StanSeven

Your bike likely needs adjusting. You should be able to crosschain any 10 speed cassette bike with either no or minimal noise. Years ago cross chaining was bad and causes severe drivetrain wear. But that's not so today. It's probably not a good practice to regularly use those gear combinations but you should be able to occassionally.

DougG

I think you're correct on that. I did this at least two years ago and can't remember the exact model, but it must have been the 9-speed model. In any case, it works well and has not presented any problems.

RISKDR1

I am 70 and just built a bike with my first triple. I can handle the hills I ride with a double but I find the triple to be a nice feature. I can start a climb in "too low" a gear and gradually find the optimum as I climb. I find myself able to maintain a 80+ rpm when I would have bogged down to 50 or 60 before. I am getting stronger on all of my hilly rides and not getting bogged down by starting in too high a gear. I do not regret my choice of a triple at all.

NYMXer

I bought a second (supposedly better) bike that has the compact set (2x10) and now that I have made some key critical adjustments for my riding comfort, am adapting to riding without the triple up front.
Note that "adapting" does not mean liking better, just finding that you can teach an old dog new tricks, lol
For me, there was a lot of time spent on that middle ring, more than the other two combined. There are not many times I need way low or high gearing and on the compact set up, I find myself cross chaining more than I feel comfortable. More gears on the rear means more sideways torque on the chain when at the end of the cassette limits.
I can see for the serious racer where weight savings and slower front sprocket shifting come in handy, but for me.... I like a triple up front and doubt that I will ever change my mind. I may adapt to a compact set, but it's getting harder and harder to find a good bike with a triple.

dmanthree

I ride a 2012 Madone with the stock front rings, but changed the rear cluster to a 12-25. While I ride hills, I rarely ride real mountains, so this setup has worked fine for me. I rarely use either the highest or lowest gears.

crazyb

Anybody else still using a standard double? 53-39 up front 12-25 on the back. No mountains in Iowa, but 10-15% grades are very common. I'm 62 and still like this set up.

BluesDawg

Mister you're a better man than I. (or at least one better at ignoring pain)

NYMXer

I am running a 50/34 x 11/28 up here in the Catskills Mountains of New York. We have many (OMG, too many) 10% climbs... that couldn't be done with your gearing by mere mortals.

big john

If you're climbing a 15% grade in a 39x25 then you are a good climber and probably skinny, too. I have friends who use standard doubles in the mountains but they are exceptional climbers.

I bought a used bike with the same gearing as you have and it was fine for club rides with small (3 miles of 3-5%) climbs but for the bigger climbs I need lower gears. 34x29 ftw!

crazyb

We don't have many long hills, mostly short punchy ones. One hill not to far from here is 8-11% for a little less than a mile, and that one gets my attention. On Ragbrai, on Southern or mid state routes (hillier than in the northern part of the state) I will put a 12-27 on the back. Oh, I am not skinny, 5'11- 200#

Road Fan

.

I agree with this. I like to keep pedaling, and it's good to stay aerobic on a long ride. I also don't like big steps, like on the '85 Fuji that was analyzed.

I've been changing bikes to Campy Ergo 10 over the years, and am pretty happy with the results: 53/39/32 up front, 13/29 in the back. I'd like to go with a not so high top gear, but it's been ok, and it's good to have a range of gears near the bottom as well as in the middle and tops.

The only thing here that I see related to age, is that when my legs feel stronger I don't use the granny much, but I like to have it when they don't feel so good. I think that leg variability is more as I age.

MRT2

I like my triple. 3 x 9 Tiagra shifters from a few years ago, Sugino cranks 48 - 36 - 26 with a 12 - 27 cassette. There are rides where I never use the big or little chainrings, but that is OK. Long flat rides at speeds up to 18 mph, I have plenty of gears using the middle chainring. But when I need the small chainring, I am glad I have it, as it has saved my legs, and my knees more than a few time. And on rides with rolling hills (not much in my immediate neck of the woods, but there are group rides that have them), the Triple is really useful as I find myself shifting from the small to the big chainring as I crest a hill, then reversing the process as I get to the base of the next hill.

Gerryattrick

I just started riding a road bike again for the first time in around 40 years a few months ago, after coming back from six months off the bike following injury, on a steel bike I built up with a 52/39 front and 11/27 rear. I'm getting used to it now, even on the hills that I ride much easier on my hybrid, but those hills can be tough. I will get stronger over the winter, but I ride for enjoyment rather than a challenge or strength-building so I will probably change to a triple front for next summer when I get back to longer distances and steeper hills in the Brecon Beacons.

