Mid Compact chainset (52/36): Anyone use one?

nunowoolmez

As per title. I am thinking of putting a mid compact ob my new Condor frameset & pairing it with a 12/29T cassette. I currently run a regular compact (50/34) on all my bikes paired with 11/28T cassettes. I climb lots of vrry steep stuff locally & also go to Spain & France quite a bit, & this combo has worked really well for me.

I like to tap out quite a quick/high cadence & spend most of my time in small - small (except in a sprint/descent), & can sustain a decent avg speed doing this over a long & lumpy ride. This combo got me round La Marmotte in 7:45 & got me a sub 8 hr Fred Whitton & a sub 8 hr Dragon Ride, so it seems to work for me!

I am just thinking of trying something new & also becuase I sometimes find i bottom out or hit dead spots tapping out & could do with just a little bit more. So that has me thinking of the 36 ring. Paired with a 12/29T cassette, i am thinking this could offer me decent climbing options, with the last 3 cogs being 23,26,29. 29 as a bail out. The thinking is that this will increase my avg cruising speed & climbing strength & the 52 will increase descending speed.

Just wondering if anyone else has made this transfer & how they got on, & anyone who uses a mid compact at all I guess!

I am 36 & weigh 65kg, if that matters at all.

t4tomo

52-12 is slightly lower than 50-11 so unlikely you will go faster on descents. To be honest unless you are at the point of spinning out, higher gears won't make you go faster down hill anyway.

Small small seems an odd combo to spend "most of your time in" why not choose a similar gear on the big ring with a straighter chain line?

Gearing doesn't really effect you average cruising speed, your strength etc does.

That said a 52-36 12-29 gives you decent gear range an isn't as extreme as going for a double so if you have buy something to put something on the bike then 52-36 isn't a bad choice.

nunowoolmez

Thanks for the reply, all sound pounts. Yes I know small small sounds strange & unsound, but it's something I tried a couple of years ago after someone suggested it on a training camp/holiday in Majorca after they noticed I spent 'most of my time' in the big ring & was tiring myself out. Most of those guys raced & were all in the inner ring (admittedly most using 39/53). Since then I haven't felt the need to change back & I ride much stronger (or can sustain an avg speed for longer) as a result.

StillGoing

I use 50/36 on my main bike and prefer it to the 50/34 I have on the spare. The change on the front is smoother with less gap between the teeth. I don't spin out on the 50 so don't see a need to move to a 52. I vary my cassette from a 12/28 to a 12/25 depending on what the terrain i'm going to be riding is like. The 36 lets me use the small ring and the 14/36 combination gives me a nice speed on the flat at a cadence of 95-100 without cross chaining.

undapressure

I've been using one for about 18 months now and prefer it to a 50/34. I always found the 34/28 too small on the steep stuff and that I almost stopped moving. The 36/27 on the mid-compact is a much better gear IMO, keeps you moving at a good pace. Never really span out the 50t except on a couple of really fast descents so the 52 doesn't help me in that regard.

I wouldn't say there's a massive difference between the two, just that the 36t means you will have a slightly higher gear ratio than with the 34t with an equivalent cassette.

DKay

undapressure wrote:

I always found the 34/28 too small on the steep stuff and that I almost stopped moving.

Ummm...without wishing to state the blindingly obvious, why didn't you just change down onto a smaller rear sprocket? It's a fair bit cheaper that spending money on new chainrings. :?

nunowoolmez

I've been looking at the various gear, speed/cadence, & metres of development comparisons here...

http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

Comparing my 50/34 with a 11/28T against a 52/12 with a 12/39T, the difference is not that big. The 36 with the 29 is a slightly bigger gear, but offers slightly better speed everwhere else.

However, with a 11/27T, the difference is a bit more noticeable, but certainly not huge. The speeds will be greater using the inner ring, & with the 52/11 compared with the 52/12, it will be noticeably faster, but i would only ever use that on the very quick descents, when it would make little difference anyway at anything more than 40 - 45 mph. The trade off would of course be on the climbs, where it wouldn't offer as much of a lower bail out gear.

Hmm...decisions decisions!

matt-h

DKay wrote:

undapressure wrote:

I always found the 34/28 too small on the steep stuff and that I almost stopped moving.

Ummm...without wishing to state the blindingly obvious, why didn't you just change down onto a smaller rear sprocket? It's a fair bit cheaper that spending money on new chainrings. :?

^
Glad i'm not the only one thinking this

Grill

nunowoolmez wrote:

Thanks for the reply, all sound pounts. Yes I know small small sounds strange & unsound, but it's something I tried a couple of years ago after someone suggested it on a training camp/holiday in Majorca after they noticed I spent 'most of my time' in the big ring & was tiring myself out. Most of those guys raced & were all in the inner ring (admittedly most using 39/53). Since then I haven't felt the need to change back & I ride much stronger (or can sustain an avg speed for longer) as a result.

This doesn't make sense to me. Mallorca is a big ring island. Were you in the big ring on the climbs or something?

nunowoolmez

Not on the big climbs no, but on some of the shallower stuff yes. Maybe a lot of that experience was becuase I was going considerably faster & for longer, & was not accustomed to it. I discovered a lot about my riding over those 2 weeks & it was nice to hear the fast lads & lasses tell me I was strong & should consider racing. Which I haven't. Yet.

Maybe my muscles have now just gotten used to the cadence I now ride at. I probably should mix it up a bit more & use the big ring more than I do.

ai_1

nunowoolmez wrote:

Not on the big climbs no, but on some of the shallower stuff yes. Maybe a lot of that experience was becuase I was going considerably faster & for longer, & was not accustomed to it. I discovered a lot about my riding over those 2 weeks & it was nice to hear the fast lads & lasses tell me I was strong & should consider racing. Which I haven't. Yet.

Maybe my muscles have now just gotten used to the cadence I now ride at. I probably should mix it up a bit more & use the big ring more than I do.

The thing is you say you're using small-small (so I'm assuming 34/11 to 34/13 sort of range) because you were tiring yourself out on the big ring. But unless you're using the small chainring in combination with a large sprocket, why not just use a bigger sprocket with the big chainring? It's not like the small an big chainrings are two completely different configurations with magical powers to transform how your bike works. The range of gears available with each chainring overlaps hugely. Choosing to use the small chainring with a small sprocket offers no advantage over using the big chainring with a bigger sprocket.

For example:
34/11 is about equivalent to 50/16 (if you have a 16)
34/12 is between 50/17 and 50/18
34/13 is about equivalent to 50/19

So it's not like using the 34 the whole time gives you any special advantage over just using it when needed to achieve a small gear ratio. You can do the same with the 50 and a bigger sprocket as you can with a 34 and a small sprocket and it'll be quieter and perhaps a teeny bit more efficient due to greater chain radii and reduced rub.

fleshtuxedo

....but these go to 11

undapressure

DKay wrote:

undapressure wrote:

I always found the 34/28 too small on the steep stuff and that I almost stopped moving.

Ummm...without wishing to state the blindingly obvious, why didn't you just change down onto a smaller rear sprocket? It's a fair bit cheaper that spending money on new chainrings. :?

Because I got a new groupset when I got a new bike!

nunowoolmez

FleshTuxedo wrote:

....but these go to 11

Care to expand at all bud? What do you refer to?

BikingBud

What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Push it up to 11!!

Brilliant :P

nunowoolmez

Ah, right. Yep, I'm there now :-) :-)