Show us your.......newbie progress!

[Rustybucket]

they are forecasting dense fog for here (Cheshire) in the morning and with what was coming off/rising up from the fields as I was feeding the calf this evening as it was going dark, I can well believe it.
It will make for an interesting ride across to my parents' in the morning... but the afternoon should be beautiful apparently, once the fog burns off!

Just checked on BBC and fog here too, best go and charge my lights!

 

[RWright]

so guys help me making decision, for a newbie a little bit sprinter in making which would be best to go with? standard T or compact one?

Standard=faster sprinting but harder uphills
Compact=slower sprint but easier uphills

I need a new front derailleur on one of my bikes and am looking for an Ultegra 6700 derailleur but I keep going back to that 36/52 11/28 11speed 105 groupset at Merlin. Not sure why but it comes up quite a bit cheaper in USD than GBP(relative to conversion). I think the 36/52 with the 11 speed might be what I am looking for with the amount of hills I have around here. Standard sometimes has me wishing I had a little more on the low end and 34/50 sometimes has me shifting up a gear in the rear when I go to the small ring on the front. Trying the 36/52 with the extra cog is very tempting. All that said, I am also wanting to ride a Di2 equipped bike and if I like the way they shift, see if there are any REALLY hot deals on those groupsets during black Friday. For now one of my road bikes is collecting dust because it doesn't have a front derailleur.

Just thought I would mention all that to give you something else to consider.

 

[RWright]

I was late getting started yesterday so I went for a walk/jog instead of a ride, just to mix things up a little. There is a reason you rarely see runners that look happy. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting but I was just doing some easy beginners workout plan for runners.
The bikes are much more fun.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

so guys help me making decision, for a newbie a little bit sprinter in making which would be best to go with? standard T or compact one?

Standard=faster sprinting but harder uphills
Compact=slower sprint but easier uphills

@Torvi I think you just answered your own question about triples there, I think your missing the point, what @Big_Dave and I are saying is that with a 10sp triple you have a normal double i.e. 39/52 (or various combinations I have a 38/50) and also an inner ring to help with the hills, and don't view solely as a last resort, I went up a steady climb this evening on the 26th inner ring but using the middle of the cassette opposed to the 38th middle and the 21/24/27 area as I have a better choice of gear ratios.
To get a low gear on a compact you need a 34x30 to give 29.8" this on a Tiagra 12-30 cassette (12/13/14/15/17/19/21/24/27/30) your 50x12, the same as I have is 109.6" so a range of 29.8-109.6" which will get you up most things, you may be able to fit 34/52 chainrings to get 114" but that is a bloody big jump if it works, I have never come across anyone doing as yet.
The next thing is the gaps on the cassette after the 15th start to get wider and sometimes when your are battling that head wind you will never find the right gear, now take the triple I have a 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27 on a 26/38/50 chainset a gear range of 25.3-109.6", I personally hate that gap from 17 to 19, but I almost always ride on the middle ring a range from 37-83.3" I have to change to the 50th outer ring when the grade gets to say -1% and steeper or about 23-24mph, my range on the middle and outer is 37-109.6" your compact double going of the previous numbers i.e. 34/50 and a 12-30 cassette you would be on the 34x24 combination 37.3" leaving you two gears with quite big gaps, now take my low inner ring 26x19=36" plus three more gears.
More importantly I can with a 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 get the same gear range as a compact 34/50 with a 12-30 cassette 29.7-109.6" in fact its still very slightly lower, but look how close the gears are, plus because the cassette cogs are smaller the weight might actually be less.

Two charts for you
Your typical compact

My current set up

and what I am think of.

I very rarely use the 38x27 combination through choice to see how I get on with the 38x24 being my lowest gear on the 38 ring, if I think its viable for my fitness levels and where I ride I might well go with 12-23 cassette.

