Double or triple set up for a newbie to road bikes?

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Comments

  • stfc1
    stfc1 Posts: 505
    Paul32uk wrote:
    stfc1 wrote:
    A triple will give you bigger gears as well as smaller, remember. So you basically get a standard 53-39, which would be big enough to race on, with a granny ring to help with particularly long or steep climbs.

    Not true. The ones I looked at all had the same size large ring! the triple was 50/39/30 and the compact was 50/34.

    Really? Well that does seem like a waste of time then.
  • Essex Man
    Essex Man Posts: 283
    edited April 2010
    With a triple, you have a 39T chainring. This is good for about 23-24 mph on the flat and all the hills I have to climb around my way. The 50T chainring is used only for downhill and when there is a decent tailwind :lol: I never need the 30T chainring round here, but it is great for if I take the bike elsewhere, where there are some proper hills!

    I think my point is, I find the 39T chainring so useful, I imagine there is far less gear changing needed for the chainrings than if you have a compact, as I can do the majority of my riding in one chainring. (Have never had a compact so await a flaming).
  • Bill D
    Bill D Posts: 62
    Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:
    I bought a triple originally as I wanted to have that granny incase I needed it. I did at first however 6 mths later I got a new bike with a compact double. I've never needed the extra gears since the compact is fine. I don't think when I first started I would have coped on a compact though. So was glad I had the triple.

    When I ride the bike with the triple now I just don't use the smallest cog and the crank any more

    This was my experience too. At the top of this section there is a permanent set of advice about getting lower gears fitted: so I imagine that quite a few people make the mistake of getting over-geared bikes when they begin riding. I'd say go for the triple: the worst thing would be to try to start on a compact double, find you're struggling, then spend months wishing you'd got the triple after all...
  • louismichaels
    louismichaels Posts: 118
    True, Bill D.
    But why does there seem to be such prejudice against the triple? It doesn't weigh much more (around 100g for, say, Ultegra), doesn't look much different, and can do everything! Racing, touring, the steepest of hills, dragging children around in buggies...
    If you want similar ratios with a compact, then you need a wide ratio cassette, and the weight difference becomes even smaller. Also, the ratio gaps between cogs becomes larger - I have a compact and I find that I'm sometimes hunting between sprockets to find the 'right' cadence and I chop 'n change between the chainrings much more frequently.
    I'm not vehemently for or against any system, but think the triple is often too quickly and unnecessarily written off.
  • John C.
    John C. Posts: 2,113
    It's a no brainer, if you have to ask the question, go for a triple it gives you more options what ever the salesman says.
    http://www.ripon-loiterers.org.uk/

    Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
    Hills are just a matter of pace
  • John.T
    John.T Posts: 3,698
    I just love all the comments about grinding up hills on a compact and spinning up on a triple. For the same cassette and a normal road triple you only have one lower gear. The lowest one on the compact is about the same as the next to bottom one on the triple. I see no point in comparing a compact with 12/27 and a triple with 12/25 as they give the same range of gears with more duplicated ones.
    I quite agree with John C. If you have to ask etc. You can also fit a non standard smaller granny ring to the triple.
    My Fleet.
  • mykaloon
    mykaloon Posts: 86
    Having just bought my first road bike I too pondered over this triple - compact thing for some time.

    I tried out a Giant Defy 3 (triple) against a Trek 1.2 (compact double) and to be honest there wasn't much difference between the lowest gears on both.

    However, I ended up plumping for a Specialized Allez Sport compact double - have just taken it out for a training run around the Etape Caledonia circuit and found the compact fine.

    I too am transferring over from a MTB background and am heading towards the 40 mark age-wise.

    My local Speciaized shop had some info on comparing the range of gearing between triples and compacts and it was next to nothing - however all the local bike shops I spoke with whilst looking for a new bike advised on a compact as they felt that in most cases after 6 months your fitness level should be up enough to render the granny ring redundant.

    In the end there's not really a right or wrong answer - it would be reassuring to have the granny ring there as insurance and I'm not really experienced enough yet to say if I will regret not having it there......time will tell!
  • John C.
    John C. Posts: 2,113
    mykaloon wrote:
    My local Speciaized shop had some info on comparing the range of gearing between triples and compacts and it was next to nothing - however all the local bike shops I spoke with whilst looking for a new bike advised on a compact as they felt that in most cases after 6 months your fitness level should be up enough to render the granny ring redundant.

    !

    OH yes a sales man would say that, most of us can ride 33% hills on a compact when we're fresh but after 100 miles it's a different ball game. Go and look at the FW competitors riding Hardknot. That extra gear may be the difference between riding and pushing.
    http://www.ripon-loiterers.org.uk/

    Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
    Hills are just a matter of pace
  • Rich Hcp
    Rich Hcp Posts: 1,355
    John C. wrote:
    It's a no brainer, if you have to ask the question, go for a triple it gives you more options what ever the salesman says.

    Spot on answer
    Richard

    Giving it Large
  • Slater
    Slater Posts: 80
    I had to ask the question but I went for a Compact and I'm glad I did.

    Just because you have to ask the question doesn't mean there is only one answer.

    I rode a MTB for a few years before deciding I wanted a road bike. I live in a hilly area around the the North Pennines area and thought I might need a triple but It turns out I didn't.

    The bike I wanted had a lowest gear of 34-27. I used Sheldon Brown's gear calculator to work out how to achieve the equivalent of that on my MTB. I then went out for rides and found the steepest longest hills I could find and tried to ride up them without going lower than the equivalent of 34-27. I managed it and decided to get the compact. Even after long rides I still don't regret it.

    I remember reading the same advice somewhere on a forum "if you have to ask the question, go for a triple" I almost bought a triple after reading that but I'm so pleased I didn't.

    Paul - even though you say you're an unfit/fat bloke I would still say get a compact. The fittness will soon come.

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
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