Best for hills - 50-34 or 30-39-50?

tonysj

Hi All,

I'm riding the Full Ay Up Yorkshire sportive on the 7th October and those who know the route will know there's a few Big climbs, Rievaulx Abbey, Kilburn/White Horse, Roulston Scar and Sutton Bank.

Now the issue I have is my summer bike had a compact 50/34 - 11/28 gearing and I can just manage climbs in my local area, Monsal Head, Rowsley Bar.

My winter bike a triple Triban 520 has 50/39/30 - 12/25 gearing.
I've checked best I can online and it appears there's no difference in the lower gearing, unless I'm checking it wrong!.

Can someone tell me which bike is likely to assist with my climbing for this sportive?

I appreciate the weight and other factors may negate either way some benefits of 1 bike over the other.

Summer bike weighs around 9kg with bottles etc.
Winter bike probably weighs around 11kg+ with bottles etc.

I don't intend changing any cassette etc just want your advice as above.

Regards

Tony

PhilipPirrip

Find yourself a local hilly route, go out for a ride on each bike and see which you prefer for climbing.

mrb123

Can't you put an 11 to 32 on your summer bike?

FWIW White Horse Bank is pretty tough but there's not much else on the route that's too extreme except one short steep bank towards the end.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

The Triban has the easier gearing by a really tiny fraction (~ 32 vs 31.7 gear inches in easiest gear), but up steep climbs, the lighter bike should be more of an advantage.

singleton

The gearing difference is about 1.2% in the lowest gear
The weight difference is about 20%
Based purely on the numbers, I'd go with the summer bike.
But I have a riding mate who much prefers his heavier bike to ride and is consistently quicker on it - so it's not all down to the numbers.

slowbike

well - it's easy enough to replace the cassette on the triban and have a lowest gear of 30-28 or even 30-30 which would make it even "easier" to get up the hills.

Personally, I'd just chuck a bigger cassette on the summer bike and go for it ... unless it's pissing it down - then I'd chuck a bigger cassette on the winter bike and go for it ...

keef66

Stick the rear wheel or cassette from the summer bike on the winter bike and ride that. Then you'll have a bottom gear of 30 x 28.

tonysj

keef66 wrote:

Stick the rear wheel or cassette from the summer bike on the winter bike and ride that. Then you'll have a bottom gear of 30 x 28.

The summer is a 10speed and the winter a 9speed unfortunately.....

tonysj

NitrousOxide wrote:

The Triban has the easier gearing by a really tiny fraction (~ 32 vs 31.7 gear inches in easiest gear), but up steep climbs, the lighter bike should be more of an advantage.

That's my thinking if I don't change anything parts wise....
Will a 30t on the rear be much of a difference ??

tonysj

The summer bike is a Boardman Team Carbon BTW..

svetty

Although the hills you list are decent they aren't the hardest either. WHB has steep sections with flatter ones in between so you get to recover a fair bit. Rievaux is pretty short, as is the pull up and over to Cod Beck. The climbs on the Snilesworth moor road are definitely a sapping experience though - save something for this section! 34- 28 should be OK

keef66

TonySJ wrote:

keef66 wrote:

Stick the rear wheel or cassette from the summer bike on the winter bike and ride that. Then you'll have a bottom gear of 30 x 28.

The summer is a 10speed and the winter a 9speed unfortunately.....

Same as my two, which I occasionally find annoying. (I should tart up the winter beast now 10 speed stuff is old hat and Ebay's knee deep in it)

I'd put a bigger cassette on the winter bike then. 9 speed's cheaper and you should be able to squeeze in a sprocket bigger than a 25.

My winter triple went from 12-25 to a 12-27 cassette and 2 extra teeth is noticeable on steep climbs. You may be able to find / fit a cassette with a 28 or 30T biggest sprocket?