Road gearing – will 53/36 shift be ok?

I’m off to France for two weeks of road riding in June.
I have been using 53/39 with 11-25 around the roads and hills of Surrey and Sussex with no problem.
Where I’m gong to in France will be mountainous as opposed to hilly.
I have a LookZed2 crankset which have spacing for standard or compact chainrings.
My plan is to swap my 39t chainring for a 36t and changing to a 11-28 cassette.

My question is wether the front shifting will work with a 53/36 combo?

34/50 works fine so I can’t see 36/53 being a fundamental problem though depending on what you have, the front mech may need changing.

Should be fine that, whats the “swing”/”throw” like on the front mech? What I mean is don’t let the tail of the mech be the focal point of the move up from the small to large ring, it just may bend rather than move the chain.

it’s the front derailleur that the issue might be with isn’t it? they will be specced with a range they work within

Front mech is Dura Ace 9000.
Shimano does 52/36 with the new DA and Ultegra, so I am just wondering how much trouble 1 extra tooth will cause.

^^ Not a fat lot…

I doubt you will get a 36t chainring on a standard crankset different BCD?. You probably need to swap for a compact. Obviously the alps are nothing like the Surrey Hills. 1-2hrs climbs in places

Could you look at changing cassette for the trip instead?
say an 12-28 or 11-30?

39/30 = 1.3
39/28 = 1.39
Vs
36/25 = 1.44

Lower top ratio and you can keep your chainset…

Tony my spider on my cranks can accept 110 and 130 BCD.

This derrailleur:

If you’re fine riding around Surrey with 39/25, you’ll probably be OK with 36/28 in the alps I would have thought.

That is what I thought as well Mincer.

Cookeaa I could go that route, but that means a new rear derrailleur, I will get the mahoosive 11-32 Ultegra cassette and med cage derrailleur .
Jumps at the top end would be 25-28-32 then.
Im looking at the most cost effective way of going about it , hence new chainring , chain and cassette hopes as apposed to new cassette , chain and derrailleur.

Interesting looking chainset. I’m riding Geneva to Nice over a week next month and I’m going for a 34t front and 28t rear (no big gear jumps). There are sometimes moments in the big mountain when you just need a bail out gear!

Do you have to get 11-32? Could your current mech not even stretch to a 28t?

That would still give a marginally lower gear than the proposed 36-25 and the steps wouldn’t be that awful surely, you could still Take your 11-25 cassette too, and fit that if you’ve got a day of riding on the flat planned, its a 5 minute job.

There’s a few options

Mincers suggestion would probably be the best if you could see your way to a 12-28 cassette and a 36T ring…

If budget is a constraint, could you stomach fitting a 105 or even (gulp) a Tiagra Cassette just for an easier couple of days climbing? £15 is pretty cheap…

Cookeaa my mech can do 28t.
It is 11speed shifters so cheaper 10speed cassettes not an option otherwise I would have considered it.
I want to take my Sunday best bike which is a Look 695 with 11sp DA. The new DA brakes are amazing and for all the climbing there will be lots of descending as well!
I could take my second best bike , a Look 585 with 10sp DA , which will be a cheaper conversion as I can fit a 30t Ultegra cassette which apparently will work with a short cage derrailleur, so only a new chain and I’m in business .
But my bestest bike is lighter and stiffer and should be the one I take with!

i’ve used a Praxis ‘Pro Compact’ 52/36 combo changing from a 53/39 and it was fine, didn’t change the mech (Campag) or rear cassette

i was glad of it in the Pyrenees

Ahhh, that’ll teach me to make assumptions, Cheapest you’ll find an 11-28 11 speed is about £35…

So a 36T chainring probably is the best option you have based on spend…

JoB, I currently have Look chainrings made by Praxis, but the two rings set me back £150!
Ideally I would just like to change one chainring, the climbing one.

So if 52/36 works then will 53/36 not is still my question.

I guess I should just give it a go and let you guys know, was just hoping someone has already tried it on here.

I’d have thought the most cost effective way is just to stick compact rings on, 50, 34 and stop there.

Dragon you may have a solution there.
50/34 paired with 11-25 should do the job ❗

i was just sharing my experience that 52/36 works and you might be able to extrapolate that into thinking that 53/36 might be worth a shot as it’s only a tooth difference

you might be letting yourself into a whole world of chainsuck or standing halfway up an Alp like a distressed Schleck staring blankly at a chain dangled drivetrain, who knows?

Tend to agree with dragon, find a 50/34 ultegra chainset. Not as nice as Dura ace but fine for maybe one off trip.

JoB I should just have gone 52/36 when I built the bike a couple of months back, that with a 11-28 cassette seems like the mythical do-it-all setup .

37T – 110 BCD???

Although I think Dragon actually answered the question TBH..

don’t da 9000 front’s only have a capacity of 16t or less ?
53/36 would obviously exceed this where as 52/36 or 50/34 wouldn’t

Those cranks will accept standard or compact chainrings but not both at the same time as the inner ring will interfere with the inside of the chainring bolts used on the outer ring plus maybe the bolts used to hold the inner ring may stop the outer ring sitting flush to the crank.

Doug and Therevokid thanks for the heads up on those issues and everyone else who contributed, thank you.
I have just ordered TA Zephyr chainrings in 50/34 flavour as per Dragon’s suggestion.
The STW crowd just solved another problem 🙂