Triple v Double

[backinthesaddle]

Which is the way to go.

I hear triple is good for newbies trying to master hills, but will become obsolete quickly. What's the real deal?

Seems like the double of the bike i want is out of stock for a while. i don't want to feel compromised because i'll have to wait longer. i just want what i want now.

[MartianDestiny]

Standard road bike I presume?

You don't loose much, if any, gear spread (highest to lowest) with a compact double front. You do increase the distance between gears some (not as much fine tuning).

IMO, double.

Two potential exceptions: 1) you have some really gnarly hills (I'm in the CO front range and ride a double, sometimes I wish I had one or two smaller but I can make it up and I could replace my rear cassette with something lower to solve that). 2) You are the type of rider that would rather spin an easy gear at all times and go slow up hills and really have no interest in pushing that envelope (nothing wrong with being that type).

You can, in theory, get a better lower gear spread with a triple out of the box than you typically will with a double out of the box.

Cross bike or touring bike; might change my opinion a bit.

[NbyNW]

I think it varies from person to person and also depends on the terrain that you are spending most of your time on.

I have terrible knees, so I will rely a lot on my granny gear to get me up hills, especially steep ones that occur late in my route, early in the season when I'm getting back in shape. I'd rather slowly spin my way up a hill than dismount and walk it. If I can do the same hill later in the season using a "harder" gear setting and still not feel like I'm mashing, then I view it as progress. By end of season I hardly use the tiny gear at all. And then I start over again the next season.

Then again, I just moved to a place that doesn't have a lot in the way of hills, so unless I travel out of the region with my bike, that little gear is probably obsolete.

With a triple you have to be careful not to cross-chain your gears. Otherwise, I'm glad I have it.

Did the bike shop tell you how long you would have to wait for the double? If that's what you want and you feel strongly about it, I'd ask about an estimated delivery date and then make a decision.

[uk elephant]

I didn't realize I had a double on my new bike until I hit the first steep'ish hill and couldn't get the bike to shift another gear. Oops. Turns out, I've been very happy with my double even on hills. I did change out the cassette for a mtb'ish one which gave me a couple of easier gears for the bigger hills. I now live in Wales with monster hills and this set-up works just fine for me and I'm not a strong rider. I don't think I would now switch to a tripple if I was looking for a new bike, but I'm not certain until I've tried both options I guess.

[OakLeaf]

This has been discussed to death....

It's less about the total range of gears you need, than it is about the range of RPMs you're comfortable pedaling.

With a mountain cassette and RD, you can have very low gearing with a compact. You'll always be able to get somewhat lower with a triple, but usually only by one or two gears. But a triple will let you get closer ratios for any given range of gearing.

Are there "holes" in your current gearing now, where one gear feels too short and the next one feels too tall? Do you need your cassette to be close-ratio for your knees or your muscles to be happy? Do you need to keep your cadence within about a 5-8 RPM range? And in addition to those, do you have many hills over 10-12% in your area? Then get a triple.

If you can tolerate fairly large jumps in gearing, OR you live in terrain without steep climbs (note that many very mountainous areas have built their roads with gentle grades so the trucks can get up them, whereas areas with small hills can be quite steep) - then a compact will make shifting less complicated and possibly a little smoother.

[Crankin]

Oakleaf, you described the need for a triple perfectly! I finally figured out (duh) that the shorter, very steep hills are routine for me, including my own street and driveway. When I read about people doing sustained climbs of 7-8 miles I wonder how they do that, because in my mind they are all at 10% or above. Now i realize those climbs are more like 4-5%.
I am one that prefers to spin up a difficult climb, in the easiest gear possible. Over the course of the season, I do tend to use harder and harder gears on some of these climbs, but I don't feel the need to prove anything. And while I love the feeling of pushing the big gear on a flat, I find one of my knees feels it the next day.
So the granny is my friend. Especially at this time of the year!

[indysteel]

This has been discussed to death....

It's less about the total range of gears you need, than it is about the range of RPMs you're comfortable pedaling.

With a mountain cassette and RD, you can have very low gearing with a compact. You'll always be able to get somewhat lower with a triple, but usually only by one or two gears. But a triple will let you get closer ratios for any given range of gearing.

Are there "holes" in your current gearing now, where one gear feels too short and the next one feels too tall? Do you need your cassette to be close-ratio for your knees or your muscles to be happy? Do you need to keep your cadence within about a 5-8 RPM range? And in addition to those, do you have many hills over 10-12% in your area? Then get a triple.

