Commuting - Is your big chainring 48 or 52 (or something else) on your commuter?

I'm thinking about getting a commuter bike and leaving my road bike for road riding. I'm noticing that a lot of the bikes that I like for commuting have a 48/38/28 chain ring, but my road bike has 52/42/30. I spend most of my riding on the road bike in the 42 ring.

My commute is 8.5 miles one way. Half of it is city/downtown and the other half is a bike trail. There are no hills that are noteworthy.

Those of you with the 48/38/28 chain ring, do you like 'em? Do you wish you had the 52/42/30?

You probably won't get many answers like this one:

My primary commuter has one chainring up front, a 39, with a 9 sp rear. My secondary commuter is a fixie with a 42.

My primary roadbike has a 44/24 up front, a bizarre experiment that will probably change soon, while my second roadbike has a 48/34.

My commuter has a 52/42/30 triple. I almost never ride the 52 and would prefer a 48/38/28. On some days the 42 seems a little tall! I do pull a trailer so much of the time I'm fairly loaded--weight wise, that is! I just made a bad choice in gearing. Maybe someday all be strong enough to turn the 52.

I find the 52 a beautiful thing on days when the tailwinds climb over 20. I also find the 30 a beautiful thing on the days the headwinds climb over 20.

[QUOTE=RainmanP]You probably won't get many answers like this one:

My primary commuter has one chainring up front, a 39, with a 9 sp rear. My secondary commuter is a fixie with a 42.

Single 38 front, 12-28 rear small diameter cogset, 7 and 8 speed (mtb everywhere).
40 I could push, 42 t is knees sore, very fast though.

Note, the wheel I borrowed (mavic loose spokes 2) has max 14 t cog and the regular size cogs.
Sucks bad, 5mph? loss- MORE even. No cyclometer.

Are road bike cogsets smaller in diameter?
Can you please list normal and range of road say 8 speed cogset teeth?
I am unfamiliar, and am interested in say 9-10 t cogs.

Jef.

[QUOTE=RainmanP]You probably won't get many answers like this one:

My primary commuter has one chainring up front, a 39, with a 9 sp rear. My secondary commuter is a fixie with a 42.

Single 38 front, 12-28 rear small diameter cogset, 7 and 8 speed (mtb everywhere)

the rear cogs will make more of a difference. get a cassette that goes down to an 11. that will really give ya more speed.

Personally, I wouldn't have much use for a bigger chainring than I already have. Mine's a 44, and I got along fine when i was stuck using a 36 (my middle ring) because my derailleur cable broke.

tall gears can make you fast on downhills, but they usually won't take much time off an overall commute because most of your time is spent on uphills if there are any, or on flat ground if there aren't.

I've got a 52-42-30 in front. It's fine for me, but my commute is flat and I usually combine my commute with training.

I'm thinking about getting a commuter bike and leaving my road bike for road riding. I'm noticing that a lot of the bikes that I like for commuting have a 48/38/28 chain ring, but my road bike has 52/42/30. I spend most of my riding on the road bike in the 42 ring.

My commute is 8.5 miles one way. Half of it is city/downtown and the other half is a bike trail. There are no hills that are noteworthy.

Those of you with the 48/38/28 chain ring, do you like 'em? Do you wish you had the 52/42/30?

Single speed, 42/14. Never a problem

I run two road bikes and use both as commuters. Until recently they both had 52/39 double chainring crank-sets. Recently, the older bike needed a replacement and I found an offer that I could not refuse on an Ofmega Vantage crank-set (25 quid!) that was 52/42. Most of the time I use the 52 ring, in combination with the 14 or 15 tooth rear sprockets on the flat, though I do have to give in eventually and shift down for hills! Rear sprocket is 13-26 teeth which gives a really good range of useful gears, though I may try a 12-23 for a bit more top end speed.

Cheers,

Ed

I'm on a 44/34/20 and am just about to swap to a 52/42/30.

I really like my Specialized touring & it has 28-38-48 triple up front with a 13/24 freewheel. My other bikes run the gamut, one with a SunTour Cyclone double has a 53/42 matched to an 11/21 rear & while I can push it a little faster on the flats, I'm getting to old to do that very often. Truth is I enjoy riding all of them, some just make me work harder on the hills. don

Three bikes, three different rings and cogs combination, but more or less the same range, and more or less the same range on each ring.

The commuter bike came with 50-40-30 and 12-32 back in 1980 when it was a touring bike. I almost never used the 50. I changed the crankset 1.5-2 years ago with a Sugino crankset that sports 46-36-26, and my rear wheel now has a 7-speed 13-30 cassette. For unloaded rural rides I will, once in a blue moon, wish for a slightly taller gear, but that's it. I would prefer closer ratios however, but that's a non issue for urban rides.

The tourer has 44-34-22 with a custom 9-speed 12-32 cassette. Closer ratios near the top than near the bottom. The tandem has 48-38-24 with a custom 9-speed 13-34 cassette. And even on highways, even with the wind at my back, my high gear of 99 gear-inch is more than enough.

I'm thinking about getting a commuter bike and leaving my road bike for road riding. I'm noticing that a lot of the bikes that I like for commuting have a 48/38/28 chain ring, but my road bike has 52/42/30. I spend most of my riding on the road bike in the 42 ring.

My commute is 8.5 miles one way. Half of it is city/downtown and the other half is a bike trail. There are no hills that are noteworthy.

Those of you with the 48/38/28 chain ring, do you like 'em? Do you wish you had the 52/42/30?