I've already bought the shifters and triple chainset to swap them over next spring.

fietsbob

a 20 vs 18 speed ? do the math ! gear ratios overlap , so you may have even less unique gear ratios than you think ,

many overlaps and near redundancies ..

yetirider

Since I started this thread i've been looking at options and what do I want from a bike after years on a MTB.
I'm starting to like the Ridley, its tough on the big hill yet rewarding on the flats and the long down hills we have, it has a place in the garage as it was cheap to build and was mostly financed by the sale of my MTB.

I been thinking of a duel purpose winter and just ride geared bike for when I fancy some big hill rides or a venture off road down the canal and smooth bridal paths.

That led me to these the have the new SRAM 1x setup and would be ideal for hill and smooth off rode and serve well as winter to it all bikes.

The more fast road hill climber with a slight change to the chainring.
Montpellier, £1499 | Whyte Bikes

Sticking to the road type format with the perfect hill climbing gearing
Saxon Cross, £1499 | Whyte Bikes

Or just stick to the Ridley ride it and but the SRAM gear on once it in the shops and easier to get hold of.

Looks like I have some thinking to do.....

MikeWMass

I am a bit late to the party. 63 years old. I have been riding a 50/34 with a 12/27 cassette for the past 9 years. There have only been a couple of times I had to stop on long steep climbs. Last year I bought a 5703 crank (50/39/30) and front derailleur. I have the first year 5600 shifters, so did not have to change them. I couldn't be happier. It gives me a slightly lower low, the advantage seems more that I can maintain a more comfortable cadence on the steep stuff. My observation is that the front shifts better than the compact double ever did, so shifting out of the middle ring when going faster than 18 mph or slower than 10 mph is not a problem.

yetirider

I solved my issue, decided to keep my road bike for the longer flatter rides, for the winter, gravel track and hill climbing duties I added a carbon urban bike, its got a 48-32 Urban Compact, 10 Speed crankset, the LBS swapped out the cassette to a 11-36, this gives me lots of climbing ability whist losing a little on top end speed. It feels really comfy to ride, will be interesting to see how much each bike gets ridden once summer returns.

rydabent

My last 5 bikes have had triples. You never know what you might run into, that a granny might not come in handy. That road that you turn on to on a whimnmay have a really steep hill, so with a granny you are prepared.

Retro Grouch 

1. Figure out what gear ratios you need. Not only do you need to think about your fastest gear ratio and easiest hill climb gear ratio, but also your favorite flat road gear ratio. You want your flat road ratio to fall in the middle of your rear cassette so that you have a couple of trip ratios in each direction without having to shift chain rings. You can't make a reasoned decision until you identify your needs.

2. Now calculate every single gear ratio for every crankset and cassette combination that you are considering.

If you do that, and you are objective in your analysis, one crankset and cassette combination will stand out as most ideal for the way that you ride.

h2oxtc

I like vanilla ice cream, or if I'm adventurous, Pralines 'n Cream. My wife likes anything with chocolate. Compact double or Triple?

I've been slowly converting my road bikes from 53/39 to 50/34 chainsets. While I can still climb most any hill around these parts including short lengths of 13% with a 39/27, the compact crankset makes life so much more enjoyable. I have one bike with a triple and almost never ride with the 30 tooth chainring. I've learned never to say never, so there may well come a day when I'll be happy and grateful to have a 30.

Mobile 155

My Klein has a 53x39 Dura Ace crankset and chainring. Not my climbing bike but with a SRAM Wi-Fly I can put a 11x32 if need be but run 11x28 normally. My Tarmac has a mid Compact 52x36 Turn crank with Praxis chain ring. It is my climber. I have three sets of wheels for it. 11x28, 11x32 and 11x34. Climbs longer than 14 miles get one of the last two wheels.

dbg

I've aged out of the 53-39 phase of my life (currently 62). I commute on an IGH 4 speed beater (building up a new one soon). My "numerous" bikes are all set up for light touring (all day self sufficient but no camping) and I've more recently abandoned the triple.

I found I spent 90% of my time on the middle ring (usually 42) and almost never used the big ring. I tried the standard compact double for a couple years on two favorite builds and came to dislike it immensely. Front shifts are so disruptive compared to dialing in the perfect rear cog, --and I found the 50-34 caused me to need more shifts up front. I missed the old 42 middle ring.

SO... now I'm doing some custom subcompact doubles on the touring builds (42-26, 44-28, 46-30) with 11 or 12 to 30 or 32 rear clusters, --and I'm liking it a lot. I've got my 90% front chainring experience back and can drop to a pretty low granny experience when needed. I do not miss the big front ring (and have learned a higher cadence when trying to hang with a faster tour group --although even light tourers rarely go 25mph in my world).

And then there's the daily workout ride and knockaround bike which is a singlespeed steel frame with 28 tires and skinny fenders. <-By far my favorite ride. Single speed is beautiful.