Cross Gearing (LONG)

[madisongrrl]

I'm not looking to make this into a racing-only bike -- I will continue to use it on my commute, so super-super-low gearing options are going to be impractical. I'm a little concerned about the 50/36 option for two reasons -- first, the range is bigger and thus possibly a greater potential for chain drop on a cross course, and second, 50 might be big on a cross course???

I worry that 46 may be too small on the road, but if I'm going to run a smaller cassette, maybe I should have a smaller small chainring (smaller than 38)?

So, those of you who race, what gearing do you run? Any racing I do will be pretty recreational, not super serious, but I don't want to get stuck with gearing that's totally wrong either. And I need to keep in mind commuting needs. Is there a huge difference in feel between 48 and 46?
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I'm a competitive mountain bike racer, but I race a little bit of cross (Cat 3, so I'm not super serious about it like the elite women are, but I'm not recreational either). I additionally use my cross bike to train on in the winter (my road bike is too nice to see the nasty WI road salt).

The 50/36 option is way too much. You would never, ever use the 50 in a cross race. You probably won't need that kind of gearing if you use your cross bike on the road because the wider, knobby, 32mm tires take a little more out of your legs. (I run WTB cross wolfs as I think they are a great all around tire to race on for a variety of conditions).

I run a 36/46 up front and a 10 speed 12-27 in the back (all shimano 105 because it's reliable enough to race with, but easy enough to replace as CX is hard on your components...when I say easy, I mean economically). I rarely use the 46 ring for CX racing. And if I didn't train with my CX bike on the road, I'd probably just go with one ring up front.

You probably won't notice too much between a 46 and a 48 unless you are a big time gear masher (which I'm not, lower gear and a higher cadence suits me). And you won't need that kind of gear to race with. Cross is pretty challenging in that it starts with a field sprint and continues on like a criterium without the benefits from drafting (or at least the the benefits are diminished as compared to a crit).

I think you would be fine to run 46/36 up front. Before you set this gear changing plan into motion, go ahead and visit your LBS. Try out a cross bike that is geared 46/36 and 12-27 and see what you think.