Pro compact 52x36

casatikid

I'm looking at changing from a standard chainset as I ride a lot of hilly sportives etc.Im not finding it hard on a standard but with the years advancing making my climbing a little easier would be a great help and I don't want to go down the road of a full compact.
That's not for any macho reasons its just that I want to continue to feel like I have done a good ride at the end of a sportive.
Anyone any comments on the 52x36?

homers_double

Well it's about* half way between...










* might not be exactly half way for the pedants on here.

markhewitt1978

CASATIKID wrote:

Anyone any comments on the 52x36?

It's a gear ratio. It will have a different ratio to the one you have, which means that for your pedal revolutions the back wheel will go around at a different speed depending on your selected gear. That's about as exciting as it gets I'm afraid. Run whatever ratio suits you.

drlodge

If changing from 39x53 to give yourself a lower gear ratio, I'd go the whole hog and get a compact 34x50. Your knees will thank you in later life.

imposter2.0

drlodge wrote:

If changing from 39x53 to give yourself a lower gear ratio, I'd go the whole hog and get a compact 34x50. Your knees will thank you in later life.

How much later? I spent the late 80s, 90s and a lot of the 2000s racing on 42/52 and in 2016 my knees are still fine. If cyclists get knee problems, I suspect the real reasons are usually more to do with either something congenital or otherwise unrelated to cycling.

amrushton

48/36 with an 11-28 or 12-30? Go to a gear calculator and look at the numbers. How often are you in 52 x11/12/13? Downhill, gravity takes care of that. It's uphill you need the gearing.

rolf_f

CASATIKID wrote:

That's not for any macho reasons its just that I want to continue to feel like I have done a good ride at the end of a sportive.

I don't understand this!

imposter2.0

Rolf F wrote:

CASATIKID wrote:

That's not for any macho reasons its just that I want to continue to feel like I have done a good ride at the end of a sportive.

I don't understand this!

Actually, me neither...

drlodge

Imposter wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

CASATIKID wrote:

That's not for any macho reasons its just that I want to continue to feel like I have done a good ride at the end of a sportive.

I don't understand this!

Actually, me neither...

That makes 3 of us!

amrushton

4 of us now.

bendertherobot

I'm doing velothon on 42 with 11-36....................... me 5!

keezx

I di fully understand why people want a 52 and not a 50, they don't wanna look like a granny.

Anonymous

I prefer to call it Semi Compact.
Pro Compact sounds incredibly sad to me. It was probably a joke that stuck lol.

Semi compacts are great. Not least because they killed off triples :twisted:

bigmat

I've just moved to 52/36 on my racing bike, didn't realise it made me "Pro" - bonus! Seriously, I have raced National Bs on a compact, Alpine sportives, time trials, crits etc etc. Very seldom was it the gearing that held me back. 52/36 is a nice balance for most riding if you have decent bike fitness, but I wouldn't rule out 50/34 on the basis that it won't allow you to ride hard and fast because that just isn't true.

DanTe1977

amrushton wrote:

48/36 with an 11-28 or 12-30? Go to a gear calculator and look at the numbers. How often are you in 52 x11/12/13? Downhill, gravity takes care of that. It's uphill you need the gearing.

That BS too.

drlodge

Its pretty simple for me...work out the lowest ratio I need and go from there. 36x29 is fine unless I'm doing a steep or long hill, or doing a very long ride with climbing. Otherwise I'll need 34x29 and hence a compact chainset.

I do have a 36-52 on the Wyndymilla, but have since bought a set of 34-50 chainrings to give me a lower gear should I need it. In hindsight, should have got the 34-50 chainset to begin with. But at least I will sleep well knowing that I look like a Pro...

londoncommuter

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious but I couldn't quite see the point of them although obviously it's all completely personal. I just swapped out a 52/36 11-28 for 50/34 11-26.

I didn't need the 52/11 top end as I'm not Chris Hoy and I didn't need the 36/28 as I'm not 20 stone and live in the alps. By loosing the very top and very bottom end of the range you get less gaps at the lower end of the cassette. Of course, if SRAM were nice and made cassettes which started with 12 and had an 18T to compensate then a 52/36 might be quite cool.

