I had a OCR3 and it had triple chain ring. I bought a Roubaix, and it only had double. It never even crossed my mind that it would be harder to go up hill! and boy, is it. Did someone here go from a triple to a double?
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I had a OCR3 and it had triple chain ring. I bought a Roubaix, and it only had double. It never even crossed my mind that it would be harder to go up hill! and boy, is it. Did someone here go from a triple to a double?
What are your double rings? Compact? What is your rear cluster? My hubby and I went from a triple to a compact on our tandem and all we do is go uphill. If we now what you have on your new bike, maybe we can help you get the right combo to make the hills easier. There will be a difference but it doesn't have to be so drastic.
Brenda
I have a triple right now, but I never use the "granny" gear. I originally got the triple because I was afraid I wouldn't make it up a hill. So it was strictly for emergency purposes. I think I've used it 3x in 7 years. I use the 39x53 chain rings and it seems to be fine for me. My new bike will have a compact double and I'm curious to see how that works for me. I think the compacts are 34x50.
Wow! I consider you a very strong rider. I rode the Bloomin Metic a few years ago. The ride was described to me as rolling hills. Some of those hills were so steep I by all means did not consider them rolling. Yes, that was a first time for me using my granny gears. I sure you will have not problem riding those hills with your compact.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peanut03
~ JoAnn
I am interested in this same question! I have a compact double. I seem to be in the lowest gears all the time! We will come to a hill and half way up DH is telling me to shift to an easier gear and spin...I am out of gears!! We are considering changing to a tripple. I have campi components and DH has said we can convert easily. The current shifters will work with the conversion.
One thing I noticed when I was running gearing charts a week or two ago, was that a stock Campy double is considerably taller than a stock Shimano double. Before you do the triple conversion, you might just try shorter gearing on your double.
Sorry, I don't know was a compact and cluster is???
They're both typically 53/39 -- same on Campy and Shimano, but I know Campy has a 13/29 cassette -- that I use religiously!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
How many teeth on the chain rings? 53/39, 52/39, 52/38, 50/36, 50/34, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by violette
Size (range) of cassette? 12-27, 12-25, 12-23, 11-23, etc.
OK, I just checked out the link you gave in another topic, and if your bike has the same set up as the one in the picture, then no wonder you are struggling on the hills! I would never want to go uphill with that gear combo. If you do have a 53/39 in front and a 12-25 in the rear, your easiest gear is 40 gear inches! To give you an idea how high that is, my hubby's easiest gear is 35 gear inches. (and he is a strong boy) My easiest gear is 32. The lower the number the easier it is to pedal uphill.
There are some things you can do to make life easier but we need to know exactly what you have so we can point you in the right direction. Look at your smallest front ring and see if it is stamped with a number. If not, count the teeth. Next, look at the BIGGEST one in the back and count the teeth. Tell me what you got and we can help you. No one (but pros) should be climbing in a 39-25. OUCH
Brenda
Just to defend the 39/53 a little...
It's totally possible to do some climbing with a 39/25. You just have to train for it. If you're willing to put up with some very tough "damn this" sort of moments, Then you will eventually get stronger and not have nearly as much of a problem.
Now back to your regularly scheduled "low gear" discussion...
I have a double and I have found hill climbing became easier. I don't know what kind of hills you have, but I have climbed 12-18% grade short hills with my Roubaix. If I were in the Smokey Mountains or Ashville, NC, I might want a triple to visit granny.
Yeah, I see now that I look more into it, top-end racing bikes generally come with 53/39 whichever gruppo they have. But lower-end bikes and "sport-tourers" like the compact version of my Synapse seem to come with 50/34.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedal Wench
Anyway yeah, it's a combination of how strong you are and how steep and long your hills are. Back in the day I could power up most anything with a low gear of 42x21. Not any more :rolleyes:
There aren't a lot of 20%+ hills around here, but there are enough. I know where most of them are, and they're the ones where I use the puppy gear. If I rode more I'm sure I could get strong enough again that I wouldn't need it... but that's just not where I'm at right now. So I'm happy with my triple :)
My easiest gear on my Roubaix is 36/27, or 35 gear inches. That is considered pretty wussy by a lot of my friends. I don't use the 27 much..mostly for stopping and starting in traffic on hills as I really suck at getting going in a "hard" (for me) gear.
That is roughly equivalent to a 34/25 gear (my 36 compact is less common these days).
Don't worry a lot about the double, unless you want to make a more expensive switch to a compact crankset. You could try changing up the rear cluster to a SRAM 12-28 or 12-26 or Shimano 12-27 if your biggest cog is a 25. Those are much cheaper (max $100) options.
I have a 39 low in front and a 27 in back - I do a lot of climbing when I ride; but I also own a Giant TCR which is like 16 pounds or something insanely light so it works for me. The only time it gets troublesome is on multi day i.e. 3-5 day rides with lots of mountain climbing, then on day 3 or 4, it can seem not enough. I don't do that much of that type of riding, so the gears work fine for me. I have, however, been riding for 20 plus years so that has something to do with it too.
