenly-spaced triple. Yes, there is the off chance you could overshift to the granny, but this is no more likely than any other gearing fumble by an inexperienced rider.
I ride regularly in such a paceline and never have any issues. I do notice some riders do struggle with the big space on their compacts. A friend I rode with yesterday is replacing the 50 on his 50/34 compact with a 48. At least that will shorten the gap from 16T to 14.
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
it's worth listening to both Rando and Jim, they both give good advice, the final say has to be on you though. There are various ways to approach it and a very interesting one was JohnyC:-
http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=29436&page=7
he's basically looking at single chain ring riding with a small ring overdrive for backup. For social, or fitness, riding I can't ever see anymore than that setup being needed. For a lot of riding you can get away with less, proliferation of Fixed and Single Speed is evidence of that. If you're in to racing, or feel a need for smallest possible incremental shifts, then the off the shelf stuff is already designed with that in mind. It does assume a level of ability and fitness though.
Use the Sheldon Brown gear calculator to see what range you have and then look at what you use. I'd then base my selection on that with any extra range being at the low end for those tired moments.
http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=29436&page=7
he's basically looking at single chain ring riding with a small ring overdrive for backup. For social, or fitness, riding I can't ever see anymore than that setup being needed. For a lot of riding you can get away with less, proliferation of Fixed and Single Speed is evidence of that. If you're in to racing, or feel a need for smallest possible incremental shifts, then the off the shelf stuff is already designed with that in mind. It does assume a level of ability and fitness though.
Use the Sheldon Brown gear calculator to see what range you have and then look at what you use. I'd then base my selection on that with any extra range being at the low end for those tired moments.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
I'm glad its not just me; my Sirrus has a Tiagra tripple and whilst I prefer the 52t option as to the 50t on my Bianchi (34/50) the tiagra does get caught out when the pace steps up (or that may be the ridergavintc said:
).
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
or 3, 4 or morebonj said:
(n+1)
(n+1)
Dave5N
Über Member
- Location
- Outside The Little Nibble
bonj said:4 is the ideal number of bikes. nobody needs more than that
Bloody hell. You sure?
My 9-year-old has 5...
As for the gearing, there's some dodgy advice here. 30-27 is ridiculous. You'd be quicker hopping.
Dave5N
Über Member
- Location
- Outside The Little Nibble
Road, Track, Cross, MTB, BMX
Dave5N
Über Member
- Location
- Outside The Little Nibble
He fancies a go at cycle speedway...
Randochap
Senior hunter
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
Dave5N said:
Not so.
I run a 30X29 and, while the combo is not used regularly, when it is, it's blessed.
I'm guessing it will see use on this weekend's fleche, when our team attempts to ride the 400km from Port Angeles, Washington, back up over the Canadian border to Harrison Hotsprings, in under 24 hours. There are some nasty hills along the way. Route here.
Though not everyone rides these kinds of distance/time events, I'm guessing the average sport cyclist will also find use for a gear of 27-30 inches when faced with some very steep climbing.
Of course, on all these points, I defer to Dave5N's prodigious quads.