Next thing spinning, I spin usually between 90-100rpm and to keep this in that range the choice of close gears but the wide range a triple gives out weighs the compact double.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@RWright Yea the 36/52 on a 11sp is becoming a really viable option, but again from 15, 16th you start getting those gaps, i like that 12-25 though.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I did this little climb http://www.strava.com/activities/206125688/segments/4858005299 100ft in 1.5 miles 67ft/mile in 7m10s at 90rpm and avg sp of 13mph so that means the average gear was 48.5" so that would be a 34x19, I went up on the 26 inner ring just to try it out, so that would have made it 26x14

Then this one don't let the graph fool you 79ft in 0.5 miles or 158ft/mile avg 10mp @ 82rpm so 41" you 34x21 gear mine 38x24 and I was on the middle ring, excluding stopped time I was only 12s behind my best if i had gone to the 38x27 I could have spun up there at 90rpm.

So you see the triple has the best options, when thought out correctly.

 

[Torvi]

unlucky i have no means to check my spinning rate and to be honest i just started cycling and cant be bothered doing diagrams and stuff, it just takes all the joy of cycling begin turn in math tests and pursuing about numbers rather than feeling.

anyway my typical 10x2 would look like this:

I'll just refuse to have a third cog, yes im very stubborn i know and rather than having 3 cogs i would change 39 to 34 size but i dont know if it wont make my chain drop on switch.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

The maths is easy

Seriously I would get away with that on most things I do, what I have I have built through experience.
I am a bit of a stats freak, currently working on the weather data in my database to include wind chill, then maybe head & tail wind data.
As for riding, well I do enough of that when well, 9,000 miles last year (well just short of) looking at 6,000 this, and 3,000 in my first 6 months, I am not fast avg for the year including commutes is 15.4mph.

 

[Torvi]

no idea what speed i do since the time i crashed badly my pc went into pieces and have no intention having it back on bike again, when i had it i felt no joy from riding, ive been following and trying to put more max/average mph and limiting my mileage hard by it, im more comfy riding without it.
most of my routes so far: not included communing and repeating same loops.
http://ridewithgps.com/users/319439/routes

during these first three months since im cycling i did over all about 300 miles, nothing too good compared to yours 1,500 in 3 months but as i said im just starting to spin the wheel

 

[Big_Dave]

@Torvi you would need to check the over lock nut (OLN) size of your axle, 7speed freewheels used to use a OLN of 126mm, I'm not sure if they still do so you will have to check that first before you buy anything. You will need OLN of 130mm to go 8/9/10/11 speed cassette, if you have a 130mm that's great, but as you have a freewheel not a cassette then you will need a new hub at least (or new wheels), My TDF had an 8 speed cassette so the 10 speed cassette slotted straight on.

 

[Torvi]

ive already put a new wheel that can hold 9/10/11 into consideration with whole groupset for 10sp it will be 430, for 11sp 105s it will be 450

 

[Big_Dave]

ive already put a new wheel that can hold 9/10/11 into consideration with whole groupset for 10sp it will be 430, for 11sp 105s it will be 450

if your staying on a double then go 11 speed

Edit, Even with a new wheel you will need to check the frame can accept the new wheel, if your frame is designed for 126mm OLN then the 9/10/11 speed wheel will NOT fit, your current wheel could well be 130mm OLN and everything will be ok and the new wheel will fit straight in, Just check it first before spend that amount of money

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Torvi I have a lot of time, and cycling helps in other ways than just fitness.
You will find out over time what suits you, just don't be blinded that compacts are the way for lower gearing, I have nothing against any sort of layout if it works for the person riding that bike, its just on the whole a marketing hype, I love true doubles, but a little long in the tooth these days.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

so guys help me making decision, for a newbie a little bit sprinter in making which would be best to go with? standard T or compact one?

Standard=faster sprinting but harder uphills
Compact=slower sprint but easier uphills

If you can spin out a compact big ring in a sprint you would be one hell of a bike rider so I just don't see how it would lead to a slower sprint for you.

Not being funny but I am not making sense of your posts - you are a newbie with not many miles on the clock and are talking about speed as the be all and end all.

First year or two should be about developing cycling skills and fitness. Get a triple, get a compact, get a whatever - just go and ride and see how you get on.

As a beginner I would say that 34 x 28/30/32 or whatever will come in very handy even on terrain with relatively small hills.

Apologies if I have got the gist of your posts all wrong.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Well I didn't see that one coming. First ice here this morning! Off to feed a calf, 2 ducks and a dog + dog walk and then I can get out on the bike... wishing I had switched back to the durano pluses now, but guess the ice will disappear quickly and most likely by the time I have finished with the calf...