Northern California - My gearing

When you leave a man alone with his bike on a Friday night, what possible unspeakable things does he do? He counts the gears, course:

52-39-30

12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27

On first blush, what do these numbers tell you?

On first blush, what do these numbers tell you?

You should be near the first start wave of the Diablo KOM ride. :)

You can ride very fast or very slow. [shrug].

Now tell us which cogs/rings have the most wear.

Typo in there. 21 not 20. Less pushups, more climbing Moody in 39x27/24/21.

You have a std. double. Not sure what the 30 is for :D

Seriously, that gearing has gotten an old, fat, slow cyclist (wait, I resemble that remark) up every hill around here that I've tried. People who really like to spin might stick a MTB derailler in back and even bigger cogs, but that gearing should be more than enough for most.

JB

You should be near the first start wave of the Diablo KOM ride. :)

As in "be the rabbit" or "be the roadkill"? :)




Now tell us which cogs/rings have the most wear.

I spend more time on 39x12/13 on flats. I've been in the habit of using 30x19/21 lately doing Page Mill, etc.


Less pushups, more climbing Moody in 39x27/24/21.

Si, senor. Wait, are you saying my magnificent chest is not helping me climb? :lol: I've not done Moody a while now. Will hit that when I come back from my trip.


Seriously, that gearing has gotten an old, fat, slow cyclist (wait, I resemble that remark) up every hill around here that I've tried.

Jonathan, I think that's most likely the reason why my LBS put that gearing on my build-up when they first saw me. 3 or 4 years later, I'm still not ready to be weaned off that gearing. :o

Si, senor. Wait, are you saying my magnificent chest is not helping me climb? :lol: I've not done Moody a while now. Will hit that when I come back from my trip.


:eek: Sprinter, eh?

I spend more time on 39x12/13 on flats. I've been in the habit of using 30x19/21 lately doing Page Mill, etc.


Interesting - I ended up in a similar place with my triple last year. Except whenever I was climbing in a 30x21, I felt I might as well be climbing in my 39x27 (which I normally did). It ended up being like a mind game because I didn't like to switch chainrings mid climb, so going in my 39 effectively took away my bail out options.

Ever consider riding a compact? I switched out to a 50/34 at the end of last year and am loving it. The only gear you loose is the 30x27 and 34x27 is pretty much the same as 30x24 and that seems good to get me up pretty much everything round here. I really like just having one "climbing" ring and shifting is great. An unexpected bonus is that it's making me use the 50T ring more, which I'm convinced is making me stronger on the flats:thumb:

When you leave a man alone with his bike on a Friday night, what possible unspeakable things does he do? He counts the gears, course:

52-39-30

12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27

On first blush, what do these numbers tell you?

They tell me that you're destined to climb big hills without hurting your knees. As for me, this is what I have:

50-40-26

13-14-15-17-19-21-23-26-29

Campy of course:D

:eek: Sprinter, eh?

Surely you jest, sir. Surely. :)

Interesting - I ended up in a similar place with my triple last year. Except whenever I was climbing in a 30x21, I felt I might as well be climbing in my 39x27 (which I normally did). It ended up being like a mind game because I didn't like to switch chainrings mid climb, so going in my 39 effectively took away my bail out options.

Ever consider riding a compact? I switched out to a 50/34 at the end of last year and am loving it. The only gear you loose is the 30x27 and 34x27 is pretty much the same as 30x24 and that seems good to get me up pretty much everything round here. I really like just having one "climbing" ring and shifting is great. An unexpected bonus is that it's making me use the 50T ring more, which I'm convinced is making me stronger on the flats:thumb:

You know, I'm suspecting that as well, but I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger and do a complete swap out of the drive train. Every time I get the silly thought (off-bike) that I don't need the granny gear, I get *****-slapped into reality by the climbs here.

You know, I'm suspecting that as well, but I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger and do a complete swap out of the drive train. Every time I get the silly thought (off-bike) that I don't need the granny gear, I get *****-slapped into reality by the climbs here.

My old bike had a triple with a 12-27 cassette; my new one has a compact double with a 34 small ring and an 11-30 cassette. Although in theory there's a small difference in the easiest gear with the two setups, in practice I can't tell the difference. The biggest change for me with the new setup (well, other than getting used to SRAM shifting) is how much I'm shifting in the front.

Honestly, if I had either setup on just one bike, I'd stick with it. They both work fine - just a little different. Not worth the effort or expense to change, IMHO.

JB

You know, I'm suspecting that as well, but I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger and do a complete swap out of the drive train. Every time I get the silly thought (off-bike) that I don't need the granny gear, I get *****-slapped into reality by the climbs here.

Do it. Get a cheap (and quality) SRAM Rival compact crank on eBay and you'll be psyched. When I switched from triple to compact on my old bike with 105, I didn't even need to switch the brifters or front derailleur.

Surely you jest, sir. Surely. :)

Don't you call me Shirley!

BTW, if you have Shimano w/ external BB bearings, you can change just the cranks without changing the BB. Everything else should work fine with the double crank.

Three bikes, three different gearings. 53-39, 50-36, 53-42-32. Using a calculator the climbing gears are fairly close to each other. With a 12-26 cassette a 39x26 is 39.4 gear inches, 36x23 is 41.1, 32x21 is 40. A 36x26 is 36.4 and 32x23 is 36.6. I had the triple for Sunday's Sequoia ride. The 42t middle ring was used extensively which kept me somewhat fresh for a decent pace up Tunitas.

Gearing experiments don't come cheap though. Non industry standard 110mm Campy 36t inner rings and 32t 74mm granny rings are pricey.

Let's bury this thread for about 6 months and see if I come back with a "guess what I got" comment.:thumb:

52-39-30

12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27

On first blush, what do these numbers tell you?

... that you need to complete the triple crown. Terrible Two, Mt. Tam, Knoxville. Now that's quite a line up!:p