Junior Gearing and Crankset issues
01-29-13, 12:03 AM
#1
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Junior Gearing and Crankset issues
Hi Everyone,
So here's the deal. I have a Windsor Knight, https://bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/knight_x.htm
and I'm a Junior. Right now, I just bought a rear Cassette with the smallest cog a 14t. I want to replace my ugly TruVativ GXP triple with a better one. I need to have the big ring be a 52T for junior gearing restrictions. (I have 23C tires, would a 53 work?) Any recommendations on a Compact Crankset that's better than the one I have right now? What would I have to tweak or replace on my bike to convert? Or is a triple fine? I am only going to be junior restricted for this season and the next... So I don't want to lock all my money into a 2 year investment.
Basically, what should I upgrade on my bike besides frame wheels and seat?
So here's the deal. I have a Windsor Knight, https://bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/knight_x.htm
and I'm a Junior. Right now, I just bought a rear Cassette with the smallest cog a 14t. I want to replace my ugly TruVativ GXP triple with a better one. I need to have the big ring be a 52T for junior gearing restrictions. (I have 23C tires, would a 53 work?) Any recommendations on a Compact Crankset that's better than the one I have right now? What would I have to tweak or replace on my bike to convert? Or is a triple fine? I am only going to be junior restricted for this season and the next... So I don't want to lock all my money into a 2 year investment.
Basically, what should I upgrade on my bike besides frame wheels and seat?
01-29-13, 07:18 AM
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Spending money on upgrading cranksets is burning money. The weight savings would be minimal, and any stiffness difference is not enough to change how fast the bike goes. You would get slightly better shifting if you put on a shimano crnakset, due to the chainrings but it's not worth the money.
Buy a nice set of wheels, you can use them as race wheels now, with your stock wheels for the pit, and take the new wheels to the next bike. And a seat that's comfortable for you.
Beyond that, don't throw money into that bicycle.
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You could hit a tree and die.
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01-29-13, 07:52 AM
#3
Senior Member
Save your money. There's nothing your going to upgrade on that bike that is going to make any difference in your results.
Spending money on upgrading cranksets is burning money. The weight savings would be minimal, and any stiffness difference is not enough to change how fast the bike goes. You would get slightly better shifting if you put on a shimano crnakset, due to the chainrings but it's not worth the money.
Buy a nice set of wheels, you can use them as race wheels now, with your stock wheels for the pit, and take the new wheels to the next bike. And a seat that's comfortable for you.
Beyond that, don't throw money into that bicycle.
Spending money on upgrading cranksets is burning money. The weight savings would be minimal, and any stiffness difference is not enough to change how fast the bike goes. You would get slightly better shifting if you put on a shimano crnakset, due to the chainrings but it's not worth the money.
Buy a nice set of wheels, you can use them as race wheels now, with your stock wheels for the pit, and take the new wheels to the next bike. And a seat that's comfortable for you.
Beyond that, don't throw money into that bicycle.
BTW, a 52 ring is not a "compact crank".
And I would avoid a triple.
A 52x14 is about the biggest gear combo you can use. Even 25c tires would probably put you over the limit.
01-29-13, 08:57 AM
#4
Senior Member
For gearing remember that it's "roll out" they measure, not the number of teeth. Do a roll out on your bike after you think it's okay to verify that you'll pass roll out. You don't want to be that Junior that won the State Championships and then failed roll out (which happened in CT) or the guy that won the NATIONAL Crit Championships and failed roll out (that happened too, and he failed by a HUGE margin - he somehow thought a 53x12 would pass the then 53x15 / 7.47 meter roll out for 15-17 year olds).
For putting money into the bike think about things that affect fit - I see many Juniors that outgrow their fit within a season - and things you can take to your next bike/s.
Fit is pretty straight forward. Make sure you stay on top of your fit, make sure you're checking saddle height and reach to the bars on a regular basis (once a month?). Don't neglect reach, I see Juniors with tiny stems all cramped up on a bike because they haven't gotten a 12 cm stem or whatever. You'll probably only need to get a stem here and there; to save some money see if your local shop has some take-off stems to sell, usually they'll let them go cheaply. For saddle height you'll most likely just need to adjust the seatpost height but in some instances you may need to do something unusual (saddle height adjustment which leads to stem height adjustment which leads to a new stem).