I'm soon going from a triple to a compact... :D
I hope you don't let your friends' attitudes bother you.Quote:
Originally Posted by aicabsolut
You can ride all day if you want on your top chain ring, but if you NEED
that granny gear, it's there.
erm. I tend to think most package deals are less of an end than any custom build. a top-end bike comes any way you want...Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Top-end riders, of course, ride 53/39 or even more than 53 but that's out of my league. I started like that and hurt my knees.
I really fought on a hard long climb last Sunday with 34/27 as my last resort and I would hate to try anything beyond 20% or even 17.
I beg to differ. I'm riding a classic steel with the original 52/42 chainrings and a 13/26 cassette. My lowest gear is 43.6 inches. I tried to change out the smaller chainring to a 39, but it didn't work (it rubbed)--and I have no intention of changing out the whole gearing system (or buying a new bike any time soon). I live in Chile, so nothing is flat, and we have a lot of very steep sections. Sure, it gets tough, but I haven't fallen over yet! As my husband likes to point out, if he did the Death Ride twice on 52 / 42 gearing, then I should be able to handle my regular climbs. It works for me (although the triple I rented in California last year sure was fun).Quote:
Originally Posted by motochick
Me too! This is very timely, since I've been thinking about either going for a triple ($$) or getting some smaller gears. My ratio is 46/38 in the front, 12-27 in the back. Does that make me a total wuss to want lower gearing than that, and to never really use the 46 in daily use?Quote:
Originally Posted by littlegrasshopp
I checked this morning; on the big ring, it says 53-39 and on the small ring, it says 39. Is this bad ???
It is not bad, but more important to know is what is the biggest one in the rear. Count the teeth.
Brenda
In my (humble) opinion, it's not necessarily bad. Before you go out & spend money on a compact or triple, check your rear cassette. For help on the hills, the cog with the most teeth should have 26 or 27 (or even more, but that can leave you missing a few gears in the middle that you'd want on the flats). Buying a cassette with that gearing will cost less than a new crankset.Quote:
Originally Posted by violette
Give it a chance. Yes, it's going to seem harder at times, but chances are, if you keep pushing yourself, you'll get better at using the slightly harder gearing to climb hills. To quote something that another TE-er said to me once: "No self-doubt, please!"
I think if it's 53/39 it's already a compact? Would a standard double accommodate a 14-tooth difference?
And no, it's not "bad," there's no good or bad gearing, there's just whether it's appropriate to the rider's strength and the terrain where the bike will be ridden.
Andrea, I do hear ya, but I think we can also agree that if the strength demands are too high, then someone won't be able to progress, and will just get frustrated or even injured. It's no different from a deconditioned person trying to learn to bench press with no options but a 45-lb bar. And, not everyone here is even trying to build strength. Or has the joints to support very high strength demands. For a lot of us, increasing or just maintaining endurance is enough.
Violette, do you know what your largest cog is on the freewheel? (if you can't see where it's stamped, you can count the teeth)
I might change out the chainrings before replacing the cassette - five teeth in front will make MUCH more difference than two in back.
Does anyone know what's the maximum differential in a compact? Can she do 53/34, or would that result in poor shifting and/or a lot of cross-chaining?
Do you mean change my small front chainring? Do you know how much that would cost. I don't think it would be a big job.
I just checked, it says 12-25.
Usually compact chainrings are 34-50 or 36-50. There are a couple of other combos out there, but those are the most common.
Originally posted by Oakleaf:
I might change out the chainrings before replacing the cassette - five teeth in front will make MUCH more difference than two in back.
Does anyone know what's the maximum differential in a compact? Can she do 53/34, or would that result in poor shifting and/or a lot of cross-chaining?
Whether or not you can go down to a super-small inner ring depends on the Bolt Circle Diameter of your crankset.
I believe standard road doubles (53/39) have 130mm BCD's -- if this is the case with your cranks, you are limited to a 38 small ring.
Most compact doubles have a 110mm BCD; if somehow you ended up with a 110 mm BCD, you can go down to like a 33.
Sheldon Brown has a little information about this on his website, and you will get more if you google some combination of "BCD" and "chainrings".
If I was in your shoes, I would change my rear cassette to a 12-28. That would be a good place to start...and the cheapest. If that isn't enough, then come back and tell us and we can make another suggestion.
Brenda
Violette, you have standard gearing. If you are hurting, first thing to try is a 12-28 cassette in the rear. If you are still hurting after riding that for a while, you can look into getting a 50/34 compact crankset. That's my 2 cents from thinking about gears a lot.
