Standard Double -----> Compact , the imapct of change ?

saif

I've been riding on my winter bike for the last three months which has a Standard Double chain ring and gear. (14spd). Today , I went for a my Saturday ride (35 Miles) on my Best Bike , which has a compact chain ring(10 spd) , and to my utter surprise It was a tough ride for me today. Is that bizzare ? Considering that my Best Bike is a lot more expensive than my Winter Bike.

Any opinions here ? As I'm now confused and can't make up my mind which one to use for my upcoming Hays to Brighton ride ...?

JWSurrey

Was it exactly the same run, or a more windy route?
Did you work out that it was worse from your speed/distance averages?
Some times I go out, it feels harder, and when I look at the stats, I was faster and did it with a lower heart rate!
You may be coming down with a cold.

Check your set up too - Distance from saddle top, to centre of crank arm.
Distance from seat tip to middle of handlebar top.

The compact itself wouldn't make it harder - if anything it just gives you a greater range of ratios.

saif

It was the same route which I have few times before .
I did not have any problems health wise , had a very good sleep over the night.

I did feel that my saddle was a bit low , hence stopped and raised the saddle a bit , which did ease off the torture a bit. I was a bit windier , but nothing significant

My stats which I record on my Nokia N95 Sports Tracker , did show that my avg. speed dipped by 0.5m.

I was expecting easier climbs with the compact , but perhaps due to my muscle group used to the standard double ratios , it was different muscle group which were being worked with compact gear ratio ? Should I start commuting to work on the compact gear to get more practice ? The only problem being my summer bike has look cleated pedals , which could be a challenge on the very busy roads to commute.

John.T

A compact only changes the gear ratios that you have available. It does not make riding any easier or harder, just provides a lower gear when the going gets tough. You should be using about the same ratios which ever bike you are riding on so the ride will be most affected by the relative weights and set ups of the 2 bikes. You say 'a bit windier'. It does not take much to make a big difference.

Brian B

saif wrote:

It was the same route which I have few times before .
I did not have any problems health wise , had a very good sleep over the night.

I did feel that my saddle was a bit low , hence stopped and raised the saddle a bit , which did ease off the torture a bit. I was a bit windier , but nothing significant
.

Take some time and measure your winter bike and get the same set up on your good bike - I did that years ago and now have all my bikes set up the same way. It also took me some time to adjust to different gear ratios between bikes - I have a lot of good training routes and I know what gear I should be in on all the climbs if I am going well but my winter bike used to be 8 spd and my summer bike was 10spd and sometimes I felt I was trying to churn to big a gear on the 10spd. I know guys who find it hard to adjust to compact gearing as it can be sometimes hard to emulate the right gear on a compact vs a standard set.

JWSurrey

Just by way of an anecodote, a friend of mine borrowed my MTB with road tyres for doing a Tri. They all went out for a pre Tri. training run, and the girls went rocketing off. After the first mile he was hanging off the back in pools of sweat.
"Gee that was really hard - I didn't realise how cycling unfit I was, maybe I should scratch it" he exclaimed.
I took one look at the bike - which had been sat in the garage for months, then prised the V-brakes off the rims!!

Part of my "new season" training reigime involves spinning like the clappers to get my "fast twitch" muscles going. This is much more tiring than churning along in a low RPM gear. I also do the occasional run doing the opposite, pushing a big gear.

sub55

John.T wrote:

A compact only changes the gear ratios that you have available. It does not make riding any easier or harder, just provides a lower gear when the going gets tough. You should be using about the same ratios which ever bike you are riding on so the ride will be most affected by the relative weights and set ups of the 2 bikes. You say 'a bit windier'. It does not take much to make a big difference.

at least someone engaged their brain, i know this is " road beginners " but dear god