For upgrade things buy stuff that you can move from bike to bike stick with good, solid equipment that is reliable and whose manufacturer shouldn't be out of business in a year or two. For me that includes:
- saddle. Once I find a good saddle I try to buy a spare or two. I've used the same saddle model from about 1995 or so. Unfortunately they stopped making it in about 2000. I have a few left but I hope to find a newer model that works for me.
- pedals. If you buy good pedals you'll use them for many years, or at least you'll use the system for many years. I've really only used four pedal systems in my racing life, toe clips/straps, Aerolites, Shimano SPD-Rs, and Look Keos. I've had the Keos for a while now and I have 4 bikes with Keos, multiple spare pedal sets, and probably 6 or 8 sets of extra cleats.
- handlebar. You may need to get a wider bar at some point but if you find a shape that works for you then stick with it. Again I've been using the same shape bar for most of my racing life. I'm trying to move to the FSA Compact bars because that shape is more available in a wider variety of materials. The prior bars I used went out of production a long time ago, and yes, I still have a few of those left too.
- wheels. This is less true than before since wheels change so frequently. It used to be that a good wheelset would be close to top of the line for 5-10 years but now the innovation cycle means it's something like 3-5 years before something new comes along. However, having said that, a good solid training wheelset that could double as a race set isn't that different from a similar wheelset 5-10 years ago. I personally decided to go with a particular brand/theory (HED wide rimmed wheels) and committed. Over the last 3 years I've bought 4 pairs of HED wide rim wheels, 2 pairs of race wheels, 2 pairs of training wheels. I don't imagine I'll be changing wheel philosophy in the next 5-7 years, putting my first 3 pairs of wheels at 8-10 years old. I still have wheels I had as a close-to-Junior (my Junior wheels are gone, the rear destroyed, the front given away), but I have race wheels that date back to 1989 that still get occasional use.
- powermeter. If you do this think longest term possible, not short term. A crank based system probably makes most sense right now, and I personally think a long time system like the SRM is the way to go. Most reliable, most predictable. Totally not necessary for racing but it's fun, and if you decide to get a power meter you'll definitely be moving it from bike to bike. The only issue with crank based power is choosing a BB standard. I can't help you there.
Things that might be worth upgrading:
- seat post. I use Thomson posts across most of my bikes. I still have the first one I got a long time ago. They're strong, reasonably light, and if you get a 27.2 mm post it won't go out of style. I used a 27.2 post in my 31.6 size Cannondale with a Problem Solvers shim. Worked great. Keep in mind that this is a fit item - you may need setback with one frame but not another, etc. If you're not sure then don't upgrade it.
Wear items you'll replace anyway:
- chain/cassette
- brake pads
- cables/housing (although I buy Nokon housing and move it from bike to bike)
- tires
- bar tape
Crash items you may replace:
- saddle
- pedals
- bar
- wheels
Things NOT to upgrade:
- derailleurs. If someone switched out my derailleur I wouldn't know the difference. I have, on various bikes, 10s Campy levers shifting various derailleurs including Record (2 generations), Chorus, Athena, and even a Shimano 9s derailleur on a tandem. Because the shifter is basically the same (and between Athena, Chorus, and Record, at least the ones I have, functionally they're basically the same) the Athena shifts on the tandem feel no different, except in lag time, than the Record on my current primary bike.
- cranks, not unless you're getting a power meter crankset.
- brake calipers... I mean, come on. If your brakes are less than 1000% then get new pads. I raced for a long time with RX100 brake calipers (Tiagra level) with an otherwise mainly Campy Record bike. I had Ultegra calipers for a while because the local shop had just taken them off another bike so I bought them for cheap. The first group-matching calipers I got were Record calipers when I bought a closeout Record equipped bike.
As a Junior you're either going to do Junior races, which are Cat 1-4 or Cat 1-5, or you're going to do categorized races (Cat 5, Cat 4, etc). Your bike won't make a huge difference in your results in either. Equipment is fun - hey I think about bike parts too - but performance-wise it makes a very small difference overall.
For putting money into the bike think about things that affect fit - I see many Juniors that outgrow their fit within a season - and things you can take to your next bike/s.