My commute is 12.5 miles each way. I have one ring: 44. Of course, I also only have one cog: 18. Keeps things simple. No coasting either.

I have several noteworthy hills, at least according to my legs and at least one according to my lungs. If I was riding in your terrain, it would probably be 44x15 or so.

Seriously, though. If you're not into the whole fixed/single thing, why do you need a triple for such a commute (or any commute that doesn't involve alpine passes or heavy trailer towing--or towing a heavy trailer up an alpine pass). How many gears do you really use on any given ride? Three or four?

At that point, it probably doesn't matter what the chainrings are. And, if you don't quite have the range that you want, just switch the cassette instead. It's a good deal cheaper and a good deal quicker. You might have to resize the chain, but only if your largest cog changes size by more than about 4 teeth.

44Ax32Sx22S mated to a SRAM R9 11-23. Gets the job done for my commuter.

48/38/28 here. I almost exclusively use the 38 ring though. I only use the 28 when doing some serious offraoding or hill climbs (the kinda stuff I really should be walking for..), and I only use the 48 when going far faster than I should be....managed to hit 30mph in traffic today using it, would have been more but redlights have this tendancy to put dampers on my fun...

I'm thinking about getting a commuter bike and leaving my road bike for road riding. I'm noticing that a lot of the bikes that I like for commuting have a 48/38/28 chain ring, but my road bike has 52/42/30. I spend most of my riding on the road bike in the 42 ring.

I have a 28/38/48 but would happily trade up to 52 or 53 in front.
Rear cassette has 11 - 32. I spend at least half my commute
at 48/11 and just about never use the 28 tooth chainring.
The way I figure it, for anything strenuous, you'll use something
in the middle, but when you're flying down a hill, or have a
great tail wind, you'll have more fun with a higher gear ratio.
I don't have any technical climbs where I need the extreme
low end, so...

Maybe next upgrade.

I'm thinking about getting a commuter bike and leaving my road bike for road riding. I'm noticing that a lot of the bikes that I like for commuting have a 48/38/28 chain ring, but my road bike has 52/42/30. I spend most of my riding on the road bike in the 42 ring.
My commute is 8.5 miles one way. Half of it is city/downtown and the other half is a bike trail. There are no hills that are noteworthy.
Those of you with the 48/38/28 chain ring, do you like 'em? Do you wish you had the 52/42/30?

I usually leave it in the big ring (53) for most of my riding in the summer. In the winter, I usually have it in the big ring (48) although I'm thinking of altering my mtb to a pure commuter and leaving my fully for the off-road scene only.

I wouldn't really like to ride with a 48 max big...my commute is 11 miles one way, with a big hill at both ends.
(I do occasionally ride in the small ring, but on the flats, it's big big big...)

Totally OT, but anyway...it feels MUCH faster on my racing bike than on my 1100 motorcycle. Just too many cars for the Suzuki to be fun...*sigh* Not only that, but it's more of a "sit" than a ride. Made my kids really happy, though!

Enjoy,
Tom

My commute is 12.5 miles each way. I have one ring: 44. Of course, I also only have one cog: 18. Keeps things simple. No coasting either.

I have several noteworthy hills, at least according to my legs and at least one according to my lungs. If I was riding in your terrain, it would probably be 44x15 or so.

How do you take the hill GOING DOWN? I'd love to have my fixie back together, but I don't want my legs to come off going DOWN the hills.

thanks in advance,
Tom

48x16 fixed and brakeless.

Don't know why anyone needs extra gears.

Go down the hills slow. Go up them fast.

39/52
Never use the 52.

My "commuter" bike (old rigid MTB with slicks) has 22/32/46 and 12-26 6-speed cassette. I ride most of the time on the 46T but will switch to the 32T for some of the steeper hills. Spinning out the 46/12 gear gets me going 35+mph (55+kph) so I don't really need anything taller.

How do you take the hill GOING DOWN? I'd love to have my fixie back together, but I don't want my legs to come off going DOWN the hills.

thanks in advance,
Tom

I run a front brake, but I only seem to use it when I'm really tired already or when I'm carrying a heavy-ish load (about 10-15 pounds).

Otherwise, I just use my legs to keep the speed down to a managable level on the downhills. The trick here, as with all things riding fixed, is to plan ahead. You have to project your mind farther down the road than you would with a gearie.

Instead of letting the bike (and therefore your legs) run on the downhill only to stop abruptly at the bottom (like you would a bike that coasts), you keep the speed/RPMs where you want them from the top of the hill on down.

That is, unless you don't care about being able to stop at the bottom. At least on my commute, I definitely care about this, since there's a stop sign at the bottom of each of the significant hills. Of course, I float the intersections as often as possible, especially since I have to head back up another hill after both of them. Not always possible or wise though, so I usually scrub speed from the top on down until I know what the traffic looks like. That way, I can either let it go or stop.

I use a Stronglight-80 chainset, which has a very small bolt circle, and can be setup as a single, double or triple, from 28 to 50something.
Originally I used it as a 36/48 double, then moved to a hilly town and changed it to a 28/38/48. (with a 12-28 7spd rear)
Ive moved back to flatland, but still use the triple, mostly in the 36.
I have a backup bike with a 1x5, using a 36 ring.
For flatter rides, a 1x9 makes a lot of sense. Single chainings do spin more freely.
I ve seen one Stronglight setup as a 28/38 double, which was right for the rider and terrain.