John E

Bianchi: original Campag. downtube friction shifters & NR derailleurs. 50-42 / 14-16-18-20-23-26, for a great 1.5-step progression.

Peugeot: SunTour nonindexed ratchet barcons, SunTour Cyclone II rear derailleur. 45-42 / 13-15-17-20-23-26, for a great half-step progression.

Schwinn mountain bike: 7-speed SunTour thumb shifter in (8-speed) friction mode. 48-40-28 (or -24) / 12-13-15-17-19-21-24-28, pretty good 1.5-step-plus-granny.

Jseis 

I recently switched from 53/39 to 50/39 and running 9 speed/13-27 outback. Freaking flat here & windy. & like 50-13 gets me to 32mph (like I EVER spin up to that!) downhill but hills are usually steep enough that I'm over 40 coasting anyway. The 27 gets me over any hill we have.

fietsbob

Actually have them split up on 2 different bikes ..

a 53t is on the bike with the 20" wheel, the 39t is on the bike with the 26" wheels ..

14 speed IGH with a 16t cog on the back of both..

surfjimc

My road bikes: 53-39 with 12-23 and 12-25 10 speed
My touring/commuting bike: 48-36-26 with a 12-34 9 speed
I can't ever imagine buying a compact crank, but stranger things have happened.

Zinger

That's about me but with faster cadence. If I had to get off my 50x18 I'm either going to bail so I can last......or I won't for that long. I won't even do my longer rides on that right now.

revchuck 

There's one loop I do for hill repeats and I regularly hit that speed or higher in the 39/12 downhill. It's 130+ rpm. Just FYI.

Jseis 

105-110 is my limit but normally in the 85-95 range. I ride solo in flat country so the opportunity to to use a 53 & 13, 14, 15 is so rare that they are really a waste except for occasionally downhill (within 25 miles there are three ~3% grades about a mile long where hanging at 30+ happens...but there is one that descends at say 1-2% for 6-7 miles and that is the exception). With the 50 I just use a few upper gears slightly more frequently as opposed to never. My upper sprint limit on flat ground is 27-28 anyway. I might see 30 in a year or so but like for what...200 yards?

OldsCOOL

We have very few places here that would be a true flat. Usually they are false flats that will test your cadence on a calm day and commonly put me in the small ring where that 39 can spin up. Those are times where on a return trip there is a stiff 15-20mph headwind and I just hit the drops, downshift and keep spinning. The road double has served me well until we moved out here in hill country and the shortest way home puts me at the base of a stiff incline I have only topped twice. The compact will get the nod at some point this spring.

BlazingPedals

Right now I've got a 39/53 on my lowracer. That'll get me over all but the worst hills; and if I'm expecting to climb worse I take a different bike. The lowracer is set up for flatland.

OldsCOOL

You flatlanders.

Weatherby

Getting back into riding after a 16 year pause, I have a 53x39 with a 12-25. Hills that I barely notices and used to power over in the big ring now have me thinking of a whole different set-up. Of course, I could dust of the old touring bike with 45x40x24 and the 14-32 FW with perfect half step plus granny gearing for loaded in real mountains.

The best option for me would be a 42x28 with an 11-28 11 speed cassette but doubt I can make that work

Zinger

Those loooong layoffs will do that for you. I find myself wanting gears for hills I used to jump over before a decade layoff.

BlazingPedals

Yeah, the standard double will get me up (and down) Advance Rd, but not Behling Rd.

OldsCOOL

Oh man. The Wall....and the Big Dip. It seems compulsory for every group ride to go that route.

MinnMan

I have a 39/53 on my Felt and a 34/50 on my Trek, both with 12-27 cassettes. I have yet to do any serious hill-climbing rides on the Felt (there are lots of rides to do in nearby W. Wisconsin that have, say, 4000' or 5000' climbing). The next time I do that kind of ride, I'm going to have to think about which bike to ride. The Felt is almost 5 pounds lighter, but I'm going to miss that low gearing....

OTOH, for fast group rides on relatively flat terrain, the Felt rocks and having the standard chainring is one of the reasons.

MinnMan

Hmmm, now I'm thinking about this some more. What if I DO want to ride the Felt on a very hilly ride? Getting a compact crank is too expensive and complicated for an occasional swap. I wonder how large a cog I could get on my rear cassette (with a 10 speed Dura Ace 7900 RD)?

I've read that the short-reach Dura Ace won't accept a cog larger than 28, but I think that's for a compact chainring. With the standard, could I get up to a 30 or 31 cog?, no? 39 X 31 should get me close to the 34 X 27 gear ratio I have on the Trek. Does anybody know and have a suggestion for a 10 cog cassette that would get me in that direction?

Zinger

Your maximum cog capacity will be different than chain wrap capacity. (Chain wrap capacity = the small cog and chain-ring subtracted from the large ones and the two differences added together).

Don't know the max sprocket teeth for your Dura Ace but if that's listed as 28 then that's probably what it is.

Artmo 

When I was a child, in the Middle Ages, 52/42 was the norm and I still have a TA crankset on the bench in my garage to prove it!

BlazingPedals

We're 50+ here, so all of us were brought up in the era of the 52/42. I don't think I have any of those left, although I might have a 52/42/30 hanging around somewhere... I keep threatening to put a 39/55 on my Lowracer. I wonder how that would shift?

Artmo 

Oh, I didn't realize you had racing bikes here 50 years ago:-) Even 40 years ago on my first visit (DE, PA, CA) I didn't see a single one. In fact when we were in Pall Alto my wife said we should open a bike shop because there weren't any. Missed oportunity.

OldsCOOL

52/40, actually. But who is counting. Mine always had the 40t, anyways.

BlazingPedals

50+ is my age. Define "racing bike."

nkfrench 

Middle-aged Athena here. I am running 53-39 front, 12-27T back on my good bike. I use the full range of gears each ride.
I put a 53-39/11-28T on another bike to try out the different cassette.
The 11T helps me get a few more mph before I spin out on descents and flats; the 28T just means I climb steep hills slower and can do some shorter hills without standing.
Any hills around here that I can't manage with the 39/27T combo would be difficult to walk.
I think my hill climbing would be best served if I can shed the extra pounds.

Zinger

I'm assuming he means one of these:



The Bianchi is a '54, The Peugeot a '72 and the Italvega a '73.

Yeah if he didn't open an LBS in the '70s he missed out on quite an opportunity. But, you know, when you're looking to open a retail business, you're counting shopping bags and you'd have to be pretty prescient to know that cycling would begin to take off in places in the U.S. late '70s early '80s.

And just to stay OT, They all look 52/42 to me.

BlazingPedals

Not to get off-topic, but I consider my current bikes to be 'racing' bikes. Limiting the term to only include UCI bikes is terribly chauvinistic, and akin to limiting the term 'racing cars' only to NASCAR platforms. Both UCI and NASCAR occupy a small niche within the larger category.

On-topic, I did NOT have this bike 30 years ago and it's never had a 42/52; but it is equipped with a 39/53.