If you can tolerate fairly large jumps in gearing, OR you live in terrain without steep climbs (note that many very mountainous areas have built their roads with gentle grades so the trucks can get up them, whereas areas with small hills can be quite steep) - then a compact will make shifting less complicated and possibly a little smoother.

Great post, Oakleaf.

I think it might help to clarify, too, that there are "standard" doubles, e.g., a 53-39, and "compact" doubles. While I might the OP is talking about a compact double, it's not clear from her post.

[TrekTheKaty]

STOP IT YOU GUYS! I was thinking about switching from my triple to a compact double (increased fitness over the last year), but DH doesn't want to. Guess I need a new bike

[pinkbikes]

Great post, Oakleaf.

I think it might help to clarify, too, that there are "standard" doubles, e.g., a 53-39, and "compact" doubles. While I might the OP is talking about a compact double, it's not clear from her post.

Exactly! I personally have always ridden a "standard" double and love them. I recently spent some time riding a "compact" double and disliked it intensely, as it did not suit my style of riding.

I tend to be a bit of a lazy thing on my roadie (completely different on the MTB) and drop the front ring if I just want to power up and over something short and hard. With the compact double the gap is too big and I have to fiddle around with the back to be comfortable. And then fiddle around again when I go back up to the big ring.

So when I bought my most recent bike, which is for touring with bigger hills than I like on the roadie, I was quite clear that I wanted a triple so that I had as close as possible to my "standard" double with an extra ring. Going out for its first ride in about twenty minutes! Yay!

[IFjane]

depends on where you live. Colorado? Triple.

Not necessarily. I live in VA at the foot of the Blue Ridge. We generally have short, steep climbs. I also ride in CO every year - in the Rockies - where the climbs can be 15 miles or more. I had a triple for about 8 years & it was fine, but switched two years ago to a compact double and immediately loved it. Maybe it was all in my head but the climbing seemed easier (still does). Last summer I rode the Triple Bypass on my compact double with no issues.

BTW, I am no spring chicken - I am 56 and have only been riding road bikes for about 10 years. So....I guess my point is that if you want a compact, go for it, but if you think you would need a triple then there is nothing wrong with that either. The most important thing is that you are on your bike and having fun!

[ny biker]

Which is the way to go.

I hear triple is good for newbies trying to master hills, but will become obsolete quickly. What's the real deal?

Seems like the double of the bike i want is out of stock for a while. i don't want to feel compromised because i'll have to wait longer. i just want what i want now.

Newbies trying to master hills? Who is telling you this?

I've had a triple for 8 years and it won't be "obsolete" anytime soon. I use the small ring less as the season goes on and I get into better shape, but I still need the granny gear for some hills even when I'm at my strongest, either because they're very steep or I'm doing a long hilly ride and I need to pace myself.

[backinthesaddle]

I am testing the 2.1 triple next week. I think i will be happy with it. I plan to ride with a cycling club in Westchester NY. I anticipate pretty big hills and having not riden a bike in over 25 years means the granny gear will be needed and appreciated.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[XMcShiftersonX]

I have a compact double on my road bike and I'm very happy with it. This is all I've ever known on a road bike though. Currently my terrain varies from flat, to rolling hills, to hills with a 8-12% grade over a couple miles. There occasionally has been times on those long steep hills where I wanted to shift down more and couldn't. However, I was still able to make it up the hills. Those instances have been rare though, and the more I do hills (it's fairly recent that I began incorporating them), the less often that happens of course. Anyways, good luck on making your decision!

-Jessica

[featuretile]

I bought a bike with a compact double because I got a great deal on craigslist. It replaced a bike with a triple. I found that I had lost my bottom 2 lowest gears. I live in the Santa Cruz mountains, and some of the hills are either very steep or very long or both. When I went to get a bigger rear cassette (for a 10 speed), they (Shimano) said there was no such thing. It turns out that a company called IRD does make one. Pairing that (12-32) with a long cage road bike derailleur that was meant for 10 speed works just great (not a mountain bike derailleur that is meant for 9 speed). Anyway, I got my low gears back and now like the compact double better. On the triple, it seemed that I was either riding on flat or downhill where I was in the large front ring. Or it got very steep and I needed the small front ring. It seems that I almost never used the middle ring and it was just an extra step to shift through it. the double with a bigger rear cassette seems to be the best of both worlds. Perhaps you could special order your new bike like that instead of having to pay to change it out later.