Road Cycling - Triple rear derailler w/ double?

I am going to get a new bike sometime in the spring. I haven't really tried any out yet because its been really cold, and I haven't felt like test-riding. I haven't determined brand, material or compenets yet.

I want it to just like my old bike, only 5 - 10 pounds lighter (my bike is around 25 lbs) The gearing is a double 53/39 and the back is a five-speed freewheel 13-28. I like this gearing set up, as there is very few hills that I cannot get up. However, I have noticed that the 105 - ultegra rear deraillers have a capacity of only 26T.

I would really like to have that 28, because where I live in Maryland is very hilly, and there are some monster hills, but I dont want the chain-jumping trouble that plagues mid-range triples.

Would it work to have the shop replace the double rear derailleur with one designed for a triple? will there be any difference in shifting performance? Also, does Shimano make a 11-28 cassette? I'm fairly open-minded, I wouldn't mind a campy group, but my lbs is a trek dealer, and they don't have much campag stuff, and as a result I've never tried campy. The lone exception was straddling the project one in the shop and putting my hands on the hoods of the Campy record shifters. (WAYYYYYYY out of my price range)

Originally posted by Phatman
I am going to get a new bike sometime in the spring. I haven't really tried any out yet because its been really cold, and I haven't felt like test-riding. I haven't determined brand, material or compenets yet.

I want it to just like my old bike, only 5 - 10 pounds lighter (my bike is around 25 lbs) The gearing is a double 53/39 and the back is a five-speed freewheel 13-28. I like this gearing set up, as there is very few hills that I cannot get up. However, I have noticed that the 105 - ultegra rear deraillers have a capacity of only 26T.

I would really like to have that 28, because where I live in Maryland is very hilly, and there are some monster hills, but I dont want the chain-jumping trouble that plagues mid-range triples.

Would it work to have the shop replace the double rear derailleur with one designed for a triple? will there be any difference in shifting performance? Also, does Shimano make a 11-28 cassette? I'm fairly open-minded, I wouldn't mind a campy group, but my lbs is a trek dealer, and they don't have much campag stuff, and as a result I've never tried campy. The lone exception was straddling the project one in the shop and putting my hands on the hoods of the Campy record shifters. (WAYYYYYYY out of my price range) The shimano 9 speed road stuff is speced for a max cog of 27 teeth, and will probably shift a 30.27 is the biggest cog you can get in 9 speed. road. MTB cassettes can be had with bigger cogs.Biggest in shimano 8 speed road was a 28 tooth cassette.The long and short cage are speced for the SAME large cog.The long cage just wraps more chain.Campy 10 centaur can be had with a 29 large cog.That would be my choice if I needed some bigger cogs and did not want a triple.

I debated for quite a while between the double or the triple and ended up with:

'03 Chorus 13-29 10 spd group

Gives me what I need in a double since I ride in a pretty hilly area.

You can put on an XT rear derailleur and go up to 34 teeth in back. It will work fine with any 9 sp STI shifter. This is very common in hilly/mountainous areas. I have 105 9 sp shifters and an XT rear der on my heavy commuter/tourer. That bike usually wears a 14-15 cassette, but I put on bigger cogs when needed. I also have a less expensive LX rear der and 34T cog that I put on one of my road bikes when I am going to hilly areas. It works great with the DA shifters on that bike.

I heard that MTB deraillers don't shift as nicely as road deraillers. Is this just an evil stereotype?

Originally posted by Phatman
I heard that MTB deraillers don't shift as nicely as road deraillers. Is this just an evil stereotype? Duno why there would be a difference between a quality MTB long cage and a road long cage.Plenty of people use the xt or xtr even with DA.