Help - Triple vs. Compact & loads of hills

[violette]

I would change to a triple. I bought a Roubaix comp and had to change the cassette. Hills or even rolling hills were almost impossible and I was getting discouraged. I had a triple before and I could do big hills with no problems.

[Pedal Wench]

Talk to your shop. When I bought my first road bike, they were willing to swap out whatever I needed. (I think it came as a triple, they put on a compact for me to try, then we went back to the triple.) To make the sale, they might be willing to do whatever you want -- they probably swap components all the time. Can't hurt to ask. Worse case, just take the triple and whatever else you need off your current bike and put it on the new one.

[NadiaMac]

I used a compact on the death ride, with a sram 12-28 cassette on the back. And saw plenty of compact cranks on the DR, many equipped with a similarly large cog in the rear!

This got me to within one gear inch of my granny gear on the triple with my old bike and I needed every gear inch towards the end of my death ride. That said, I lost the gear increments in the rear, as the cassette goes from 25 to 28. So if you like having incrementally close gear options (25, 26, 27, 28 in the rear), I'd say stick with your triple.

Regarding use of Mt bike bogs in the rear- this only works if the bike has shimano components. Campy and sram will not accomodate the larger cogs. It's pretty expensive to convert to a triple and many frames will not permit the conversion. If you want a triple, it's probably a better idea to buy a bike that comes with a triple.
good luck! the felt sounds sweet!

[yellow]

RP...I used to live and ride where you live and ride.

I would not give up a triple if I still lived and rode there. I now have a compact double (Campy) for which I built my own custom 12-29 cassette and there are still some days here (where the climbs are different, long and mostly moderate as opposed to short and very steep, which you have a lot of) where I say, out loud, that I just want two more gear inches. No way would I want to ride my current gearing up Slug Gulch or Snows Road.

Why can't you put the triple from your current bike on to the Felt?

[Susan126]

It's hard to say what you would be best with. I went from a triple to a compact three weeks ago when I bought my new Specialized Ruby Expert. I was wary when I ordered the compact because I didn't know how I would handle the hills. And believe me I live in the land of hills and mountains! But so far I have had no problems climbing. In fact I find that I am climbing faster and better.

My new Ruby is an 11-28 and the big rings are 50X34t

My old trek 2200 I believe has 30/42/52t
and rear 12-26

Not too much of a difference, at least I can't tell. She flies on the flats and descents. And climbs like a monkey!

I hope you find something that you like and are comfortable riding. Good luck! And please let us know what you go with. I agree with Mr. Silver and yellow, can you possibly get a triple for the felt?

triskeliongirl, you are really good at figuring out all the math on the gears! My hubby is too but he never explains things to me too clearly. I'm going to try and figure out my new bike's gears as compared to my old bike. Wish me luck!

[mudmucker]

It's hard to say what you would be best with. I went from a triple to a compact three weeks ago when I bought my new Specialized Ruby Expert. I was wary when I ordered the compact because I didn't know how I would handle the hills. And believe me I live in the land of hills and mountains! But so far I have had no problems climbing. In fact I find that I am climbing faster and better.

My new Ruby is an 11-28 and the big rings are 50X34t

My old trek 2200 I believe has 30/42/52t
and rear 12-26

So with this setup you are actually losing I think, your lowest gear - about 1.5 gear inches from your triple? And you are climbing better and faster? Does the Ruby weigh less than the other - do you think it's bike weight or a difference in geometry?

But back to RolliePollie and to others who have hills who have been thinking about swapping out from a triple to a compact double....
I wonder if we need to think about the type of hills that we ride.

I myself have been thinking about swapping, then I get on a hill and sometimes go in my lowest and keep saying, boy, am I glad I have my triple, and ask, why do I want to change this?

