Compact vs. Standard

AllTheGear

Does your trainer have a compact?

giantsasquatch

Stephen Hawking, doesn't have a black hole in his house either. Does that mean they don't exist? Please.

AllTheGear

No but at least he's actually an astrophysicist.

giantsasquatch

AllTheGear wrote:

Just think how much fitter and faster you'd be on a Compact.

EXACTLY! don't forget slimmer too.

AllTheGear

And the ability to tell when others are taking the mick would be good.

giantsasquatch

I see you all have recharged your batteries, maybe for your pacemaker. I guess you needed a few days rest due to being on standards.

No stamina.

AllTheGear

Unlike you I actually have a compact.

giantsasquatch

AllTheGear wrote:

We've already established that was a mountain bike.

Nahhh. I got into road cycling again after 2002 but for short while.

AllTheGear

So it seems a compact suited you when you were unfit but now you're a regular you run a standard. Thanks for clearing that up.

markos1963

What you are failing to grasp GS is that despite your amateur scientific theories most of us don't dispute that a fairly high cadence isn't a bad thing, what most of us are saying is that you don't need a COMPACT do achieve that. A standard chainset can do high cadences if its mated to a suitable cassette and before you jump in and say you can't get close enough ratios, you can and even if you can't why does it matter? A 2 tooth jump on a cog isn't the end of the world, indeed if you are that sensitive to cadence variation then your training regime is wrong(ask any single/fixed rider if they struggle with cadence)

nasahapley

giantsasquatch wrote:

nasahapley wrote:

And sorry to be a pedant GS, but if you average 30 miles a day, you'd be doing around 210 miles a week, not between 175 and 190.

You forgot to count the trainer. Nobody does bang on. I rounded it up to the nearest mile.

Fair enough, hats off to you 'cause that's more than I do. Your post count must be averaging about 30 a day since this thread started as well!

AllTheGear

nasahapley wrote:

Your post count must be averaging about 30 a day since this thread started as well!

Like his Birthday cards, they don't count if they are to himself.

giantsasquatch

FOAD wrote:

actually contributing anything worthwhile on this thread would be futile because thus far anything anyone else has said that didn't agree 100% with your opinion gets dismissed by you and your BS in 6 consecutive posts.

What tosh, I have already said standards have there place, but a compact's better and explained why. I am just one opinion. If you got something good to say on standards then let's hear it.

giantsasquatch

You fail to see. You don't have to win cycling events to be a great coach, trainer. The trainers of the big stars, you won't hear of there successes on the whole, they might not even have any.

giantsasquatch

Not only are compact's better they look better too, one of the reasons Carlos Sastre has one.

markos1963

giantsasquatch wrote:

Not only are compact's better they look better too, one of the reasons Carlos Sastre has one.

Got toasted in the Alps in this years TDF though?

AllTheGear

markos1963 wrote:

Got toasted in the Alps in this years TDF though?

Obviously he didn't have the world famous Giant Sasquatch as his trainer. At least he looked good though.

giantsasquatch

Top riders are good at one type of riding. Good sprinters or good climbers or neither. What's wrong? They all using standards.

Example.
Mark Cavendish is great sprinter but poor up hills, he has to draft. Classic case of needing a compact.

Train with a compact and you be a allrounder and good at everything!

Compact - Raise your game

AllTheGear

And there I was assuming that Cav's extra muscle gave him a poor aerobic power to weight ratio vs. the climbing specialists. The truth is, he was in the wrong gear all along! Thanks Sasq.

markos1963

giantsasquatch wrote:

Top riders are good at one type of riding. Good sprinters or good climbers. What's wrong? They all using standards.

Example.
Mark Cavendish is great sprinter but poor up hills, he has to draft. He needs a compact.

Train with a compact and you be good at everything!

Compact - Raise your game

I'm sure Cav's going to give up winning all them races just so he doesn't look like a twit climbing up the Tourmalet next year, perhaps you better tell him.

giantsasquatch

Well training with a compact he increase his VO2 max so good, means he don't have to take it easy some days. He can be good on all days. Look at Lance. Good in the hills, good on the flat.

giantsasquatch

AllTheGear wrote:

The truth is, he was in the wrong gear all along! Thanks Sasq.

Funny how you define my common sense superior knowledge, as just in the wrong gear.

Am i a troll?
Am i a genius?
Am i a born comedian?
Am i a sports coach?
Am i a retired sports coach?
Am i a mad scientist?

or a combination.

The fact is you don't know.

Am i deluded knob?

What have i said that's deluded?

markos1963

giantsasquatch wrote:

Well training with a compact he increase his VO2 max so good, means he don't have to take it easy some days. He can be good on all days. Look at Lance. Good in the hills, good on the flat.

Crap in the sprint.

giantsasquatch

You can't beat youth.

markos1963

giantsasquatch wrote:

Well training with a compact he increase his VO2 max so good, means he don't have to take it easy some days. He can be good on all days. Look at Lance. Good in the hills, good on the flat.

I would like to see Cav's VO2 max figure compared to yours

giantsasquatch

markos1963 wrote:

What most of us are saying is that you don't need a COMPACT do achieve that.

You would say that living in Norfolk.

There are no hills in Norfolk even by your own admission. Testing your theories, you can't even train on hills to find out the potential of a compact.

ride_whenever

I have a question giantsasquatch, what about singlespeeders?

redddraggon

ride_whenever wrote:

I have a question giantsasquatch, what about singlespeeders?

Low VO2 Max, will never win the Tour de France.

FOAD

giantsasquatch wrote:

FOAD wrote:

actually contributing anything worthwhile on this thread would be futile because thus far anything anyone else has said that didn't agree 100% with your opinion gets dismissed by you and your BS in 6 consecutive posts.

What tosh, I have already said standards have there place, but a compact's better and explained why. I am just one opinion. If you got something good to say on standards then let's hear it.

I can't find the place where you say standards have their place...a guy who won six stages of the TDF this year should be riding a compact, not a standard in your opinion, I suppose Cancellara should be for TT's too...so where is this place and why would it be better than a compact on such use? There is absolutely no way you can answer this without contradicting your earlier BS, but please do try!

To be fair, despite clearly knowing a tad more than you, I am quite new compared to a lot of guys on here so there's no need for me to repeat what has been said several times and then immediately dismissed by you (uually in 3-6 posts one after the other).

I do however, like everyone else on here, have a knack of spotting a complete bellend when I see one, which is why every now and then my inner laughter explodes into taking the piss out of you on here. Only one post at a time mind you...one at a time.

Love "spunk-bubble"

markos1963

giantsasquatch wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

What most of us are saying is that you don't need a COMPACT do achieve that.

You would say that living in Norfolk.

There are no hills in Norfolk even by your own admission. Testing your theories, you can't even train on hills to find out the potential of a compact.

You don't need hills to be a good climber, just ask any of the Belgium/Dutch stars, Van Imp, Merckx, Rasmussen etc. When I was a junior I grew up in E Sussex and I didn't suffer any problems climbing the Downs on a 42/23.

If I want a 35.7 inch gear to climb then I can achieve that with a 38/28 combo which is exactly the same as a 34/25( the lowest gear on a normal compact set up)