compact and triple query

bing gordon
bing gordon Posts: 662
edited July 2009 in Road buying advice
im an owner of a specialized triple and im thinking of upgrading my bike and going over to a double but im a bit scared of losing those vital gears for the steep hills.
can someone please advise me on what's the best option gear wise for a double.
also , can someone expalin what a compact actually is ?.

Comments

  • jswba
    jswba Posts: 491
    A compact has 50 teeth on the larger chainring, 34 on the smaller. Regular doubles are often 53/39. You'd be better off with the compact if you're looking at changing, but you'll most likely also have to switch your bottom bracket, front mech and possibly shifter too. If you're still worried about the hills, you could also switch your cassette from 12-25 to 12-27 to give you a little bit of extra.

    There are loads of debates on the merits of compacts v triples on here; just do a couple of searches! Some say compacts are better, others swear by triples. Why not see if you can test ride a compact around your regular route to see how different it feels before deciding?
  • bing gordon
    bing gordon Posts: 662
    thanks for the reply.
    i do love the ride position of the specialized allez , more upright , and i have upgraded the wheels to mavic aksium's so im wondering if to just upgrade the groupset to either a better quality triple or to a compact (has sora crank tiagra rear mech ) or to get shut and upgrade the whole bike to a roubaix.
    hard decisions upgrading a bike , didnt relise how hard it actually is !!.
  • bing gordon
    bing gordon Posts: 662
    i've decided to upgrade my specialized allez ,can someone please advise me on which triple or compact 10SPD double chainset + front/rear mech's + shfters + rear cassette prob a 12/27 (bit worn this one) should i buy ?.ive about £400 to spend so im on a bit of a tight budget.the bike has sora but a tiagra rear mech, i would have to leave out the brakes for now to save on money if poss.
    im just not clued up on what's is good and bad quality.
  • nferrar
    nferrar Posts: 2,511
    I'd go with Ultegra (compact not triple), 105 is pretty similar performance but the left shifters can be dodgy (not sure if fixed in the latest black edition ones though). You could mix and match between them ofc. If getting the full group then Merlin tend to be the cheapest http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/campagnol ... groupsets/
  • tenor
    tenor Posts: 278
    If you have Sora shifters you probably have 8 speed transmission (?)
    If this is the case I would stick with the triple as you might otherwise have large gaps between ratios. The Compact double became popular with the wider gear range possible with 9 and 10 speed blocks.
    Personally, I would save the money for the Roubaix.

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