What's best and why?

Triple only has any place on a mountain bike, and real roadies will call you a gay.

I have one of each. Triple on the tourer so I can make it up hilly stuff while fully laden. Compact on the "race" bike tho so the real roadies won't call me a gay.

Depends how low a bottom gear you need, and whether you can get that on a compact without a stupidly wide range cassette. The other issue being that some people don't like the big jump between rings on a compact, in which case a triple may work better, using big and middle for ordinary riding, saving granny for when you need it. If the gear range on a compact does work though (and you don't mind the jump) that's preferable if only to avoid the hassles of shifting a triple.

Triple only has any place on a mountain bike, and real roadies will call you a gay.

The only people who'll call you gay for using a triple on road are so narrow minded it's best to ignore them. Like druidh I have one of each, though my triple is mainly a hack winter bike (got fed up with struggling with too high a bottom gear when pulling a trailer on the non flat roads round here).

I have a triple as i don't like the jump with a compact and as i also pull a trailer with my road bike i like having the lower gears. Mine is 52-40-30 with a 12-26 cassette.

I get annoyed with the ring sizes on a compact, I generally find myself at the top of the block in the big ring, or the bottom of the block on the inner ring when I'm commuting in.

Never ridden a triple, but have no qualms with a standard double on my normal road bike, I think a 39t is much more usable than a 34t, I'd be inclined to go triple over compact in a lot of ways. Or maybe 50/36.

Edit: double post.

Depends where you live or intend to ride. And how fit you are I guess.

I got a double (first road bike) and was fine on the local loop with steep but short hills, even over-took some mtb'rs going up.

Soon as I went up on the (Yorkshire) moors…

Double means short cage derailler short chain double front shifter? So I swopped the 11-25t for an 11-32 SLX cassette, XT rear mech & new chain (CRC flood sale). Been up 25% no probs since. Also seem to use the inner ring a lot less generally.

Think it would have been cheaper to have bought a triple.

Never been anywhere in Britain where you can't get by on a double. And I've ridden up all the big passes in the lakes and some of the crazy 17-20% hills in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

* swoons *

You get by maybe, but you might enjoy it a bit more with a lower gear. Also bear in mind that when you're describing 17-20% as stupid steep, one of our local sportives has a couple of 25% climbs (they're not short either).

Happen, but the OP was asking what's best and as pointed out, it all depends on what you ride. If you've got a mixture of very steep climbs and fast flat riding to do, double in my experience will do the job fine. Granny on a road bike just means you spin away like crazy no matter how steep the climb is and is just a waste of time.

As others have said it depends where and what you ride.never got on with the 53/39 set up on my road bike and switched to a compact and it feels right and it's got me up some major Scottish climbs. Compact for me every time

Granny on a road bike just means you spin away like crazy no matter how steep the climb is and is just a waste of time.

Codswallop. You won't be spinning like crazy up a 25% climb with a 30/27. Not even up a 10% climb for most normal people.

Unless you are over 70 or a woman then there is nowhere in britain where a triple is justified. Get a compact- it'll make you work for the really, really steep things but paired with a 25T cassette you'll get up it all very comfortably.

Personally I like a proper double for where I live, with a 25T cassette, and it's great.

You won't be spinning like crazy up a 25% climb with a 30/27

Yeah, you might not.

Dunno about you Samuri, but I meet 25% climbs a LOT on my rides… All the time infact.

I do struggle to see where a triple granny ring would be needed on a road bike. – seldom get out the big ring never mind the inner 34 which I use for hard climbs such as the wall of talla at 20% for 1 mile

I never knew there were so many pro riders on here.

Though to be fair, I did know there were a lot of macho c*cks.

Don't you live in the alps, where a triple is somewhat justified?

I'm perfectly happy to use the granny ring on my MTB, I'm very much a spinner, but on the road I'm still baffled as to where you'd need gearing lower than that on a compact, and a lot of my riding is in the highlands and the peak district.

I like waiting at the bottom of the 20% climbs round ours for people to start riding/driving up them and then chase them down. I'll point at my crankset as I pass and mouth the words 'big ring' at them.

