Compact or Standard?

on-yer-bike

Probably been covered before but I'm thinking about splashing out on a new Campag gruppo and am not sure whether to stay on compact or change to a standard. I currently ride 12/25 at the back but would change to 12/27 or 11/27 with a standard. I ride sportives and club TTs and I always get gold standard in the sportives, just to give an idea of my standard. I'm 69 kg and live in a hilly area so do a lot of climbing. I'm going to check out the gear difference maths but there is obviously a bit more to it than that.

hopper1

Oh, this has been covered alright...... :shock:
Flick back a few pages, you'll find a monster Post on it..... :roll:

redddraggon

Compacts are better, It was proven psuedoscientifically that Mark Cavendish would have won the Tour overall if he used a Compact.

wombler

My advice is to find the other post, and add a question on the end such as "So what is the conclusion, compact is better, right?' ...then stand well back...

Chip \'oyler

Does it matter - you've got to pedal the bloody thing anyway

giantsasquatch

redddraggon wrote:

Compacts are better, It was proven psuedoscientifically that Mark Cavendish would have won the Tour overall if he used a Compact.

lol.

Cavendish is still good rider in the hills, but he is amongst fantastic climbers so he is seen as poor. Mark can produce the watts! If he brought his weight down, he have an excellent power to weight ratio better for the hills.

rake

so why doesnt he then. hed loose strength if he lost too much.

andrew_s

You can easily put bigger chainrings on a compact; you can't put smaller ones on standard.

little upstart

Compacts for girls and sportive riders only.

wicked

little upstart wrote:

Compacts for girls and sportive riders only.

And statements like this are for idiots only

rake

compacts are for mens hills.

ride_whenever

gears are for women and children. Real men have fixed gears and ruined knees.

blorg

I'd stick with the compact unless you are bunch racing. There really is very little downside to one; the gap between the rings is about it which can cause a major cadence change. But you get used to that and shift at the back simultaneously... as you already have one I imagine you are already used to it.

STEFANOS4784

ride_whenever wrote:

gears are for women and children. Real men have fixed gears and ruined knees.

8)

inseine

Depends what matters most to you, the TTs or the sportives. If you already get golds you're obviously not struggling and a standard would be marginally better for TTs.