3x11: Road bike for struggling climbers
Comments
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Also, FWIW Miche cassettes are individual so as long as you can source the cogs you want then you can assemble any configuration that you want.
Edit:- Just clicked on the link above which covers it perfectly. 8)The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
lettingthedaysgoby wrote:This seems like an awful lot of effort for very little gain.
Exactly.0 -
What a waste of time. Just get a suitable lowest ratio with a double and a big enough cassette and twiddle away up the hill. For all the extra hassle just to find the ‘right’ ratio it would appear you love changing gear constantly as the gradient varies by the odd half a percent.
If your lowest gear isn’t low enough, get a lower. If you can’t shift to second gear as the gradient relents and then third gear and so on with a 2x11 combo then I think you need to learn to cycle at different cadences.
As others have said, you’ve found a solution looking for a problem that virtually nobody has.
PP1 -
^^I tend to agree with this (that a compact front and bailout big gear is all you need), with the caveat that "just tweak your cadence" is not necessarily the best advice. Everyone has a cadence they like and can hold for a climb.
The decline of the triple is a welcome development. I think back to the 22/32/42 setup I had when I raced mtbs decades ago -- always jamming with mud, rarely used the 42, and cooked the 32 and 22 every 6 months so had to replace constantly. I'd love to try the latest 1 x setups, and I think for road in the future it could work, if there's a way to make a narrower but strong chain that would support, say, 14 rear gears.0 -
My weight weenie hillclimbing bike has a superlight drivetrain with lovely close ratios.
46-30 with 11-25 cassette.
Top end is equivalent to 50-12.5, bottom end lower than 34-28.
Light weight. Close ratios, great gear spread for all occasions.
The gaps in the one-by systems are ridiculous, a big backward step.
I think it's brilliant that the OP has worked out what he wants and doesn't want, then with a bit of ingenuity achieved it. See all the sheep knocking him for daring to think differently to them.0 -
Pilot Pete wrote:What a waste of time. Just get a suitable lowest ratio with a double and a big enough cassette and twiddle away up the hill. For all the extra hassle just to find the ‘right’ ratio it would appear you love changing gear constantly as the gradient varies by the odd half a percent.
If your lowest gear isn’t low enough, get a lower. If you can’t shift to second gear as the gradient relents and then third gear and so on with a 2x11 combo then I think you need to learn to cycle at different cadences.
As others have said, you’ve found a solution looking for a problem that virtually nobody has.
PP
Well done, you've continued the tradition of the modern social media principle of "you think differently to me, therefore you are wrong and deserve to be mocked".
You might not appreciate the benefit of close ratios. Some do. No need to mock them for it, is there, Mr Pilot? Grow up, maybe?0 -
That's kind of where I started out, buying my first proper road bike at the age of 50 following knee surgery. I wanted low enough gears and close ratios, so I specced a 50/39/30 triple chainset with a 12-25 cassette. Lots of duplication but I could always find my sweet spot in terms of cadence.
As the years have ticked by I found I needed a lower and lower bottom gear for the steep stuff, so first went to a 12-27 cassette, and now to an 11-32 for a better than 1:1 ratio. It is gappier at the bottom end though.
Achieved the low 1:1 with a CX 46/36 chainset on the winter bike by fitting an 11-36 MTB cassette and rear mech. That's only 9 speed so some of the jumps are huge...0 -
My 1985 Harry Hall sports a 9 speed Tiagra setup. 11-36 on the back with a compact up front. can't see me ever needing anything better. I've yet to use the lowest gearing. I can't see how the OPs hard work betters this combi. I recently sold on a bike that was Campag throughout as I just could not replicate this Shimano gearing and probably spending a fortune to get anywhere near.Nothing to prove. http://adenough1.blogspot.co.uk/0
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Bordersroadie wrote:Pilot Pete wrote:What a waste of time. Just get a suitable lowest ratio with a double and a big enough cassette and twiddle away up the hill. For all the extra hassle just to find the ‘right’ ratio it would appear you love changing gear constantly as the gradient varies by the odd half a percent.
If your lowest gear isn’t low enough, get a lower. If you can’t shift to second gear as the gradient relents and then third gear and so on with a 2x11 combo then I think you need to learn to cycle at different cadences.
As others have said, you’ve found a solution looking for a problem that virtually nobody has.
PP
Well done, you've continued the tradition of the modern social media principle of "you think differently to me, therefore you are wrong and deserve to be mocked".
You might not appreciate the benefit of close ratios. Some do. No need to mock them for it, is there, Mr Pilot? Grow up, maybe?
What’s thinking differently got to do with it? The industry ‘standard’ of a double chain set up front with suitable ring sizes (compact, semi compact or standard) is proven to be just fine. The days of bikes being supplied with 53/39 and a cassette with a biggest cog of 21 teeth have quite rightly long been consigned to history. Bikes are now sold with a view to who is actually buying them and there is something for everyone. It’s easy to buy a cassette with a 32 or even bigger lowest gear. If you can’t climb a one in four hill with a 34/34 then perhaps you need to get stronger and fitter.
As for cobbling together something with a triple chainset with an even lower bottom gear seems completely pointless to me. Oh sorry, I’m thinking differently therefore I’m someway at fault?
Oh, and where is the mocking you accuse me of? I simply put my point of view, the OP asked for opinions and I gave mine. You seem to struggle with that and then start the mocking of me - you clown. :roll:
PP0 -
If you will pardon the pun, it is fascinating how people put a suitable "spin" on their posts.0
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Craigus89 wrote:Seems like you haven’t actually gained much in terms of climbing gears by putting a 23 cassette on it. A compact with a long cage RD can give you 1:1 gearing.
^^ This ^^0 -
Maybe you can try to fit a mountain bike or gravel bike cassette as they have bigger gears?
Else consider an e-bike.0 -
When you only read the recent posts on a thread (or is it topic?) you never get the big picture.0
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I run a 3x11 setup with a 11-40t cassette and 48-36-22 chainset, it all works fine with a M8000 rear mech, on a flat bar shifter (left) and M9000 shifter (right). It just about lets the chain wrap around big-big while being able to go all the way to the 13t sprocket on the 22t chainring. Best setup I have ever had. If I go lower than 22x40 I can't balance. Been riding up walls ever since lol0