LOL @ aracer – what the **** is macho about riding a bike? I'm speaking from personal experience and I can't see where I would benefit from a triple chianset on any uk ride I've done

And I think most pros are still into the 53/39 thing

I bet he's gone to bed already. That's why he finds it difficult using a double.

aracer – Member

I never knew there were so many pro riders on here.

Though to be fair, I did know there were a lot of macho c*cks.

Yeah. If only these folk didn't have full times jobs as well, GB could be a force in world cycling.

Oh wait….

Sad how these sort of threads deteriorate into willy waving rather than being helpful to the OP – bearing in mind he might just not be quite as fit or fast as you lot claim to be. Also bearing in mind that it's not a case of what you can struggle to turn the pedals over in – it does actually help to be able to turn the pedals over a bit faster. Interesting to note that probably the quickest person on this thread would prefer triple over compact.

As I said, you might cope, but even on a 15% grade, I'd be turning the pedals at less than 60rpm with 34/27, at which point a lower gear is beneficial. I'd be rather surprised if the average punter on here asking about what to put on a road bike (or even most of the macho men) is actually faster than me up hills – a good chance a lot of them would be down below 60rpm even on a 10% climb in 34/27.

what the **** is macho about riding a bike?

Struggling up a hill in too big a gear because you think you'll look gay with a triple.

Don't you live in the alps

A couple of miles away actually 😉

Sorry to disappoint aracer but wouldn't even be out the big ring on a 15% climb. You're probably not as good as you think

Looking gay on a bike has never concerned me, and I fail to understand why riding a triple chainset would make me appear 'gay'.

I can get up everything round these parts on a compact double James although a couple of lumps around Chapel, Goyt Valley and the like require a deep breath and a steely stare before I go up. Winnats has me gurning like a gurning champ and on a fair to bad day I've been known to stop and…ahem, admire the scenery for a minute or two.
If I was going to be pulling the trailer a lot for shopping or heading off to the alps a couple of times per year, I'd get a triple without a second thought.

Personally I dont think you really need a triple – I used to ride a triple on a steel bike but then I switched to a compact double on a Ti bike & would never bother with a triple again..& I ride in California pretty regularly where the hills are **** steep & pretty sustained – its easy to climb 1500ft in 5 miles.

But its upto the OP what he wants to do – spin & maybe save yer knees a little or be a bit of an ape & turn a bigger ring..Whatever you do hv fun

Right well as you say it comes down to the OP asking what's best and why. It's a vague question and it's impossible to answer on his behalf but it seems the majority of people responding, seem to think that there's nothing in Britain that needs a triple. This would suggest to me that a double is better because it feels right for the job and is perfectly possible.

You'll note that the OP is asking about a compact double, not a road double, which is going to be a lot easier.

All the 'macho' men as you call them all put in their personal experiences first, me included. After that you got a bit arsey because either people didn't agree with you or because you find a double a bit intimidating and that's when the piss taking/machosim started.

If James is unsure, I'd suggest expanding on the original question so we can help more as we did at the start.

You're probably not as good as you think

Well either that or you're a pro, or you're struggling along pushing far too high a gear.

All the 'macho' men as you call them all put in their personal experiences first, me included. After that you got a bit arsey because either people didn't agree with you or because you find a double a bit intimidating

Try re-reading my first post and having a guess what I actually have on my "road bike". The difference being that I'm using empathy (helped by the fact that when struggling for fitness near the end of last year I did end up doing what I've seen plenty of others doing and walking up a climb – less fit now, but avoiding those climbs by not riding sportives). If I'm getting at all arsey it's because it seems a lot of people on here pedal far too slowly in far too high gears, and then base advice for others on that. There really are an awful lot more people than you seem to think who would benefit from the lower bottom gear on a triple, and at least I allow for that in my advice.

I run both.

53/39 with a 11-25 cassette which I might change for 11-27 when it needs changing or just lose more weight and ride more.

I also have a tripple for when I do recovery rides.

I have tons and tons of steep hills which is tough to walk up let alone ride. I have spun my rear wheel on the double in winter uphill.

I can outsprint alot of riders on the straight and keep it going but soon as I get a hill I struggle like hell.

Maybe more hill work but looking forward to a 27 on the back.

