Most common gearing on a road bike

[Emanresu]

I'm slowly heading towards getting a road bike after years of using an MTB. What's the most common set up I should be looking for if riding in a hilly area. Lots of rolling countryside near me with the occasional flat bit, so likely need lower gearing than top speed.

Prefer disc brakes but is that a disadvantage with road bikes?

 

[fossyant]

Go compact with 34 x 50 and an 11 x 34 cassette. You'll get up anything with it.

 

[13 rider]

Probably the most common gear set up is a 2 bye with 50/34 tooth up front with a cassette of 11 to 30/32 tooth at the back as with everything cycling wise is very personal and terrain dependent but this gearing gives you a good spread of gears for both climbing and faster riding .
Disc brakes are certainly no disadvantage on road bike and are my preferred system

 

[fossyant]

Yor can get 'sub-compacts' now which I think have a 30. My CX bike is a 34 x 46 at the front, and I've not ran out of gears when using road tyres and 46 x 11.

 

[Emanresu]

Seems to be some agreement here, so now to start looking.

 

[ianrauk]

There's no downsides or disadvantages to disc brakes.

 

[All uphill]

Depends where you ride your bike and how fit you are.

I've never wished for faster gears, but have often cried out for lower when I venture into Devon.

42/26 and 11/34 is my happy spot.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm slowly heading towards getting a road bike after years of using an MTB. What's the most common set up I should be looking for if riding in a hilly area. Lots of rolling countryside near me with the occasional flat bit, so likely need lower gearing than top speed.

Prefer disc brakes but is that a disadvantage with road bikes?

There is hilly and there is HILLY!!!

Hills that are a few hundred metres at 10% are not the same as those that are a few hundred metres at 20-25%, and those are not the same as a couple of km at 15%.

It obviously depends on how fit you are and how much you weigh. (You could be pretty fit and able to ride quickly on flat roads but carrying 20+ kg of surplus fat would make tough hills tougher still.)

I used to really struggle on tough hills when I was very overweight, even using a 28/30 bottom gear.

I would agree with @fossyant - if you are pretty slim and fit and don't tackle absolute monster climbs, a 1:1 bottom gear ratio should be low enough. If you have any doubts though, maybe go lower still?

As for disc brakes... They aren't strictly necessary. In dry conditions they don't offer any real advantages over callliper brakes, but... in the winter they definitely do! I have destroyed several front wheels due to repeated braking on fast, gritted descents in winter. Wet grit forms a really effective grinding paste between brake blocks and a wheel rim. I say go for discs. On new bikes they are almost standard now anyway.

 

[wonderloaf]

My last few road bikes have had 50-34 on the front and 11-32 or 11-34 on the back and so far no real complaints, can get up all the hills on my rides (and there's quite a few of them where I live). However recently taken delivery of a new gravel bike with 46-30 on the front and 11-34 on the back and it's made those hills just a little bit easier which my ageing body has thanked me for, the downside is that I spin out a bit earlier on descents and the flat but i'm not interested in speed anyway, so it's a win as far as I'm concerned!

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Prefer disc brakes but is that a disadvantage with road bikes?

No one's yet mentioned that disc brakes are the devil's work, so that's a bonus. Better breaking in the wet and you can buy a nice set of wheels without having to worry about sacrificing the rims.
As others have said, 50/34 and 11-34 is a good choice and should be readily available if you're buying a complete bike. 46/30 and 11-34 is also good. Though it might see you spinning out occasionally if you're trying to keep up with a bunch of roadies.

Edit - breaking in the wet? Where did that come from?

 

[DCLane]

Most are stating a 50/34 compact set-up here whereas almost all my bikes, apart from the cyclo-cross commuter on 50/34, run a larger 52/36 set-up (my TT bike's a 53/39) with an 11-28 cassette.

It'll depend on your terrain and ability to push/enjoy bigger gears.

 

[craigwend]

My last bike was 50/34 and 11/32, having come from a triple I wondered if I would have a low enough gear (not a fan, but will do hills) absolutely fine on the C2c / Way of the Roses even with the climb out of Settle ( .)
Most 1/2 decent new road bikes are disc anyway and I've become a convert

 

[Jameshow]

No one's yet mentioned that disc brakes are the devil's work, so that's a bonus. Better breaking in the wet and you can buy a nice set of wheels without having to worry about sacrificing the rims.
As others have said, 50/34 and 11-34 is a good choice and should be readily available if you're buying a complete bike. 46/30 and 11-34 is also good. Though it might see you spinning out occasionally if you're trying to keep up with a bunch of roadies.

But then your stuck with them for life whilst us oldies can say oh dear the runs are worn must buy myself a new set of wheels. And the bearing wear similarly too.

 

[wafter]

The 50/34 compact crankset seems to be standard on pretty much every road bike, despite the fact that many (myself included) think a sub-compact would be more suitable for most people. There are some offerings with fewer teeth but they're usually only fitted as standard on more "all road" focussed bikes.

If you find you still need lower gears once you have the bike the 46/30 GRX crankset is a good bet; probably better for most than a 50/34 on-road although IMO still a bit highly-geared for multi-terrain.

As for the cassette the norm will be anything between 11-30 and 11-36. If you want lower gearing obviously aim for this end; 11-34s are pretty common on a lot of bikes now. You'll have greater jumps between gears so it'll be harder to maintain cadence, but this probably isn't of huge concern if you're coming from an MTB.

 

[Marchrider]

I'm on 52/39 driving a 32/14 cassette which gives me 33 to 100 gear inches(GI) - I manage fine but I do think as I get older I will want a little lower gearing. One or two hills I often ride I need to get up on the pedals, even at 33 GI