Need Education on Compact Double verses Triple

[Cyclesome]

Thanks for the Info. I just weighed my Ruby and she is 18 lbs with water bottle cages & added mirror. My Canondale was 30 lbs. w/o cages & mirror.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for the Info. I just weighed my Ruby and she is 18 lbs with water bottle cages & added mirror. My Canondale was 30 lbs. w/o cages & mirror.

That's a HUGE weight difference -- I suspect you'll be just fine with the compact without changing your cogset. You'll be flying up the hills!

Emily

[rij73]

Yeah, with THAT much weight difference, you may be just fine. If not, you'll have to practice the hills. If you want it easier, the idea of changing the gearing in back works too. But, yes, you would probably require a different derailleur too. I don't think you'll need to do that, though.

Enjoy the new ride!

[Starfish]

When I went from my 40 pound steel mountain bike to my 24 pound aluminum road bike I went from:

26-36-48 and 12-34 to
30-42-52 and 11-27

Even with the huge weight reduction, my legs were used to spinning, and there was an adjustment period. Also, at that time, I had not ridden very much at all, so the change coincided with my tackling hillier terrain than I had before. Those two things together made the transition a little difficult, despite the large weight reduction.

Still, I got used to it and enjoyed riding. Then, I moved a couple years ago to where it is much harder to find a flat-ish ride...the hills are harder to avoid, and the climbs are longer. My aspirations changed, and last year I switched to an 11-32 on the back, including a change to a long derailleur.

I love my granny gears. They have helped me tackle much longer, harder climbing rides, and as a result of the easier gears, I am actually getting stronger than I did without them. My expectation is that in another year or two I am going to get a fancier bike, and I will probably try the compact double. I expect a transition, again, but with the strength I am gaining, ironically, with my granny gears, I think I will be ready.

I had one person (or at least one person who said what they thought out loud! ) consider me a weeny for getting the granny gears, saying I would get stronger without them. But, for me, the granny gears have helped me build my strength and climbing endurance.

Hope all that makes sense, and just offers another viewpoint or experience.

[onimity]

I have a compact double on my road bike (50/34, 12-25) and really easy gearing on my MTB (42/34/24, 11-32) and find that climbing is very different on both. My road bike is 18 lbs, fully loaded, whereas my MTB is much heavier since it is not only a heavier bike but also often loaded down with work stuff, etc. But I can take that bike up hills I'd never manage on my road bike.

For me, I prefer the road bike for non-steep, sustained hills (below, say, 8%) and for short, steep climbs. The former just melt away on the road bike and the latter are more painful than on the MTB but they are over really quickly.

The hills that I still really have a hard time with on the road bike are *really* steep hills (i.e., the 18% grade on one of my commute options) and steep, sustained climbs. I have to walk up the former and stop occasionally on the latter, whereas on the MTB I can shift down, spin along a little then shift back up when I am refreshed. On the road bike I have to grind on up the hill, and maintaining a workable cadence really pushes the limits of my fitness; I have to stop every few miles to get my heart rate down. I definitely feel that the compact double is great for climbing, but I am having to increase my fitness to get up some of the hills that seemed a lot easier on the MTB.

For what it's worth, I personally feel that the weight issue is a little overstated. I notice little difference in the ease of a climb, for example, when I have 10+lbs more or less on my back. Tire size, pressure, bike stiffness shocks/no shocks, riding position...these all make a difference and for me at least it is difficult to separate them.

I do a decent amount of climbing and have been really happy with a compact double, hopefully you'll have the same experience. And congrats on the new bike!!!

Anne