Off the peg audax bike with triple

[Norm]

Not too fussed over lack of guard mounts as the £25 Crud things would probably be more in keeping anyway.

I just tried fitting a pair of Crud's race thingies to mine this afternoon. 2 hours in and things are not looking good at the moment. Back to the LBS tomorrow.

I spent some more time trying to get the Cruds set up this morning, without success, so back to my LBS who could not have been more helpful.

He spent about 5 minutes playing then stood up with his verdict. "Nope," he said, "they won't work. I'm not happy with the clearance on the tyres, they don't sit right with those chainstays, we could make them work but it'll be a bodge. Get them off, I'll credit you for those and I'll order you in a pair which will work."

To be honest, they were rubbing but it wasn't that bad, no more drag than getting a leaf stuck in your brakes. I think they'd have been fine if I had gone down to 23 tyres but I like the 25s and I'd be more inclined to go bigger rather than smaller.

The chap did the right thing, though, kudos to Stows in Windsor.

 

[Greenbank]

On a side note, the reason that triples are fading out is with 10sp cassettes the extra shifting complexity just isn't worth the hassle for most riders. Consider that a 12-28 cassette matted to a 30/42/52 trip' gives you 14 progressive gears ranging from 27.5" to 116" with a 32-11 10sp cassette & a compact chainset you get 26" to 121" with 14 or 15 gears (depending on your POV for a 1" gear difference).

This particular Triple vs Compact isn't about gear ranges. You can pick gears/sprockets to give similar ranges but it's about the practicality of riding with each setup.

Simply put, when using a triple on an Audax I'll use the middle chanring on the flat, big chainring on descents and small chainring on long or steep climbs.

On a compact chainset on a fast training ride I'll be pushing hard and only using the small chainring for particularly steep climbs (15%+ in the Surrey Hills). Using a compact on an Audax I found I was having to change between big and small chainrings (and therefore change 3 or 4 sprockets each time I did this) far too often, or risk putting extra strain on the transmission with poor chainlines (big chanring, big sprocket). For me (as a not particularly strong or fast rider) this was too much of a pain in the arse.

How it feels on a quick spin round the park will be completely different to how you feel with close to 200km in your legs when you encounter an undulating road that makes you want a chainring inbetween the 50 and 34 ones you have.

My way of solving it was to just ride all my Audaxes on fixed (well, except the most ridiculous of hilly events where I'll use a triple, or the hilly short ones where i'll use the Carbon bike with a Compact).

 

[GrasB]

Greenbank, I know, I wasn't advocating the use of a compact in this situation I was explaining the view that it seems bike manufactures are taking & the reason you see less triple options these days. I think triples are very useful my self & have a triple setup on my geared road bike for load carrying reasons.

 

[Jonathan M]

The last poster raises an interesting point also - why do Taiwanese frames always seem to be 1cm longer than they should be?

If you mean the Ribble frames, the aluminium ones are (or were) manufactured in Italy, painted in Belgium, or so the shop staff told me.

 

[gbs]

On a side note, the reason that triples are fading out is with 10sp cassettes the extra shifting complexity just isn't worth the hassle for most riders. Consider that a 12-28 cassette matted to a 30/42/52 trip' gives you 14 progressive gears ranging from 27.5" to 116" with a 32-11 10sp cassette & a compact chainset you get 26" to 121" with 14 or 15 gears (depending on your POV for a 1" gear difference).

A 32t cog is larger than anything I have seen or thought available for a road bike but then I am somewhat wedded to Campagnolo. Comment re manufacturer please.

 

[jimboalee]

This particular Triple vs Compact isn't about gear ranges. You can pick gears/sprockets to give similar ranges but it's about the practicality of riding with each setup.

Simply put, when using a triple on an Audax I'll use the middle chanring on the flat, big chainring on descents and small chainring on long or steep climbs.

On a compact chainset on a fast training ride I'll be pushing hard and only using the small chainring for particularly steep climbs (15%+ in the Surrey Hills). Using a compact on an Audax I found I was having to change between big and small chainrings (and therefore change 3 or 4 sprockets each time I did this) far too often, or risk putting extra strain on the transmission with poor chainlines (big chanring, big sprocket). For me (as a not particularly strong or fast rider) this was too much of a pain in the arse.