Correct. She probably cannot change her rings without changing the entire crankset, which will cost mega $$. It would be much much cheaper to go with a cassette change if the rear derailleur can handle it (she needs to look at what's on there now). A good Ultegra cassette costs under $100. A new crankset can run well over $300.Quote:
Originally Posted by liza
Plus, even if she could change the rings, she's going to have to change both of them to get a compact inner ring, because the front derailleur won't be able to handle more than about a 16T difference.
Also, don't underestimate how big of a difference the rear cassette can make. Example: a 50/11 is a bigger gear than a 53/12. So say she's only got a 12-25 on there now. Moving to a 27 or 28 will be a big jump. She'll sacrifice some of the range towards the top end with such a large spread, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It could get a little annoying on flat roads or in groups, but I think that's a better trade off than having gears that are too hard all the time.
Hi guys - okay, so this is the first thread I have read here that is pretty much greek to me. Can you provide me with a web site with a good tutorial on gearing ratios? Or maybe if I provide you with the specs from my bike you can explain the math to me? Alrighty... my bike hs a sugino crankset (triple) 30.42.52 and the cassette is campy 13/26 9 spd. So, how are you arriving at inches from teeth? Somewhere on the internet it looked like you need tire ratios too to calculate gearing ratios, but aren't all road tires the same unless you are a really small framed woman with smaller tires. For what it's worth, my tires are 700x23c (does the c mean cm?)
Thanks!
Sheldon Brown is always good: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_g.html#gearinchQuote:
Originally Posted by ginny
use his online gear calculator to figure out your gear inches.
Well, I went on a 60km practice run on the weekend. I had such a hard time with my bike, that when I got home, I threw-up. I know I pushed myself too hard, but I've done this ride all last year with absolutly no problem, the hills were almost impossible to climb ( or I should say inclines) I was soo discouraged, I had tears in my eyes, and my legs were burning so bad, I had to stop at every km. I called my LBS and they told me I could change the rings and would make a difference. I'm just wondering if it's worth it?? Will it make a BIG difference or will it be just barely noticeable? I went from a $1200 bike to an almost $3000; you'd think it would be better.
Now is the casette the one on the back? I would have thought that the crank would be a lot cheaper to just add 1 chainring that taking the casette appart and adding just one chainring.
The chainrings are on the front and the cassette is on the back. Just in case youre getting a little confused- here's a quick rundown...
What you have now is a "standard" chainring/crankset. It's got a 39 tooth small ring and a 53 tooth big ring. The diameter of the circle of bolts (AKA bolt circle diameter or BCD) that hold the rings together with the crank arm is 130mm.
A "compact" is a set of rings that is smaller. Usually the small ring will be 34 or 36 teeth (sometimes less, but 34 or 36 are most common). The big ring is almost always 50 teeth. The reason why you can't just change the rings from standard size to compact is the BCD- on a compact set of cranks, it's 110mm instead of 130mm. This is why it will be expensive for you to change to a compact- you have to get a whole new set of cranks with a 110mm BCD.
The cassette, on the other hand, is that group of gears in the back. Though they look complicated, they are relatively easy to remove and replace. Usually, you replace the whole cassette at once rather than just replacing the individual gears. It's a much cheaper endeavor than replacing your crankset.
The first question is what was your gearing on your old bike? If you want a low gear that's nearly as low as your old one, you need to know what it was.
Sheldon Brown's gearing chart is pretty limited, but it's easy enough to do your own spreadsheet, or someone probably has a more detailed one online. Figure out what your old gearing was. Ask your LBS what range of chainrings and cassettes you can put on without changing your cranks or derailleur(s). Figure out what gear ranges you'd get from different combinations of chainrings and cassettes.
(Nowadays you don't normally swap single cogs in the rear, that's why it's called a "cassette.")
I checked the specs of the OCR3; 30/42/52, 12-26.
What Andrea said, and of course you can't add a chainring to a double crank. You can exchange, but the minimum small chain ring in the front can be 38 teeth.Quote:
Now is the casette the one on the back? I would have thought that the crank would be a lot cheaper to just add 1 chainring that taking the casette appart and adding just one chainring.
How much will this cost...
A cassette sets you back maybe 60$.
A Compact crank will be around 150$?
I assume you have Shimano 105 for that pricing.
Do change to a compact - you are obviously overtaxed by the regular. You can almost do your tour but it's too much for you. You'll do much better on the compact, talk to your LBS what they can do for you (do they need to replace the front derailleur?) and pricing instead of torturing yourself.
Wrong gearing has little to do with the price of the bike... do treat yourself, stop being frustrated and then enjoy your ride.
If her low gear now is a 39x25, but the gear she found comfortable was a 30x26, then she's going to need to swap crank and cassette to even get close. A 34x28 is almost as short as her old low. But anything over 27T rear would probably require an alpine RD, yes?
OTOH, a 30x25 is even slightly lower.
So it doesn't look like there are any cheap solutions unfortunately. It might be just as simple to get the triple and keep the cassette and RD? Especially if her lever is triple-compatible?