But the type of hills I have are mostly abrupt acute steep up and downs that follow each other like a camel with 7 humps or successive stairs. They are fairly short, about 1/2 to 2 miles each, anywhere between 6-12% grades. As soon as you are done with one, the next one is so close that there's maybe only a 1/4 mile between, to the next one. Some of the grade changes so I shift slightly while on the same chain ring, but if I want to maximize the downhill then I'm really shifting up 2 chainrings and then maybe another within the ring to fine tune it. Yes, I can map it out and I've gotten quite expedient at shifting minimally, but sometimes I still feel as if I'm shifting till the cows come home. There are points with terrain like this where I just don't shift after the hill anymore because I get tired of it - I coast down in the gear I already know I'm going to need for the next hill. I think I would love a double. I would lose my lowest gear if I switched.

If the hills were of a different nature, with longer distances between hills, or a greater than 6-7% really long sustained climb, then you can rest comfortably in the small ring for a time, and use the middle or outer ring for lesser grades and not be shifting so much.

What kind of hills do you have and does any of that make sense? Some people can do better on acute hills and not so good on lower grade sustained climbs. What do you do better at?

For me it's a shifting issue, like there's too many gears and I need to make big jumps. But, my problem is I can do all the gear charts I want and numerically be able to see the differences, but my brain fully can't see how the spacing between the gears on a compact double would "feel" in my riding area. I would really have to get a bike with that gearing and do a test ride. I'd hate to spend all that money to swap out and find it isn't that suitable. So, for now I stick with my triple.

Edited to add: I saw saw yellow's post where she says it's of the steep up and down nature. And that for her, 2 gear inches makes a lot of difference. I can see that, which is why I stay with the triple.

[aicabsolut]

But the type of hills I have are mostly abrupt acute steep up and downs that follow each other like a camel with 7 humps. They are fairly short, about 1/2 to 2 miles each, anywhere between 6-12% grades. As soon as you are done with one, the next one is so close that there's maybe only a 1/4 mile between, to the next one. Some of the grade changes so I shift slightly while on the same chain ring, but if I want to maximize the downhill then I'm really shifting up 2 chainrings and then maybe another within the ring to fine tune it. Yes, I can map it out and I've gotten quite expedient at shifting minimally, but sometimes I still feel as if I'm shifting till the cows come home. There are points with terrain like this where I just don't shift after the hill anymore because I get tired of it - I coast down in the gear I already know I'm going to need for the next hill. So I have maybe 20 seconds of coasting. I think I would love a double. I would lose my lowest gear if I switched.

If the hills were of a different nature, with longer distances between hills, or a greater than 6-7% really long sustained climb, then you can rest comfortably in the small ring for a time, and use the middle or outer ring for lesser grades and not be shifting so much.

What kind of hills do you have and does any of that make sense? Some people can do better on acute hills and not so good on lower grade sustained climbs. What do you do better at?

I ride hills like yours. Rollers. A compact works just fine for me. I have friends who prefer standard doubles and others who prefer triples on the same terrain. If having the triple is such a pain for you, then it's fine to consider whether the compact will be a welcome change. You need to weigh that annoyance with your dependency on your current granny gear.

[Pedal Wench]

I now have a compact double (Campy) for which I built my own custom 12-29

Do you know what you used to do this? I want a 12 on my Campy 13-29, but not sure what ring to give up to get there. How do you like it?

[RolliePollie]

RP...I used to live and ride where you live and ride.

I would not give up a triple if I still lived and rode there. I now have a compact double (Campy) for which I built my own custom 12-29 cassette and there are still some days here (where the climbs are different, long and mostly moderate as opposed to short and very steep, which you have a lot of) where I say, out loud, that I just want two more gear inches. No way would I want to ride my current gearing up Slug Gulch or Snows Road.

Why can't you put the triple from your current bike on to the Felt?

Yellow - I haven't tried Slug Gulch or Snows Road yet...I don't think I'd make it! I'm sure you remember Miller Hill...the hill on Cable Rd/Mace Rd...well, that about does me in. I can't imagine riding that hill without my granny gear. I typically go around the long way through downtown Camino to avoid riding it!

So I found out I can probably get Felt to put a triple on the FW15 or FW25. That makes me feel better. Next week, I'm going to go test ride a couple of Felts in Sacramento. I'm hopeful that I'll love them, but we'll see. This thread has awesome info...I'm so glad I asked the question!