Injured my leg (non cycling) so a tripple is great for recovering on-hey we're not all Lance.

Laugh at my tripple-I couldn't care!

Morning all – sounds like a healthy debate overnight!

The Focus Cayo I'm looking at has these spec options:

Compact double – 50/34 with 12-27 cassette
Triple – 50/39/30 with 12-27 cassette

Now I am by no means Lance Armstrong and I do prefer to spin a lower gear off-road but I was thinking I might spend more time in the middle ring of a triple rather than switching frequently between the two rings of a double? Or do most of you stay on the 50t 90% of the time making this irrelevant? I haven't ridden a road bike for so long I genuinely don't know what the gearing feels like.

I live in the Peak District so I guess there are some hills here but perhaps not by Alpine standards.

Thanks for all the replies!

i say triple. Roadies might call you gay – mind you none have dared to do that to me yet ….

I ride triple because my bike does audaxing and touring and TT as well as racing.

With a triple you have all the benifits of 39:52 with non of the downsides …..ie a 30tooth get out clause.34:50 is just shit -and ive been riding a road bike with that recently – experiances much like Nicks – or that im spinning at 150 RPM to keep up with the guys i ride with

I used the granny ring 3 times in my ownership of a road bike but by god was i glad it was there ! 1st time ever – climbing to the homer tunnel in nz fully loaded
2 climbing the road from nelson onto the coastal route – while being a stone lighter in weight due to giardia.
3. Climbing the lecht after having ridden 200k(hilly) already

I'm with aracer here, there's a lot of macho bullshit about this. I have a compact double on my road bike – def sometimes wish I had a triple on the hills round here when I've got the panniers on.

James i'd go for a compact unless you are touring with a laden bike, afterall if you find a compact a struggle you can always use a more climb friendly cassette and triples look very ugly on a road bike, and looks i think you'll agree, are the most important thing 😉

Unless you're touring I'd say a compact is all you need. I'm a wuss on hills and prefer to spin but even I rarely use the 34-27 (only on stuff like 20% gradients or when I'm knackered on a long drag). Going for a lower gear than that and you quickly slow down to a crawl (sometimes without realising it) so I generally find it's better just to get on with it and suck up a bit of short term grinding away on steep stuff rather than settle down to a granny gear and end up taking twice as long.
If your local area has a lot of stuff over 20% or you're doing some touring then things change and a triple is probably needed to give you a low enough gear to cope.

I'd go with the triple if I were you James, if you've not ridden a road bike for a long time, you like spinning and you live in the peak district, it would seem the obvious choice.

aracer…. I enjoy getting up on the pedals and mashing the gears, so my original advice still holds, it's as valid as anyone elses given.

Don't you live in the alps, where a triple is somewhat justified?

IME a triple is more useful in the UK than in the Alps! The climbs there are obviously much much longer but much better graded and also smoother – road surfaces on the continent are generally far superior to anything you'll find over here. In the UK you tend to get much shorter steeper climbs (on rubbish road surfaces 🙁 )

Having said that the ONLY place I've ever needed a comapct was on the Fred Whitton Challenge for Hardknott and Wrynose Passes. I did it on my slicked up CX with a 34-27 low gear. For everything else my normal road bike does the job fine (39/53 chainset with a 12-23 cassette). But I'm quite light and I like climbing.

Compacts are ace, they give you more or less the same range as a triple but at the expense of some fractionally larger jumps in gears. From a purely personal point of view though, I don't like compacts – as njee20 mentioned above I sometimes find it difficult to get into a comfortable gear that's not big/big or small/small). I think it's just cos I've always used a 39/53 rather than inhernet flaws in the equipment!

My advice would be to go for the compact unless you're planning on touring.

I had my first serious roadbike 3 years ago and came with a compact – after doing 3 months of riding around dartmoor I quickly changed to a triple. Although I am sure I could ride with a double the triple gave me more range and on a long ride esp up Dartmeet and some 1 in 4's like porlock the triple saves my legs! I am a MTB'r first and foremost and so I really don't care about what people think about my roadbike. Road bikers I think can be far more snobbish about kit than MTB'rs but thats their problem!