Gear ratio- compact- hill climb question (long)

[Veronica]

How much switching of things between bikes will you really do?

I'm only asking because having to have 10 speed shimano seems to me to be the limiting factor.

V.

[anakiwa]

I was thinking of getting a slightly lighter set of wheels for the new bike. It would therefore be nice to be able to use the better wheelset on the tri bike for longer races. It wouldn't be all that often, but I'm more likely to want to swap wheels a few times during the season, whereas the hillclimb situation would be once (at most twice) a season.

[Cassandra_Cain]

How much switching of things between bikes will you really do?

I'm only asking because having to have 10 speed shimano seems to me to be the limiting factor.

V.

I agree with that.

Campi has some good options, like a 13-29.

[DebW]

Personally, I'd be more likely to go with option (2). Or if I went with option (1), I'd swap the RD along with the cassette to avoid that long cage when I didn't need it.

[Veronica]

I don't know what your hills are like or how strong you are, but I do know that when I decided to get a compact double on my new bike, I spent a lot of time looking at Sheldon Brown's gear ratio chart. I wanted to be sure a compact double would have the gears I need. Where I ride is downright hilly, maybe verging on mountainous...

I'm a lazy ultra distance rider. I typically don't pedal down hill if doing 25 mph. On the flat I can reach 25 mph, but it certainly isn't sustainable. So I don't need a huge gear. I went with a 46 - 33 and a nine speed 11 - 34 cassette.

I guess what I'm saying is, think about what you really want this bike to be able to do for how and where you ride. And maybe just buy lighter wheels for your tri bike so you can set this bike up as a climbing bike, if you want.

V.

[anakiwa]

Thanks for the help.

Deb- What is it that makes you want to avoid the long cage?

Could I go with a 9-speed on the new bike and still be able to switch the wheels/cassettes back and forth with the other bike (10 spd).

Veronica- thanks for the advice about the gear ratio chart- my ex-BF (we're still pretty good friends) set up an excel spreadsheet with the numbers- I've spent a fair amount of time staring at it. Where I live is quite hilly (and there's a pretty significant one on my way home so many of my rides end with a big hill). I also occassionally will go over some of the gaps in the area (1500+ feet) on longer training rides. That said I'm comfortable on hills and I think all the up and down means that I'm a little better at climbing than I otherwise would be.

In all honesty, the gearing with my current triple (52/42/30 with a 12-25 cassette) probably suits me perfectly. It gives me a relatively low gear for climbing and it's only rarely that I'm pushing the top gears (Like you Veronica, I'm not a maniac on downhills- it's only on that long gradual descent that it gets tempting to see how fast I can go). But I find that the triple often gets slightly out of alignment and I'm having to really jam the shifter to get the derailler where I want it (someday I'll learn how to adjust these things myself, but for the moment I'm dependent on the LBS or the ex-BF- who isn't around as much as he used to be). My tribike has a compact and it's always been so much easier to shift. After studying the numbers I concluded that a 50/34 with a 12-27 would get me almost as high and almost as low and that I should be able to live with that. But it's a good point- maybe I should just stick with a triple- it would certainly solve the hillclimb problem.

So here's another question- anyone have any thoughts on whether an ultegra triple front derailler would shift more smoothly than my current 105 triple front derailler? (or is the higher price simply because it weighs less?)

[DebW]

Deb- What is it that makes you want to avoid the long cage?

I'll admit to not having ridden modern long-cage derailleurs, but from my experience of years ago, the longer the cage and the more chain-wrap and the further the top jockey wheel is from the cog, the slower and grindier the shift. For quick, crisp shifts, you want a narrow-range cluster and a RD not meant for anything larger.

In all honesty, the gearing with my current triple (52/42/30 with a 12-25 cassette) probably suits me perfectly. It gives me a relatively low gear for climbing and it's only rarely that I'm pushing the top gears (Like you Veronica, I'm not a maniac on downhills- it's only on that long gradual descent that it gets tempting to see how fast I can go). But I find that the triple often gets slightly out of alignment and I'm having to really jam the shifter to get the derailler where I want it (someday I'll learn how to adjust these things myself, but for the moment I'm dependent on the LBS or the ex-BF- who isn't around as much as he used to be). My tribike has a compact and it's always been so much easier to shift. After studying the numbers I concluded that a 50/34 with a 12-27 would get me almost as high and almost as low and that I should be able to live with that. But it's a good point- maybe I should just stick with a triple- it would certainly solve the hillclimb problem.

So here's another question- anyone have any thoughts on whether an ultegra triple front derailler would shift more smoothly than my current 105 triple front derailler? (or is the higher price simply because it weighs less?)

Since you are getting a custom frame, one thing I would consider is getting braze-on mounts for downtube shifters, and using a DT shifter for the FD. I hear so many complaints about FD shifting on STI levers, and I recently rode a bike with STIs for the first time. I believe that STI levers and FD just don't work well together. DT shifters provide a direct connection to the FD with minimal cabling, minimal cable bends, no springs or levers or cams or indexing. When I worked in a shop, we never had complaints about FDs, and the FDs were probably not nearly as good as today's. Since one doesn't shift a FD that often, using a DT shifter is not a big hardship, and with a friction shifter you can always trim it exactly where you want it to center over the chain. The ergonometrics of DT shifters are far better, using your entire arm in a natural plane to apply the pressure needed to shift the chain to a larger cog - STIs depend strictly on finger strength. Just my 2 cents, and maybe nobody else would agree with me, but I love DT shifters. Though I can't criticize a rear derailleur STI lever for ease of use.

[aicabsolut]

I've compared a 105 triple to a 105 double and I've compared rear ultegra and 105. The double was smoother than the triple, and the ultegra rear was much smoother than the 105 rear. So I imagine ultegra (or better) up front would make you much happier with the triple.

I disliked the triple so much I went withthe double (couldn't afford the bike that upgraded all over). But like yesterday when I did about 3000ft of climbing, I really wished I had a couple extra gears. But then I wasn't a huge fan of how big the middle ring is on the triple (since I wouldn't use the small ring often on most of my rides).

That's a long way of saying yes, upgrading would probably be better. But also just go with whatever is going to be the most functional for your rides. I personally wouldn't want to keep changing out those components.