Solving compact irritations
Hi
I ride with a standard compact set-up (i.e. 50-34 and 12-25).
I favour a compact because I'm not a "power-rider" and because my focus for competing is hilly and mountainous endurance events. Also because I like to ride with a highish cadence of about 100 rpm average and I feel therefore that a generally lower geared set up works better.
But, living in Holland, the vast bulk of my training is done on the flat (albeit with savage headwinds a lot of the time) meaning that my typical speed variation is usually in the 27-35kph range with average speeds usually 32ish for steady rides.
But compact gearing is really starting to irritate me - because in this speed range I'm very often shifting between big and small chainring and working the sprockets at the opposite end of the cassette (or within 2 sprockets of the bottom/top). And also because the jump in ratio seems really large - shifting up or down a gear and maintaining the same cadence often puts me in a higher or lower zone than where I really want to be.
So any experience or thoughts on this very welcome. I'm basically looking for the simplest remedy without completely negating some of the benefits of a compact.
i.e.
- Larger small chain-ring (36 or 38)?
- Different cassette?
- Go to a double (more expensive I think)
I ride SRAM.
Thanks!
I ride with a standard compact set-up (i.e. 50-34 and 12-25).
I favour a compact because I'm not a "power-rider" and because my focus for competing is hilly and mountainous endurance events. Also because I like to ride with a highish cadence of about 100 rpm average and I feel therefore that a generally lower geared set up works better.
But, living in Holland, the vast bulk of my training is done on the flat (albeit with savage headwinds a lot of the time) meaning that my typical speed variation is usually in the 27-35kph range with average speeds usually 32ish for steady rides.
But compact gearing is really starting to irritate me - because in this speed range I'm very often shifting between big and small chainring and working the sprockets at the opposite end of the cassette (or within 2 sprockets of the bottom/top). And also because the jump in ratio seems really large - shifting up or down a gear and maintaining the same cadence often puts me in a higher or lower zone than where I really want to be.
So any experience or thoughts on this very welcome. I'm basically looking for the simplest remedy without completely negating some of the benefits of a compact.
i.e.
- Larger small chain-ring (36 or 38)?
- Different cassette?
- Go to a double (more expensive I think)
I ride SRAM.
Thanks!
0
Comments
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That's a simple job for a gear calculator. Look for the combination of front chainrings and cassette that puts the gears that you are in most often in the middle of the cassette.
It may be as simple as putting a 11/12-21 cassette on or a combo of the 36 chainring and a smaller cassette. Keep the 12-25 for the real hills when you need it.0 -
mtfu you are pedalling too fast.0