52/36 to 52/34 - Will it work?

JesseD

Off to ride in the mountains in Southern Spain in September and am wondering about gearing.

I currently have a 52/36 chainset and an 12-28 cassette which I thought might would be suitable, however I got talking to a mate at lunchtime today who is a far batter climber than me and have also been to these mountains before and he reckons a compact chainset would be better.

I have a Shimano 5800 34t inner ring i can chuck on my 6800 chainset making it 52/34, but I am now wondering if the shifting between the 2 rings will work?

Alex99

JesseD wrote:

Off to ride in the mountains in Southern Spain in September and am wondering about gearing.

I currently have a 52/36 chainset and an 12-28 cassette which I thought might would be suitable, however I got talking to a mate at lunchtime today who is a far batter climber than me and have also been to these mountains before and he reckons a compact chainset would be better.

I have a Shimano 5800 34t inner ring i can chuck on my 6800 chainset making it 52/34, but I am now wondering if the shifting between the 2 rings will work?

Should be workable as long as your derailleur can take the extra slack. Just shift with care.

JesseD

Using Di2 so shifting should be crisp but understand that I dont wnat to be shifting between 52 and 34 whilst under a lot of power.

Thinking would I be better off just buying a second hand compact for the trip then selling when i get back?

meanredspider

JesseD wrote:

Using Di2 so shifting should be crisp but understand that I dont wnat to be shifting between 52 and 34 whilst under a lot of power.

Thinking would I be better off just buying a second hand compact for the trip then selling when i get back?

Do you not know someone you could borrow one from?

I ran 50/33 and that was absolutely fine. A tooth or two on that size of ring isn't going to make a massive difference.

timothyw

Honestly, for the sake of 2 teeth at the front you might be overthinking it.

Don't get me wrong, if you go there with the 36t I'm sure there will be times when you think 'damn, i wish I had another gear' but I'm sure there'll be times you think that with a full compact 34t.

It's around a 5% difference. For comparison, the leap from 25t to 28t on the cassette (ie the last two) is closer to 10% difference.

Personally, I think it's time to put the credit card away and suck it up.

If you had a standard 39t little ring, hell yeah it's worth it. 36t, not worth it.

Do you have a medium cage rear derailleur? Putting on a 11-32 cassette would be a much easier gear.

dhungerf

I did it.................Works fine. Dropping down to the 34 is a bigger fall for the chain, make sure you ease it down

bristolpete

I have done it before now, just make sure you have a chain catcher in case. Simple as that.

banditvic

52-34 will work but the problem is that when on the 34 the chain will start catching on the big ring up front when you are in the two smallest cogs of the cassette, I ran a bike for years like it.

john1967

JesseD wrote:

Using Di2 so shifting should be crisp but understand that I dont wnat to be shifting between 52 and 34 whilst under a lot of power.

Thinking would I be better off just buying a second hand compact for the trip then selling when i get back?

This is the way to go.Just get a compact and a cassette with at least a 32t cog.You wont regret it.

JesseD

john1967 wrote:

JesseD wrote:

Using Di2 so shifting should be crisp but understand that I dont wnat to be shifting between 52 and 34 whilst under a lot of power.

Thinking would I be better off just buying a second hand compact for the trip then selling when i get back?

This is the way to go.Just get a compact and a cassette with at least a 32t cog.You wont regret it.

I'll have to change the rear mech then as well as it's a short cage on there, max will be a 28t on the back.

34 x 28 will have to do!

LiamW

I've fitted several 32th cassettes to be used with short reach rear mechs. Just remember to wind in the adjusting screw to give a bit more room though, the change isn't great if you forget to do that.

philbar72

JesseD wrote:

john1967 wrote:

JesseD wrote:

Using Di2 so shifting should be crisp but understand that I dont wnat to be shifting between 52 and 34 whilst under a lot of power.

Thinking would I be better off just buying a second hand compact for the trip then selling when i get back?

This is the way to go.Just get a compact and a cassette with at least a 32t cog.You wont regret it.

I'll have to change the rear mech then as well as it's a short cage on there, max will be a 28t on the back.

34 x 28 will have to do!

I'm sure you'd cope Jesse.