Road bike gearing, Double,compact or triple what makes you choose

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Road bike gearing, Double,compact or triple what makes you choose

45 posts & 38 voices | Started 8 months ago by Vortexracing | Latest reply from epicsteve

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breatheeasy - Member

Chucky - what shifters are you running on the roadrat?

If it's road STI shifters then bear in mind most are double only these days so a triple might not be worth it if you have to buy triple compatible shifters too. If it's flat bar shifters then you should be okay.

Plus not sure if mtb front mech it going to handle a 50t front road chainring, probably will but again something to consider especially as road front mechs have different pull than mtb ones (though I'm sure people do use them successfully).

If you thinking of touring then got for a triple I'd say.

Posted 8 months ago #
breatheeasy - Member

Come on STW'ers, there hardly a mention of "I climb everywhere on a 53t front chainring and 21t rear. FACT". Poor showing in my opinion.

Try climbing something like the Ryals on the NR Cyclone after 100 miles then sometimes just a bailout gear is a nice to have.

Posted 8 months ago #
woody2000 - Member

I have a 53/39 with an 11-32 cassette out back on my Roadrat. It's ok for commuting (just), but I struggle a bit if I have to carry much stuff.

I'm about to stick a compact on as I fancy a bit of light touring this autumn and don't really want to be grinding up any hills.

Posted 8 months ago #
ahwiles - Member

the first bike i bought has a compact (and a 12/25?), i had the option of getting a triple, but the lad in the shop said "why? - what's wrong with you?"...

i found that i could just about get up all the hills around sheffield. There are a couple of hills that can sometimes beat me (get off and walk) if i tackle them with tired legs. But i reckon that's probably about right, so didn't see a problem when the next bike i bought had a compact.

i keep saying that i'll fit a 28tooth cassette to give me a 'i'm really very tired and need to get home' gear, but haven't done it yet...

Posted 8 months ago #
mustard - Member

I've just built a light tourer/winter road bike and it's got a compact on it.

I don't use the smaller ring of the compact very much on my road bike so wanted to try a double and this seemed like the best/cheapest way to get one. I think I may curse the lack of granny when I'm touring and wish I'd bitten the bullet and just bought a triple too.

I can always pop the compact back on the road bike if I fell I'm going to need it.

Posted 8 months ago #
rootes1 - Member

if you have a 34/50 and a 12-25 cassette and need to gear down..

you could just it a 11-32, 11-34 or even 11-36 cassette..

34/36 is pretty low so unless you are a doing mega heavy touring (i.e. front, rear panniers, rack pack, bar bags etc etc) then it will be fine.

Posted 8 months ago #
Gary_M - Member

When I bought a road bike again after about 15 years without a road bike I found that I always felt I was in the wrong gear with a standard double. Having swapped to a compact after about a year of trying to get on with the double I felt the bike immediately felt 'right'. Now that I'm a lot fitter I might give a standard double a go again but not sure there's any point as the gearing feels perfect.

Posted 8 months ago #
Vortexracing - Member

well cheers for the advice gents, but I caved in and have just fitted the 105 stuff I have just bought from Merlin.

Hopefully it should be OK.

Thanks again, as pointed out earlier I can always use a 28 rear sprocket and stick with my compact. The touring will be only for a couple of days anyway, so it wont be loaded up too much.

P1040006 by eastham_david, on Flickr

cheers for all your pointers folks.

Happy riding

Chucky

Posted 8 months ago #
ransos - Member

Should be fine. As a general point, the only way to get a wide gear range, and small jumps between the gears, is with a triple. I have a triple on my audax/ winter bike and a compact on my summer road bike. Only problem with the compact is the jump between the front rings is too big.

Posted 8 months ago #
epicsteve - Member

The only touring I've done on my Roadrat so far was using an Alfine and a 39t front and 22t rear. According to Sheldon Brown's gearing calculator that was some 10% lower than I'd have had using the 34t inner of a compact and an 11:32 rear cassette. Even that was still good for 20+mph pedaling and I don't recall at any point wanting more than that (I was quite happy to just freewheel down hills). I only used the lowest gear a couple of times for short steep hills and don't think I'd have struggled if I hadn't had quite such a low gear available.

I think I might have struggled a bit towards the end of the day if 34:25 had been my lowest gear though.

It might be worth bearing in mind that I'm slooow though - my average speed for the tour was only 12mph!

Posted 8 months ago #

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