1989Pre 

I ride the standard Campy 39-53 in the front, so all I can say is I
owe a debt of gratitude to whoever, in his wildest dreams, decided
to invent a 28T sprocket for the rear. Yay, whoever you are! Man,
when I am on the last ten miles of my sunday solo 60-milers, I think
I'd vanish into thin air if I had to do it with just 24 or even 26 as the
largest sprocket in the rear.

AlTheKiller

I've never been much of a climber, and a broken knee with no health insurance definitely didn't do me any favors. currently running 36/46 13-26 7 speed. and rolling hills are about all I want to tackle... kind of a weird set up for a road bike IMO(36 gear inch low, 93 high), though I think the stock cassette was 11-23

Gdando

Thanks to Pasterbob I now have a 42/26 to help get up the volcano.

OldsCOOL

I am building on an '88 Cannondale Criterium frame with Litage FX aluminum fork. The bike will have very light components (within reason). It will ride on Vuelta Corsa wheels. I have other bikes for endurance rides, this will be for our hilly strava rides. Very hilly.

Sixty Fiver

It does depend on the bike as with my lighter road bikes I am not humping a ton of weight up a hill and unlike my mountain bike, the grades are not as steep although they may be longer.

My Proctor road bike is set up for riding in and out of our river valley where the grades can be 12%... it has a 40/52 mated to an 11-28 (8 speed). The Cooper has a 42/54 with a 13-21 and is set up for faster and flatter courses.

The touring and utility bikes are the same as my mountain bikes... their low is around 20 gear inches.

gaucho777 

Spoken like a true Floridian!

fender1

1978 Raleigh Pro 46/30 up front, 7 speed rear, 13-28. 1980 Ritchey Touring bike 46/42/28 up front, 6 speed rea,r 13-30. Modern Rivendell Sport/Touring bike ,46/30 up front, 10 speed rear 11-34.

Barrettscv 

I use triples and like to have as close to 1:1 as possible using Shimano GS rear derailleurs. My Serotta has a 52, 42 & 30 crankset with a 12-28 eight speed cassette. My Simoncini has a 48, 36 & 26 crankset with a 13-24 seven speed freewheel.

The bike is a 1986-ish Serotta Nova Special X. I'm using a 32 spoke wheelset featuring Shimano 600 tri-color hubs and Mavic Open Pro rims. The rear wheel was rebuilt and a Shimano Deore XTR eight-speed 12-28 cassette was installed. The Crankset is a Suntour Superbe with 52, 42 & 30 chainrings. The rear derailleur is a Shimano long arm 6207 GS 600 series, the front derailleur is a Campagnolo for triple. Shifters are NOS Shimano eight-speed 600. The Brakes are Shimano 105 and the levers are NOS Shimano 600.





This is a 1997-ish Simoncini Cyclocross Special. The wheelset includes Campagnolo Record High-flange hubs. The 48, 36 & 26 Sugino crankset is ideal for the 13-24 seven speed Suntour freewheel. The Suntour bar end shifter are easy to use with the Shimano XT 8-speed SIS derailleurs.

noglider 

I don't think any of my bikes has a 1:1.

I end up using the bottom gear on all of my bikes, and the bottom gear varies a lot. Lately, I've been riding my track bike exclusively, and it has a 46x16, which is about 76 inches. I had to charge up the slopes on the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges last night, but they are not major hills.

repechage

If you cannot climb in a 42 x 23 then you are going to get dropped anyway. Well, that is what we thought decades ago.

Lowest current varies, 42 x 28 is probably the lowest and welcomed for that 14% grade home via the short way.

seypat

Is that Serotta in indexed or friction mode?

Ex Pres 

Describes me to a T

I see a hill and I'm off the back.

LeicaLad 

Interesting.

I am also gearing each of my bikes down in compensation to my knees. And I have no fear of being dropped. I ride for pleasure.

Rear freewheels each now require a minimum 28t, and I have one freewheel awaiting a wheel build that will go to 32t.

Front:
I have two bikes with Stronglight 93 cranks that have either a 37t or 38t inner ring.

One bike has a very nice triplized Campy NR, giving me a 28t granny to a 28t rear. (Another wheel set has a better freewheel than this one.)




My newest bike has a Campy NR with 41/50 front and a 12-28 rear. I know that I’ll need to do something here. Probably another triplized front.




My big problem is finding a good front derailleur for the triples. I thought I was being clever to use things like the Euclid or O.R. front mechanisms, but these are designed for a wider flair of chain stays, so give terrible chain line rub issues. Sigh.


Not to hijack this, but what are the BEST C&V front derailleurs for wide triples?

Shimagnolo

Damn!
Two of my bikes have ~16 inch bottom gear, but I can always find climbs to make me want something even lower.

Ex Pres 

Depends on whether you're equal spaced, like a 30-40-50, in which case a FD designed for a triple works best, or if you're half-step+granny or somewhere thereabouts. In the latter, many doubles will work, Suntour Cyclone MkII among the best that I've tried.

Barrettscv 

Indexed, however I had to change to a later Shimano XT SIS rear derailleur to achieve indexed shifting.

seypat

That's why I was asking. I have an 85 Miyata 912 frame I am building up. I have a 600 triple crank, 600 triple FD and the funky aero DT shifters. I might go with barcons though. I was going to put a 600 GS RD on it but then I'm stuck with friction. The rear hub/cassette would be a 7 speed 105. Decisions, decisions.

sleepy

On my CAAD 10 I had a compact 50/34 with a 12-27. I killed it on the climbs, only being defeated on Fargo Street and Eldred Street in Los Angeles. These two go up to 30+ degrees. Sadly, that bike was stripped by thieves.

I have more or less pieced together my RB-1 53/39 with a seven speed freewheel 14-28, and 12-28 spread on another wheel with a cassette. In its previous STI equipped version, it had 50/38 to 12/27. I did pretty well on climbs, and suffered on climbs in the mid-high 20's. I have yet to go climbing, but I am looking forward to it, as that's what I enjoy doing.

Related Threadjack alert: Is it possible to slap on a mountain derailleur on the back with a 53/39 in the front? I'd like to go to 30 or 32.

dddd

Lots of folks do that, but you'll want to examine your chain length requirement when changing to the larger rear cogs.

Bandera

Converting the rando-ish build from 50/34 12-25 to a triple 50/39/30 12-25 w/ brifters.
Whoever called this area the Hill Country was on to something.

-Bandera

Velognome 

For big hills (little mountains) 50/34 & 12-26 9spd. For everyday riding. The 26 becomes the bailout, to sit up and enjoy the view. That would be 34.5 inches

elboGreaze

I run a 50-34 , 12-27 , very rarely come off the 50 , as I'm more of a masher than a spinner .

smontanaro 

My "hill climbing" bike has a 48-30 up front, and a five-speed Regina 13-21 in back. This summer that will be replaced with a five-speed SunTour 13-24.

bikingshearer 

I never could and always did.

As a rapidly aging climbing-ability-challenged Clydesdale living in an area where almost every ride includes at least one significant climb and usually more, I have long since given up on C&V drivetrains. They simply won't get it done for me.

My main three rides (Ron Cooper, Eisentraut, De Rosa) all run Campy 10-speed triples with 52-42-30 up front and 13-29 in the back, so 30x29 is the low. The Paramount has a 46-36-26 up front and 11-26 9-speed in the back, so its low is 26x26. it works for me. YMMV.

vonfilm 

I am planning a build with a Sugino Triple 46/36/24 or 46/36/26 with a 14-34 tooth megarange Shimano freewheel. I think it would benefit this Clydesdale in Austin's hilly terrain.