How it feels on a quick spin round the park will be completely different to how you feel with close to 200km in your legs when you encounter an undulating road that makes you want a chainring inbetween the 50 and 34 ones you have.

My way of solving it was to just ride all my Audaxes on fixed (well, except the most ridiculous of hilly events where I'll use a triple, or the hilly short ones where i'll use the Carbon bike with a Compact).

Very good post.

I spec'ed my Audax bike to have a triple. 30/42/52.

Like Greenbank, I use the middle on the flat ( up to 8% grad ) and the small ring on the steep ones. I freewheel downhill.

It has been known for me to complete a 200 without the chain seeing the big ring. Sometimes I consider removing it, but hey, it's there and it's too much bother to take it off.

I could consider the chainset to be a 30/42 'Compact'.

 

[GrasB]

A 32t cog is larger than anything I have seen or thought available for a road bike but then I am somewhat wedded to Campagnolo. Comment re manufacturer please.

I must apologies I was thinking about the SRAM PG950 9sp cassette not the PG1070 10sp as I thought.

 

[GrahamG]

On a side note, the reason that triples are fading out is with 10sp cassettes the extra shifting complexity just isn't worth the hassle for most riders. Consider that a 12-28 cassette matted to a 30/42/52 trip' gives you 14 progressive gears ranging from 27.5" to 116" with a 32-11 10sp cassette & a compact chainset you get 26" to 121" with 14 or 15 gears (depending on your POV for a 1" gear difference).

I suspect it's not worth the hassle for manufacturers (i.e. cheaper OEM kit for compacts) - most people just accept what the Evans salesman tells you and go home happy but often ignorant of advantages/disadvantages of different set ups. They aren't fading out at all, they're just lower profile because compacts are the flavour of the month.

I'm with Greenback et al as it's the frustration of not having decent cruising gears for undulating lanes without constantly flitting between chainrings.

 

[MacB]

I could consider the chainset to be a 30/42 'Compact'.

that's it in a nutshell really, I'm exactly the same and have considered dropping the 52 as well. But I freely admit to using all 9 cogs from the middle ring, for some this seems to be a big no-no.

 

[SilverSurfer]

I could consider the chainset to be a 30/42 'Compact'.

Quite. With an 11T sprocket you would be up to 100" or so, but with a 32" bottom gear.

This would make perfect sense for a lot of cyclists, particularly leisure cyclists.

Hmm. I feel an experiment coming on

 

[GrasB]

Also going for junior cassettes, 14-25 with a 34/50 gives some interesting results gear wise (36"-94"), though the lowest gear being 36" isn't really low enough imo.

 

[Jonathan M]

I'm prepared to take some flak for posting this, but IMHO compacts have limited benefits over a triple (less weight, for example), but are popular because they imitate the racing double set up of the pro peloton for those who would find a 53/39 too hard for them.

 

[HJ]

Aye, I get the feeling that fashion is a large part of the "popularity" of the compact double, especially among club riders ...

 

[MacB]

It's strange, 39/53 is a 14t difference, 34/50 a 16t, yet a more useful setup, as indicated by Silversurfer, could be 30/42 which is a 12t gap. Just on the numbers then 30/42 is a double, 39/53 semi compact and 34/50 compact As a leisure, and commuting, cyclist I can vouch for how rarely gears above 100 inches come into play.

You could even argue that an, actually useful, compact should be in the vicinity of 26/42, using a 9 speed 11-32 cassette. Gives you 21-62 inches in the small ring and 35-100 inches in the big ring. For a stronger rider the same setup with an 11-21 cassette gives a lot of close packed options, 32-62 inches inner and 52 to 100 inches outer. Either option allows you to spend most of your time in one chainring which, to me, seems to be the main point.

 

[GrasB]

It's a case of matching your wheels, cassettes & chainrings. 14-25 with a 34/50 compact on the 26x1.3" tyres MTB is perfect for the way I ride that bike when geared. I can see the best part of 40mph down hill on the steep stuff but I can also turn around & climb them on a 33" gear with ease. The 13-16 cassette on my marin with a 30/39/50 chainring also gives me a nice cruising gear & I'll be on the 50:17 +/- 1 tooth most of the time. That said I can go down to 30" when climbing with load.