Compact

volvine
volvine Posts: 409
edited July 2008 in Road beginners
when looking at groupsets what does compact mean???

Comments

  • W5454
    W5454 Posts: 133
    A Compact chainset has 50 teeth on the big ring and 34 teeth on the small ring.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    volvine wrote:
    is that what the pro's use?

    Tyler Hamilton used one once, they provide lower gears than a standard chainset though.
    W5454 wrote:
    A Compact chainset has 50 teeth on the big ring and 34 teeth on the small ring.

    A Compact chainset is one that has smaller chainrings than a standard chainset (e.g. 52/39 or 53/39). The most common compact chainrings are 50/34, but 48/34 and 50/36 are also common.
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  • nick hanson
    nick hanson Posts: 1,655
    Compact chainsets have a smaller bcd,that is to say you can have chainrings that go down to 34 teeth.
    The bcd (bolt circle diameter) of a compact is 110mm,rather than the 130 or 135mm bcd of the "normal" chainsets,which only allow you to go down to a 38 chainring on Shimano or 39 teeth on Campagnolo
    so many cols,so little time!
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    volvine wrote:
    is that what the pro's use?

    Apparently Alberto Contador used a compact in the Giro on some of the tougher mountain stages - but I would imagine that the pro's usually use the more 'regular' double which is a 52/39
  • volvine
    volvine Posts: 409
    so can you get a compact tripple or is that completley seperate?
    (god i wish i knew more)lol
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    volvine wrote:
    so can you get a compact tripple or is that completley seperate?
    (god i wish i knew more)lol

    Chainsets are divided into:

    Standard double (eg. 53/39)
    Compact double (e.g. 50/34)
    Road Triple (e.g. 50/40/30)
    MTB Triple (e.g. 44/32/22), these are sometimes used on touring bikes


    (MTB doubles also exist but I don't know what ratios they'd be, but they are lower than a compact double)
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