Fit is pretty straight forward. Make sure you stay on top of your fit, make sure you're checking saddle height and reach to the bars on a regular basis (once a month?). Don't neglect reach, I see Juniors with tiny stems all cramped up on a bike because they haven't gotten a 12 cm stem or whatever. You'll probably only need to get a stem here and there; to save some money see if your local shop has some take-off stems to sell, usually they'll let them go cheaply. For saddle height you'll most likely just need to adjust the seatpost height but in some instances you may need to do something unusual (saddle height adjustment which leads to stem height adjustment which leads to a new stem).
For upgrade things buy stuff that you can move from bike to bike stick with good, solid equipment that is reliable and whose manufacturer shouldn't be out of business in a year or two. For me that includes:
- saddle. Once I find a good saddle I try to buy a spare or two. I've used the same saddle model from about 1995 or so. Unfortunately they stopped making it in about 2000. I have a few left but I hope to find a newer model that works for me.
- pedals. If you buy good pedals you'll use them for many years, or at least you'll use the system for many years. I've really only used four pedal systems in my racing life, toe clips/straps, Aerolites, Shimano SPD-Rs, and Look Keos. I've had the Keos for a while now and I have 4 bikes with Keos, multiple spare pedal sets, and probably 6 or 8 sets of extra cleats.
- handlebar. You may need to get a wider bar at some point but if you find a shape that works for you then stick with it. Again I've been using the same shape bar for most of my racing life. I'm trying to move to the FSA Compact bars because that shape is more available in a wider variety of materials. The prior bars I used went out of production a long time ago, and yes, I still have a few of those left too.
- wheels. This is less true than before since wheels change so frequently. It used to be that a good wheelset would be close to top of the line for 5-10 years but now the innovation cycle means it's something like 3-5 years before something new comes along. However, having said that, a good solid training wheelset that could double as a race set isn't that different from a similar wheelset 5-10 years ago. I personally decided to go with a particular brand/theory (HED wide rimmed wheels) and committed. Over the last 3 years I've bought 4 pairs of HED wide rim wheels, 2 pairs of race wheels, 2 pairs of training wheels. I don't imagine I'll be changing wheel philosophy in the next 5-7 years, putting my first 3 pairs of wheels at 8-10 years old. I still have wheels I had as a close-to-Junior (my Junior wheels are gone, the rear destroyed, the front given away), but I have race wheels that date back to 1989 that still get occasional use.
- powermeter. If you do this think longest term possible, not short term. A crank based system probably makes most sense right now, and I personally think a long time system like the SRM is the way to go. Most reliable, most predictable. Totally not necessary for racing but it's fun, and if you decide to get a power meter you'll definitely be moving it from bike to bike. The only issue with crank based power is choosing a BB standard. I can't help you there.
Things that might be worth upgrading:
- seat post. I use Thomson posts across most of my bikes. I still have the first one I got a long time ago. They're strong, reasonably light, and if you get a 27.2 mm post it won't go out of style. I used a 27.2 post in my 31.6 size Cannondale with a Problem Solvers shim. Worked great. Keep in mind that this is a fit item - you may need setback with one frame but not another, etc. If you're not sure then don't upgrade it.
Wear items you'll replace anyway:
- chain/cassette
- brake pads
- cables/housing (although I buy Nokon housing and move it from bike to bike)
- tires
- bar tape
Crash items you may replace:
- saddle
- pedals
- bar
- wheels
Things NOT to upgrade:
- derailleurs. If someone switched out my derailleur I wouldn't know the difference. I have, on various bikes, 10s Campy levers shifting various derailleurs including Record (2 generations), Chorus, Athena, and even a Shimano 9s derailleur on a tandem. Because the shifter is basically the same (and between Athena, Chorus, and Record, at least the ones I have, functionally they're basically the same) the Athena shifts on the tandem feel no different, except in lag time, than the Record on my current primary bike.
- cranks, not unless you're getting a power meter crankset.
- brake calipers... I mean, come on. If your brakes are less than 1000% then get new pads. I raced for a long time with RX100 brake calipers (Tiagra level) with an otherwise mainly Campy Record bike. I had Ultegra calipers for a while because the local shop had just taken them off another bike so I bought them for cheap. The first group-matching calipers I got were Record calipers when I bought a closeout Record equipped bike.
As a Junior you're either going to do Junior races, which are Cat 1-4 or Cat 1-5, or you're going to do categorized races (Cat 5, Cat 4, etc). Your bike won't make a huge difference in your results in either. Equipment is fun - hey I think about bike parts too - but performance-wise it makes a very small difference overall.
