Triathlon gearing
03-22-06, 01:50 PM
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Triathlon gearing
I have a 9 spd full Ultegra (triple) road bike that I've spec'd for Triathlons. I just a got new race wheels and I'm considering getting a new (race) cassette. Is there a cluster combination that would compensate for the fact that this is a triple?
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts!
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts!
03-22-06, 02:14 PM
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Since you're building it as a triple, you could pretty much go with whatever you want. Maybe go with an 11-23 or something along those lines, to make up for the 52 tooth big ring as opposed to a standard 53 tooth. I wouldn't worry about getting larger cogs in the rear, as you'll have that small chainring in the front to pick up any slack.
03-22-06, 04:21 PM
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Gearing is course and rider dependent so it's hard to make recommendations without knowing more. But I do know that I like wider range gearing for triathlon than for road races. Since you have to run after riding in triathlon, you don't want your legs to be completely spent. I've found that I seem to run better if I don't let the cadence drop too low and don't spin too fast. This requires wider gearing. I run my road bike with a gear range of 3.4m to 8.6m and my tri-bike with a range of 3.0m - 9.3m. With a triple, you've got a pretty wide range with just about any standard cassette.
03-22-06, 06:46 PM
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You failed to mention if your bike has 700 or 650 wheels. Most time trial bikes(favored by the tri-folks) run 650 wheels even in very large frame sizes. That will greatly affect your gearing selection as well. I have seen some huge chain rings & very small tightly spaced cassettes when the triathlon is on a flat course.
