How can this be with my new bike?

[Becky]

I'm just curious- what size frame are you riding? My LBS highly recommended against a compact on a small frame- too many shifting issues. (Maybe just on Treks- that's what they carry.) And I totally trust their mechanical skills.

I'm interested to hear more about this and learn a little more. My Bianchi is a 49cm with a compact, and I've ridden other small bikes with compacts. No problems that I could find...

There are some limitations to compacts when in the small ring, due to the 14- to 16- tooth drop between rings and chain drag across the larger ring when cross-chained (but you shouldn't do that anyway!). The shorter wheelbase of a smaller bike exacerbates this. As long as I'm careful about planning my shift to the big ring, it's not been too much of an issue for me.

What issues have they run into?

[fatbottomedgurl]

I'm interested to hear more about this and learn a little more. My Bianchi is a 49cm with a compact, and I've ridden other small bikes with compacts. No problems that I could find...

There are some limitations to compacts when in the small ring, due to the 14- to 16- tooth drop between rings and chain drag across the larger ring when cross-chained (but you shouldn't do that anyway!). The shorter wheelbase of a smaller bike exacerbates this. As long as I'm careful about planning my shift to the big ring, it's not been too much of an issue for me.

What issues have they run into?

That's pretty much it exactly.

[Jo-n-NY]

Last year my chain dropped a couple of times on a hilly organized ride and ended up saging back (a first for me). It had dropped before this but we thought the problem was taken care of.

As it turns out it is good thing I did end the ride when I did. There seemed to be a problem/defect with my FSA K-Force 2 piece carbon crankset that came on the bike. In fact, we heard that there have been problems with this crank. My bike is a 2007 Ruby Pro. I switched it to Ultegra and it is working great.

~ JoAnn

[fidlfreek]

Sorry you had trouble! The K-Force gets really lousy reviews.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/dr...7_2491crx.aspx

So its not just you!

[denny]

I got the bike back today. The hanger had been replaced, spokes trued up and tires inflated. Went for my ride tonight and did 4 laps around the local park including a few small hills when on the 5th lap with a friend, in the same spot as usual, I couldn't drop from my big ring to the small ring. My friend kept saying "push your lever" over again. I did. Nothing happened. There was no tension in the lever. "Push harder." Still Nothing. We had to pull over where he picked up the bike, spun the pedals and shifted it back to the small ring. I did the entire last lap in my small ring.

Now supposedly, I "over or hard shifted" why my cables broke in the first few rides and applied too much pressure on the cranks causing the rear derailleur hanger to break. So which is it? Am I too rough or not rough enough. PBS told me to let them know if I still had a problem, so I'll follow up with them. I think they've been pretty decent about this.

Until the next epidsode of "The Perils of Penelope"

[Jo-n-NY]

Thanks for the link to the reviews. We found out from Specialized last year that indeed there have been problems with that crank. It had only dropped in gears 1 & 2 which are gears I seldom use and I don't think used in the first year of having the bike.

Keep in mind that the crank is from 2007 and they might have taken care of the problem by now.

I am fine with my none carbon Ultegra crank. I also purposely went on those hill repeats on Sunday to get over the fear of the chain dropping in those 2 low gears. I feel much better now

~ JoAnn

[aicabsolut]

Thanks for the link to the reviews. We found out from Specialized last year that indeed there have been problems with that crank. It had only dropped in gears 1 & 2 which are gears I seldom use and I don't think used in the first year of having the bike.

Keep in mind that the crank is from 2007 and they might have taken care of the problem by now.

I am fine with my none carbon Ultegra crank. I also purposely went on those hill repeats on Sunday to get over the fear of the chain dropping in those 2 low gears. I feel much better now

~ JoAnn

3rd generation FSA K-Force (in particular, the newer K-Force Light cranks) are supposedly ok).

But if was just a chain drop issue, you got off easy . I've known people who have had problems with a crankarm trying to fall off! BTW, compacts will often have a chain drop issue when you are too high up in the cassette and shifting to the small ring. It's good practice to shift between rings on a compact (both ways) from farther out on the cassette. I have to do that, and I have a 36T inner ring (less of a tooth difference).

[aicabsolut]

I got the bike back today. The hanger had been replaced, spokes trued up and tires inflated. Went for my ride tonight and did 4 laps around the local park including a few small hills when on the 5th lap with a friend, in the same spot as usual, I couldn't drop from my big ring to the small ring. My friend kept saying "push your lever" over again. I did. Nothing happened. There was no tension in the lever. "Push harder." Still Nothing. We had to pull over where he picked up the bike, spun the pedals and shifted it back to the small ring. I did the entire last lap in my small ring.

Now supposedly, I "over or hard shifted" why my cables broke in the first few rides and applied too much pressure on the cranks causing the rear derailleur hanger to break. So which is it? Am I too rough or not rough enough. PBS told me to let them know if I still had a problem, so I'll follow up with them. I think they've been pretty decent about this.

Until the next epidsode of "The Perils of Penelope"

It still sounds to me like the cables are over-tightened. As in, they need to make sure they got the limits set right before they started the indexing.

When you tried to shift to the small ring, did the lever move? Just nothing happened? You might try spraying a ton of WD-40 down in that shifter (compress the brake and move the levers around to spray in there). Perhaps they didn't grease the cables when they installed them.

You might try taking some thick lube or some cable grease and getting at the cables down under the BB. There might be too much friction there too.