Wow, I didn't notice until now that this thread had been resurrected.
Originally Posted by
Meek
Which size did you get? Right decision? Thoughts...
I didn't get the Smoothie ES. I decided the head & seat tube angles, while relaxed compared to a race bike, were still not relaxed enough for me. That and the head tube length was a bit short in my size, the 58.
Also, the more I read about the frame's lack of fender eyelets and room for 700x32's with fenders, the less favorable it sounded.
Instead, I got a Specialized Tricross Sport which has more relaxed geometry, more than enough room for 700x32's with fenders and all the fender eyelets I could want.
Originally Posted by
LarDasse74
...44 X 12 is actually a pretty small top gear... You may find it very easy to spin out going down the slightest of incline.
I've got a 46x12 right now and I actually have outspun it on a decline, which I can live with.
Originally Posted by
LarDasse74
If you go with a road crankset, which generally come with a 50 - 53 big ring, this will not be an issue.
Here's the thing, when I run road tires on the Tricross, the 34T ends up being too small for sprinting so I use the 46T for sprinting and I think the 50+ would be a bit big for my sprinting abilities.
Originally Posted by
Shimagnolo
...I found that the FD's cage was so long, that the bottom of the cage hit the chainstay when the FD was still 3/8" above the large ring. Shifting onto the large ring was poor.
My 4503 front derailleur clears my chainstay with my cage set up about 1mm above my big ring. I got lucky as I hadn't even thought about chainstay clearance until I had installed the crankset and was adjusting my derailleur to its ring sizes.
Originally Posted by
Shimagnolo
I just happened to have an XT "trekking" chainring set on hand, (26, 36, 48).
I swapped the 44 with the 48, and got better shifting *and* a higher top gear.
It also makes small->medium, and medium->large FD shifts nearly the same, (~1.5 X ratio change).
Is this crankset one with external bearings? Does it work with a road 130mm rear hub?
I have a Stronglight 46/34/24 square taper crankset on there now and I don't like how torsionally flexible it is. When I get out of saddle, and I weigh about #180, I regularly get chain rub on the front derailleur, even if I trim my front derailleur toward my big ring.
I'm thinking about going to a 4550 (Tiagra) 50/34 crankset
just to get an external bearing bb.
For riding in hilly terrain, I would have to use a 11-32 or 11-34 to get about a 29 or 27" low gear.
Not excited about going to such a combination.
I'm running a 12-26 cassette in combination with the 46/34/24 and that gives me about a 25" low gear with close ratios which was my goal at the outset.