In addition to my post on a womans bike sizing the topic of double, triple or compact.
We live in and area of Devon which is pretty hilly. Around us we can do flatish riding or hilly riding. My wife is going to get a road bike (has an MTB HT) both pleasure and commuting.
I have had a double, compact and Triple and have settled for a Compact. I was thinking the same for her but maybe going up to 12-27 on the rear. I said worst case scenario if you want to tackle serious hills and struggle in the future we can get a triple crankset as the 105 shifters are 30 sp and 20 sp compatible 🙂 Sound reasonable?
double. unless you live in the alps or similar.
Yup.
Triples good for touring & long rides, compacts good for girls 😛
cheeky 😉
having switched from triple to double a few weeks ago, I now realize that Triples look ugly 🙂
Triple IMO. Both my road bikes have a triple which means I can ride up hills when most blokes are off and pushing. It's very useful at the end of a long hilly road ride too, and I don't have to worry about changing the set up for lakes/foreign riding.
I think only a certain type of bloke worries about this sort of shit.
.... and only a certain type of bloke posts stupid comments on STW? 🙄 Numtpy
I'd have said a triple for DGOAB's reasons, but the middle ring may be give slightly big gears? Depends no her fitness/speed I s'pose.
Oh and bite me 😡
My road bike's 1x8 and at times, it's pretty grim as it's geared a little high. I've considered going double, certainly wouldn't put a triple on it though.
Triple. South Devon needs a triple.
Both my road bikes have a triple which means I can ride up hills when most blokes are off and pushing
I have never got of my road bike and pushed and I've got a double / 25. doing Fred Whitton route next week, I'll post again after that 😕
North Devon is hillier and steeper than South. Compact works well up here. Perhaps consider the new SRAM groupset with big cassette range. I believe a number of entry-level road bikes will be fitted with it for 2011. Will a 10spd mtb cassette work with a road chainset? A lot depends on fitness really. Can you get a demo of different styles? Certini in Saltash could probably provide some demo models.
I'd be wary of the Shimano double/triple shifters. My Tiagra one gave up after 10 months and the mechanic in the shop reckoned he'd seen loads fail when being used as a double. Madison kindly exchanged for a double specific model which felt much smoother to use.
Double 105 on my bike now which feels lovely and crisp compared to Tiagra (which never really felt bad), although with a cross setup (46/36). It does leave me a bit undergeared sometimes, but I find the 36 inner far more useful than the 34tooth I had on my Defy.
Oh, I should have said, mine has an mtb block on it, the original road cassette was replaced after about 2 rides, no use to me at all.
Gone for a compact tonight on the bike range we were looking at - I think I can go for a bigger cassette on the rear if necc as Northwind says if she struggles. Thank guys. Appreciate it 🙂
Which bike did you go for?
Told yer!
Know it all cynic-al 😉 Cheers 🙂
Went for the Felt WSD ZW75 with 105 compact 🙂
She has a big grin on her face tonight and it wasn't anything I did 😉
IMO a compact - a 48/34 combination with 13/29 cassette has got me up most hills in the alps and pyrennees - proper girls gears but then I'm not a big gear masher and like my knees the way they - unoperated on.
