oh granny

[tangentgirl]

Hills, glorious hills. I ride 'em. Slowly but surely. Can't avoid 'em. Wouldn't want to.

I'm getting a new road bike, still looking at options. When I bought my current bike about ten years ago, a triple chain ring was the way to go for a beginning, not so fast rider that wanted to do serious time in the hills. That's what I got, and I've been very happy with it.

I've looked at a few bikes with compact doubles and asked, does this come in a triple? The answer I get back usually is something mumbled about me not wanting that, that the 3 vs. the c2 doesn't make that much of a difference these days, that it weighs more, blah blah blah.

Are they puttin' me on so they can sell the bike in stock? Are they being snoody cause they don't need a granny gear? Are they being perfectly honest and am I looking at outdated technology?

[OakLeaf]

Here's my take on it:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showpost.php?p=496840&postcount=6

[Catrin]

Here's my take on it:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showpost.php?p=496840&postcount=6

Thanks for the link, I am going to have to make the same decision when we start deciding the parts for my Gunnar next month :D

[Veronica]

My first road bike had a triple and I did three double centuries on it. There's nothing wrong with a triple. :) My second road bike has a compact double, but it was more of a custom build and I got gearing very comparable to my triple. I was trying to make it as light as possible and that's why I went with the compact double. My third bike I got for racing tris and it had a standard compact double. It was fine on a single fairly short climb, like Diablo to the Junction. And it was fine on the very hilly Half Ironman I did last year, because the hills were more rolling. But whenever I did anything longer, like Tam or multiple sustained climbs, my legs would just get fried.

The bike has SRAM Force and we traded out the rear for SRAM Apex so I could have a 34 back there. There are some big jumps in gearing, but my knees are so much happier with it.

Look at a gear ratio calculator to determine what your lowest gearing is now and then decide for yourself just how much you can go up. Everybody is going to be different. My legs are super strong, but the joints can't handle the added work for sustained periods.

Have fun shopping!

Veronica

[TxDoc]

Are they puttin' me on so they can sell the bike in stock? Are they being snoody cause they don't need a granny gear? Are they being perfectly honest and am I looking at outdated technology?

Actually no, in my opinion they are pretty much telling you the truth.
Granted, this comes from someone who rides standard double and 11-21, so take my words with a grain of salt, I've been a masher for 30+ years and I always confess to it upfront... :p

Either way, unless you do loaded touring or plan Alpine passes, the difference between compact double and triple is not that much. If you are concerned that some hills/mountains may be too difficult, you could use the compact with a cassette that goes up to 28 or so, and that would still give you plenty of room to shift.
And - the compact is both lighter and easier to tune up, so it has a few advantages.

That said, there is no substitute for trying it out and deciding for yourself what feels best. I'd say test ride a few compacts and if possible include a couple of good hills in your test ride. Then go back home and ride your bike with the triple on the same roads. See how you feel with both, and then decide which one you like best.

[tangentgirl]

Test rode a bike, a double, w a SRAM Apex, 10-speed, 11-32t. I think it's gonna work just fine. :D