Originally Posted by Apus^2

His advice is....ridiculous. Really you only need a double if you are in flat lands. A triple is nice in the mountains, but you may be looked down upon, until you spin up the mountain. The triple actually gives you bigger gears 52x39(or 42)x30 than a compact 50x34. Triples are also heavier. A compact takes a little bit of each.

Generally, *Generally*, your body is more efficient at higher cadences in the 85-95 rpm area. I weigh 180 lbs and can out climb a lot of people 20-30 lbs lighter than me on my team WHEN I have my triple (unfortunately, that bike is temporarily out of commission). Why? Because if my cadence drops below 75 I really start to hurt. I easily spin at 95 and can go long periods at 120+.

The negative side about a compact is on the high end. You only have a 50 tooth chainring rather than a 52 or 53. That can take away top end speed on a decent (pretty much the only place--few people at our ability can efficiently sprint on the 52x11), but really if you aren't racing, that doesn't matter.

Triples are also more finicky on shifting and shifting adjustment.

I can't even understand his rational. If he really knew what he was talking about, he would suggest getting a new cassette (heck of a lot cheaper--the dent in your wallet is a lot deeper to switch to a triple) is the way to go--something with a 28 tooth (just make sure your rear derailleur can handle it).

Define serious cyclist? Pros? Rarely do they have a triple. Amateur racers? Same thing. Look at most high end bikes at your lbs--few triples.

My advice? Ride more, pedal harder, leave him behind at the next sprint and tell him he may need a triple.

To clear things up, I still do love my triple. Nothing wrong with it.

Ignore your friend's "advice".

Originally Posted by jkanaris

Right. The funny thing is I never noticed anything until he mentioned it. I always turned the larger chainwheel on the middle rings of the back cartridge. I felt I was doing fine with an avg speed of 30K. Then my buddy comes along and says I can improve my performance with a middle ring in the front. Go figure!

Originally Posted by Psimet2001

...on the cassette.

Originally Posted by Fird

Hmm, another n00b here. My tendency would be towards 3 chainrings if you didn't have 3 different combinations for the same gear. It would seem to me that the number-heads at shimano could come up with a way to not overlap gear ratios too often. I'd love to have a wide range of gears, without reguard to he-man-ness (come on, are we in 5th grade here??) simply becasue that gives me a better selection for all different types of terrain. Who knows, I might climb a mountain one of these days and not have to swap cranksets and rear cassetes to do it.....

Originally Posted by jkanaris

I cycle with a friend who insists that I should change the compact crank of my Giant TCR-Alliance, which has two rings (50-34T), with a triple ring derailleur. He believes I suffer performance-wise because I must turn the larger ring, expending greater amounts of energy; I usually keep a cadence of 80-90. He also says most serious cyclists have a three-ring front derailleur. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the issue.

Originally Posted by Fird

Hmm, another n00b here. My tendency would be towards 3 chainrings if you didn't have 3 different combinations for the same gear. It would seem to me that the number-heads at shimano could come up with a way to not overlap gear ratios too often. I'd love to have a wide range of gears, without reguard to he-man-ness (come on, are we in 5th grade here??) simply becasue that gives me a better selection for all different types of terrain. Who knows, I might climb a mountain one of these days and not have to swap cranksets and rear cassetes to do it.....

Originally Posted by bucketheadmn

Does your friend ride a triple?

Originally Posted by Tulex

If I've done the math right, with my middle cogs being 15 and 17, and my large ring being 50, I get a cadence of:
15 X 50 @ 22 mph (your 35) = cadence of about 83
17 X 50 @ 22 = about 94

If you go with the higher 40kph, you get 95 and 107