do YOU use a compact?

sparkins1972

I have just moved from an aluminium framed flat barred Ridgeback Genesis road bike / hybrid, call it what you will, to a carbon framed road bike, losing approx 4lbs in weight on the bike, plus I have lost 5 lbs in body weight. The Ridgeback had a triple on it and I think purely out of habit on any climb >10% I automatically went for the small ring on the triple, more out of habit than necessity. Since I got the carbon bike witha compact with 12-25 on the back I have had no problems at all coping with the same hills, but with larger gears. whetherit is a case of lighter bike = easier to push bigger gears, or adrenaline, or stiffer bike in general I have no idea, but I hung on to my triple for ages as I didn't think I would cope, but now wish i had done it sooner.

bigjim

I find triples a pain for constantly having to adjust the front mech. Usually for rubbing on the large chain wheel. I have 2 racebikes with standard doubles and because I do a fair bit of climbing I have fitted them with larger 9 speed cassettes. One has a 32 on the back and the other a 36. Luckily the rear mechs are long enough to accommadate this although I had to add a couple of links to the chain of the bike with the 36. This arrangement works very well and there are not many hills that give me problems. I also have the option of fitting a compact which will give me an even lower hill climbing gear for a loaded tour. The simplicity of the front double is for me a much better option. If the OP wants to go triple he will have to change the front mech and possibly the LH sti.

greasedscotsman

Headhuunter wrote:

I've got a compact triple.

Err, what's a compact triple?

markyone

i always used 53/39 with 12/25 but now run a fsa compact 50/34 which i have 2 spare rings 52 and 36 which i can change to accomadate whatever the ride and the cassette is 11/25 perfect for me

TurboMonkey

Something else that hasn't been mentioned that can be of great use when wanting a gearing setup that can cope with climbs as well as speed on the flat is individually selecting the cogs on your cassette. You can normally unscrew cassettes into their constituent cogs and spacers and build your own one with ratios that suit your riding.

You can then run a block with tight ratios and a 'bailout' gear on the bottom end to help you up steep hills(11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-23/25), or you could run one with the 1-tooth-jump gears more towards the larger cog side of the block, thus giving you finer control over cadence when climbing. (12-13-15-17-18-19-20-21-22-24)

What will make a slight difference between double and compact, which has been mentioned before is that the gearing steps are larger for a smaller ring. i.e a 1 tooth jump on a 53 ring is a smaller % than a 1 tooth jump on a 50 ring. So if you really want fine control over these things (without worrying about things like cables and derailleurs) then it would be better to run a monster chainring with a big cassette on the back.

sub55

TurboMonkey wrote:

Something else that hasn't been mentioned that can be of great use when wanting a gearing setup that can cope with climbs as well as speed on the flat is individually selecting the cogs on your cassette. You can normally unscrew cassettes into their constituent cogs and spacers and build your own one with ratios that suit your riding.

You can then run a block with tight ratios and a 'bailout' gear on the bottom end to help you up steep hills(11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-23/25), or you could run one with the 1-tooth-jump gears more towards the larger cog side of the block, thus giving you finer control over cadence when climbing. (12-13-15-17-18-19-20-21-22-24)

What will make a slight difference between double and compact, which has been mentioned before is that the gearing steps are larger for a smaller ring. i.e a 1 tooth jump on a 53 ring is a smaller % than a 1 tooth jump on a 50 ring. So if you really want fine control over these things (without worrying about things like cables and derailleurs) then it would be better to run a monster chainring with a big cassette on the back.

hooray at last. somebody who knows what they`re talking about.

shockedsoshocked

greasedscotsman wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

I've got a compact triple.

Err, what's a compact triple?

Possibly a touring triple. 50/40/30.

oscarbudgie

A lot of the Standard v. Compact debate is just macho willy waving. Compact's are absolutely fine......














....particularly if you are a girl or recovering from a long illness.