I do have a residual sadness that I don't look like a pro though.....

bernithebiker

50/36 with 11-28 for mountains and,

11-23 for everything else.

napoleond

I sometimes ride with a semi on.

taon24

The biggest regret will always be not having the right bottom gear. If you are going up shorter or shallower hills a 39 x 25 should be fine for a light and fit rider. As you get heavier, less fit and the hills more challenging choose a lower gear. 34 x 32 is about the easiest gear you can get. A 36 x 28 gives you a gear just a bit harder than a 34 x 28, so probably isn't a big loss unless you frequently are struggling in your bottom gear.
The next question is are you racing? If so you might find you need a big top gear, otherwise for sportives, chaingangs and even low level racing I doubt that you need more than a 50 x 12, so I doubt a pro compact will add much with a 52.
Finally ideally you will not constantly be shifting from big to little ring so riding on the flat at a constant cadence where is your chain? If you find yourself struggling to choose between little chainring and small cogs and big ring and big cogs then a smaller big chain ring and/or bigger small chain ring would seem sensible to prevent constant front and rear shifting.

darkhairedlord

NapoleonD wrote:

I sometimes ride with a semi on.

Do you push through the bottom bracket?
Nap, what is the official ocd position on 52/36? I can understand the improved aesthetic over 50/34 but that is often dimished by having a dinner plate on the back.

napoleond

The official OCP position is a 53/39 with no more than a 25 on the back.
However my TT bike is 55/42.
My best bike is 53/39
My winter bike is 52/36

I'm CRAP uphill and haven't met a hill yet where I've struggled with a 36/28 on my winter beast.

markhewitt1978

NapoleonD wrote:

I'm CRAP uphill and haven't met a hill yet where I've struggled with a 36/28 on my winter beast.

No, you're not.

drlodge

taon24 wrote:

The biggest regret will always be not having the right bottom gear.

This. 34-50 with 12-28 is the "standard" compact setup which gives a 34x28 bottom gear. If you need this then moving to 36-52 won't help you on the hills. However if you don't need such a low gear then you can move to a semi-compact up front and/or a more compact cassette with closer ratios at the back.

One big advantage with my 34-50 and 12-29 setup is that I can stay in the big chainring and run 50-26 up steady hills without too much cross chaining (I don't go 50-29).

Anonymous

I find the advantage of a compact (and 11sp) is the closer ratios at the rear as you can have a smaller, tighter cassette while still maintaining adequate ratios for hills and rolling terrain due do the smaller chainrings.

50x34 and 11-25 means enough to get pedalling at a fair lick while keeping close ratios at the rear to always be in the right gear on undulating terrain, and an easy enough ratio for all the hills I've ever been on. Sometimes I think that bike could benefit from a semi-compact, but to be honest it would be cheaper and easier to just fit an 11-23, while improving the closeness of gear ratios.

What is odd is the people talking about 'spinning out' at high speeds on a compact - personally my comfortable cadence is about 80-90 so the bigger gears are more comfortable when at high speeds, often reached in training rides. I'd rather not be whizzing on a 50-12. The extra gears on 52x11 can make that more comfortable (which I have on my winter bike)

53/39alltheway

NapoleonD wrote:

I sometimes ride with a semi on.

Need the blood in yer legs though!

darkhairedlord

NapoleonD wrote:

The official OCP position is a 53/39 with no more than a 25 on the back.
However my TT bike is 55/42.
My best bike is 53/39
My winter bike is 52/36

I'm CRAP uphill and haven't met a hill yet where I've struggled with a 36/28 on my winter beast.

I have 50/34 with 28 on the back, is this worse or better than 52/36 with 30

drlodge

52/36 with 30 is a tad lower ratio, just.

napoleond

darkhairedlord wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

The official OCP position is a 53/39 with no more than a 25 on the back.
However my TT bike is 55/42.
My best bike is 53/39
My winter bike is 52/36

I'm CRAP uphill and haven't met a hill yet where I've struggled with a 36/28 on my winter beast.

I have 50/34 with 28 on the back, is this worse or better than 52/36 with 30

Fine, if you're posting in the 'Your mountain bike' thread...

itboffin

I just bought an 11-30 10 speed for the marmotte after doing it pretty well 3 years ago on a 11-26, so far I've ridden it twice in the UK and hated every minute too spinny with no mid range, I'm pretty sure closer gearing is better than a MASSHOOF top and bottom gear, for me at least.

I'll be taking two sets of wheels just in case, as for the 52/36 I've changed my crankset so I can swap to mid compact when I come home, but not with that cassette

dennisn

drlodge wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

CASATIKID wrote:

That's not for any macho reasons its just that I want to continue to feel like I have done a good ride at the end of a sportive.

I don't understand this!

Actually, me neither...

That makes 3 of us!

I think I understand what he's saying, but it sure is messed up thinking.