Gearing Options
commuterlegs
Posts: 271
in Road general
I currently ride a 52/36 & 12-28 on my road bike and don't do many hills.
I'm planning a big day which will probably involve a fair bit of climbing so interested in making my life a bit easier. I can swap my short cage RD for a normal one and fit a 32 or 34 cassette for about £60 all in (it's only Tiagra) but aware that this will leave big jumps between gears. Alternatively, I could spend more (probs closer to £100) and get a compact crank.
Which do you think would be better?
I'm planning a big day which will probably involve a fair bit of climbing so interested in making my life a bit easier. I can swap my short cage RD for a normal one and fit a 32 or 34 cassette for about £60 all in (it's only Tiagra) but aware that this will leave big jumps between gears. Alternatively, I could spend more (probs closer to £100) and get a compact crank.
Which do you think would be better?
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Comments
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Easy answer - cassette.
36-32 or 34 is much lower gear than 34-28. Plus you don't lose anything at the top end and it's cheaper. Yes there are some bigger jumps but if you look at the ratios they tend to be at the bottom end of the cassette leaving the top and middle similar to your current one.
It might be a different answer if you were on a 53/39 chainset but losing 2 teeth off the inner ring does not make a huge difference.5 -
Great thanks, didn't know if losing the teeth at the front (where you're putting the power through) had a bigger impact on your legs than a few more teeth at the back.0
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Agree , easiest gain 34 teeth on the cassette0
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Going from a 36 to 34 at the front = 100*(1-(34/36)) = 5.6% easier
Going from 28 to 34 at the back = 100*((34/28)-1) = 21.4% easier0 -
I've just done something similar.
I'm running a 52/36 front and had an 11-28 on the back, I switched the cassette for an 11-32 and it makes a big difference.0 -
Thanks. I've ordered the parts now so I can look forward to a few hills.0
