Triple for disc brakes or smallest chain ring

twiza
twiza Posts: 38
edited August 2016 in Road buying advice
I recently installed a triple groupset on my roadie to help me up hills following open heart surgery, and seems to have worked well. It's a tiagra triple with 50/39/30 and 11-34 cassette.

I'm now looking at getting a new bike and one of the options has disc brakes. Does anyone know if there is a triple groupset that is compatible with disc brakes? Or if I kept the ultegra groupset on, what is the smallest chainring I could run? Appreciate its almost sacrilege to do that!

Comments

  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Assuming you mean hydraulic disks, then no I don't think there is currently a l/h hydro shifter with three clicks. Obviously with cable disks, then it doesn't matter either way..
  • twiza
    twiza Posts: 38
    Yes it is hydraulic. Thought that might be the case, at least for the time being
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,815
    Someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if you're stuck with a two rings on the front then the maximum difference between the chainrings that the front derailleur can handle is 16 teeth. You couldn't therefore run 50 and 30 tooth rings for example.

    If that rationale is correct, you could run something like 46 and 30 if you could source the correct chain rings. Or if you never use the big ring on your triple then possibly a mountain bike double chainset could work which could be found with a combination like 38/28.
  • arlowood
    arlowood Posts: 2,561
    Another more radical option is to consider the relatively new SRAM 1 x 11 gearing that features on some of the newer gravel/adventure bikes. It has a single chainset with, usually, a 44t chainring and an 11-speed rear cassette with an 11-42 range of cogs. This would give you close to the 1:1.13 lowest ratio you have with your triple. But if you need to match it the 44t chainring can be swapped for a smaller one say 38t

    These 1 x 11 gersets are matched with hydraulic discs on several bikes eg the Boardman CX Team

    http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -team-bike

    and the Planet X London Road

    http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNRIV ... -road-bike

    It's just a thought as another way to tackle the issue you have at the moment
  • twiza
    twiza Posts: 38
    Thanks for the idea, quite radical like you say but definitely worth considering

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