I have a road bike with a 34/50 compact crankset running a 26/13 cassette. I find the 50/26 combination (Large front, large at the rear) a useful gear but should I be using it? I know in the triple MTB world that you would not run Largest/Largest or Smallest/Smallest.

Thanks

ND

Best to drop down into the little ring and move up the cassette imo

not a massive problem on a double.

ideally not the best as it potentially increases wear rate, but i constantly find myself in big big and have had no issues to date. (touch wood)

one of the drawbacks of compact really. that 34 inner ring is pretty useless unless going up a wall!

I would agree with you on the 34, I drop down and lose so much speed it is unbelievable. I don’t think I have ever used 34/26 or 34/23 To be honest I spend most of my rides in the big ring, hence the use of 50/26.

one of the drawbacks of compact really. that 34 inner ring is pretty useless unless going up a wall!

Living in the yorkshire moors I find the opposite, I spend half the ride in 34-27, then as soon as I’m over the top 50-12 spins out!

Big-big isn’t so bad on a road bike as there’s less grit wearing things away and the chainlines usualy much better than an MTB tripple. But best to drop to the inner ring that way you’ve got lower gears when you need them, otherwise if you run out of puff in 50-26 you have to shift 4 or 5 gears by which point you may have stalled, or at least have to drop another few to get some speed back up.

To test a little Sheldon Brown Mathmatics then.. The figures below were gained when using his gear calc. Can I presume to get the same results if using say 50/26 or 34/18 or 34/17 at the same cadence?

Sorry geeky now!