Best ring/cassette combo for hills

Can anybody tell me what they think is the best ring/cassette combo to best approximate the range of a triple on a bike with a compact double? A friend of mine is struggling on the hills we have around here and she is feeling pretty defeated. Plus we aren't getting any younger. The hills range from long, gradual inclines to relatively short but steep climbs. I'm aware that time and conditioning will improve things somewhat but it's pretty defeating to bottom out your gears repeatedly and we haven't even done any of the big hills.
I know this can be a rather divisive topic and I don't mean to start a triple vs double war. Just looking for some info to help her start the decision making process.

Are you riding into eastern Licking County, Knox County and/or the Hocking Hills? Or not that steep?

If she's regularly doing the 20%'ers and struggling, the best bet is probably a mountain-range cassette, unfortunately. As low as you can go, slap on the long cage derailleur, give up on the tall gears for the time being.

All of those as well as the rollers in eastern Franklin, Union and Delaware. The 20%'ers are out of the question for now but that is the goal. I just don't want her to give up entirely because the smaller stuff is kicking her butt. She's already worried about "holding me back" (laughable concept really) which makes riding stressful for her.

I always bottom out on my gears climbing. :D

Veronica

I do too sometimes but she's bottoming out on hills that aren't even the hardest around. It's getting discouraging for her. Perhaps new gearing isn't the answer but I thought it was worth asking. I believe she has a 34/50 on the front and 12x25 on the cassette.

Well, I think have a 12 - 32. I started with the 12 - 25 and it was fine if I was riding just one sustained 3 - 4 mile climb. But if I wanted to ride more than one hill - my joints just couldn't take it. I have to be really careful to get fully warmed up before I try to ride in a big gear. Bad knees. The leg muscles say, "What? we can do this!" But the knees don't like it. :D

Veronica

I have an 11/34 on my Gunnar. It has a full mountain bike drivetrain paired with a light frame. It works for me, I am no spring chicken and this is kind to my knees. I do have a triple. ..

Oh heck, most of my super tough friends have a 27 on the back of their compacts, and you can do that with a regular road derailleur. I've got a 30T puppy ring up front on my stock triple, and the year I did Fall Challenge I put a 27 on the back and it made all the difference in the world over the stock 25. 34x25 is NOT for the faint of heart in Ohio. No wonder she's discouraged.

But, she needs good shifting technique and the ability to go from sitting to standing, too. How's her technique?

I have a compact with a mountain cassette on the back, an 11-32. I don't use the gears all of the time, but if I am doing a ride with a lot of climbing, I take this bike over my triple with a 11-28. And by the way, I have gone from a 25 to a 27 to a 28 on that bike. Three years ago I did a tour in Spain on a triple with a 12-25. Two cat 3 and one cat 2 climbs. It was hard and I was probably going 3 mph at one point, but I did it.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

34x25 is NOT for the faint of heart in Ohio. No wonder she's discouraged.
But, she needs good shifting technique and the ability to go from sitting to standing, too. How's her technique?

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She's still on the learning curve for shifting but is picking it up really quickly. I think she's intimidated by the hills and that makes it hard for her to think about what she needs to do so she waits too long to shift. She has no difficulty standing and is steady in the transitions. An entire drivetrain swap is out of the question at the moment plus she's only had the bike for about 7 months. We rode almost daily from the end of August until the middle of November so she's put a lot of miles in in a short period of time. As the weather improves we will be starting out again so a reassessment of her hill climbing ability is in order, however it has been complicated as she is also recovering from foot surgery. We did a lot of hard-core cardio this winter and I'm hoping that helped. Otherwise I think switching out the cassette is the way to go.

When using triple chainrings in the front, I have found that gearing that is near 1:1 (e.g., 34 teeth in the front and 34 teeth in back) is enough to get my old body up even the slopes in the Rocky Mountains in Gunnison. Right now I'm using a compact double in the front (34 teeth) and the biggest cog in back is a 32. This combo is low enough to make the climbs in the Texas hill country.

Both my main outdoor bikes have compact doubles. I have a 30 on one of them (Campy Record with an IRD cassette) and a 34 on the other (Ultegra with a long cage derailleur, road setup, not MTB) which gives me a 1:1 on that bike which is my super long distance and climbing bike. I really don't miss the triple at all.

I find if the ride is long and hard enough, I use whatever gears I have available. Which I think is basically what Veronica was saying. :)

Has your friend talked to her bike shop about what options are available for her bike to get her a bigger cassette? My LBS is super innovative when it comes to putting big cassettes on. I have had no trouble shifting or anything with the larger than "standard" cassettes.

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

Has your friend talked to her bike shop about what options are available for her bike to get her a bigger cassette? My LBS is super innovative when it comes to putting big cassettes on. I have had no trouble shifting or anything with the larger than "standard" cassettes.

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Her LBS is part of the problem. When she bought the bike they assumed "soccer mom on the bike path only" and never asked her what kind of riding she would be doing. She, being new, didn't know what kind of questions to ask them. All she knew was she needed a road bike not a hybrid. They don't listen to her when she has brought it in, repeatedly, for the same problem and when she asks to speak to the tech when she picks it up he is always "unavailable" so nobody tells her what they found and how they fixed it. My shop takes me back shows me the issue, what they did and how to prevent or fix it in an emergency. Her bike is currently making this terrible rattling noise. It's been in twice and they can't "replicate" it but as soon as she gets it back the same noise is there which leads me to believe they aren't interested in fixing it. I went with her the third time, dropped some cycling terms and put on my best "angry eyes" and they took it out immediately for a test ride, heard the noise and decided it was the bottom bracket which they replaced. She hasn't been able to ride it to see if that fixed it (personally I think it's the saddle rails but I am often wrong). I feel like they are just patting her on the head and sending her on her way because she's not a "real" cyclist. I don't trust them at all and am reluctant to suggest she talk with them about changing the cassette. My LBS is a Specialized shop (she has a Giant) so worried that if they do the work her warranty will be voided. I just want her to have fun and not be worried about holding me back or feeling like a failure. UGH!

She should go to a different shop. I can't imagine what sort of warranty would be voided by having a competent shop work on the bike. Any manufacturer warranty is only going to cover the frame anyway.

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

She should go to a different shop. I can't imagine what sort of warranty would be voided by having a competent shop work on the bike. Any manufacturer warranty is only going to cover the frame anyway.

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Thank You Sarah!!!! I did not know this and it makes all the difference!!!!!