Doubts about road bikes gearing
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Doubts about road bikes gearing
Hi!
I'm a mountain biker just about to buy a road bike. I'm looking for a cheap bike for occasional use, so I'm leaning towards Decathlon's Triban 3A.
However, I've been looking at road bikes gearing and I feel that all of them have way too high gears. In the area were I live, there are also lots of steep road climbs, some of them reach a 30% slope, and I'm trying to understand how can anyone climb this with the high gearing that road bikes have. The Triban 3A I'm looking for, for example, has a lowest gear of 30/25, and the Specialized Allez doesn't fare much better.
Currently I do 5000km/year on a mountain bike and around 2000 in my commute with a folding bike. Based on my climbs in group rides I feel that I'm a good climber, and I'm used to long, steep and technical climbs where I'm forced to use my MTB granny gear (22/32) to maintain a reasonable cadence. On most races I've done this year I usually finished among the first 15%, so I think I'm in good shape.
Do road bikes really roll that much better to compensate such a high gearing? even my Dahon Mu P27 has lower gears (and curiously, also higher)!! I feel that with this gearing I may as well call the bike a knee breaker!
How are you supposed to climb using such high gearing? I feel it's either standing and mashing or being extremely strong to avoid slowing down and maintain a reasonable cadence.
Is it possible to fit smaller chainrings in a road bike?
Thanks
I'm a mountain biker just about to buy a road bike. I'm looking for a cheap bike for occasional use, so I'm leaning towards Decathlon's Triban 3A.
However, I've been looking at road bikes gearing and I feel that all of them have way too high gears. In the area were I live, there are also lots of steep road climbs, some of them reach a 30% slope, and I'm trying to understand how can anyone climb this with the high gearing that road bikes have. The Triban 3A I'm looking for, for example, has a lowest gear of 30/25, and the Specialized Allez doesn't fare much better.
Currently I do 5000km/year on a mountain bike and around 2000 in my commute with a folding bike. Based on my climbs in group rides I feel that I'm a good climber, and I'm used to long, steep and technical climbs where I'm forced to use my MTB granny gear (22/32) to maintain a reasonable cadence. On most races I've done this year I usually finished among the first 15%, so I think I'm in good shape.
Do road bikes really roll that much better to compensate such a high gearing? even my Dahon Mu P27 has lower gears (and curiously, also higher)!! I feel that with this gearing I may as well call the bike a knee breaker!
How are you supposed to climb using such high gearing? I feel it's either standing and mashing or being extremely strong to avoid slowing down and maintain a reasonable cadence.
Is it possible to fit smaller chainrings in a road bike?
Thanks
#2
alpine cross trainer
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Central New York
Posts: 289
Bikes: Specialized Roubaix, Quintara Roo Sendoza, DaVici In-2-Ition Tandem,
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 21 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 20 Times
in
8 Posts
Get a triple chain ring road bike with a 11-34 rear cluster. It should work fine for most situations. If you still want lower gearing you could swap out the small 30 tooth chain ring for a 26 tooth ring for only a small amount of $$$.
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 6,876
Bikes: Trek Domane SLR 7 AXS, Trek CheckPoint SL7 AXS, Trek Emonda ALR AXS, Trek FX 5 Sport
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 765 Post(s)
Liked 1,735 Times
in
1,011 Posts
Most road bike are used for speed and that requires gearing for that versus climbing. Just need a different rear cassette and possibly a new rear derailleur if you exceed max tooth size on the RD. I just moved from a long cage rear that came standard with a 11-32 in the rear an dont live in an area with mountains or hills for that matter and can get by with 25 or 28 max tooth on the back if I go some place hilly.
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: California
Posts: 1,300
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Usually a compact (34/50) paired with something like 12-34 is plenty. I use a 34/28 to tackle all of my climbs. My hardest only being 15% for half mile. I used to do it on a 34/25, and that was pretty difficult. Most people don't do 10% climbs, and most don't have the opportunity to. There is a climb I love, its 9% for 3.5 miles, and only 22 have done it. There is a 3% climb for 6 miles, and almost 300 people have done it. This being in the same city, like 10 miles apart.
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 28,682
Bikes: 1990 Romic Reynolds 531 custom build, Merlin Works CR Ti custom build, super light Workswell 066 custom build
Mentioned: 109 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 58 Times
in
36 Posts
Whereas a 30/34 combination would be a little better, 30/25 is considered quite low gearing for a road bike. That is what, about a 1.17 ratio. Most fit cyclists can climb significant grades with that. Remember that mountain roads are graded much more reasonably than mountain trails are. If you have a 30 tooth chain ring, I'm guessing you already have a triple crankset. Normally those do come with larger rear cogs, but perhaps yours didn't in order to keep tight gear spacing. Having said that, as long as you have the necessary long cage derailleur, you can go up to a 34 tooth cog in the back. Heck, even with a short cage RD you can probably go as high as 30 teeth in the back, certainly 28 or 29.
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 3,247
Bikes: Moots Vamoots, Colnago C60, Santa Cruz Stigmata CC, and too many other bikes I don't ride
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 152 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times
in
6 Posts
Hi!
I'm a mountain biker just about to buy a road bike. I'm looking for a cheap bike for occasional use, so I'm leaning towards Decathlon's Triban 3A.
However, I've been looking at road bikes gearing and I feel that all of them have way too high gears. In the area were I live, there are also lots of steep road climbs, some of them reach a 30% slope, and I'm trying to understand how can anyone climb this with the high gearing that road bikes have. The Triban 3A I'm looking for, for example, has a lowest gear of 30/25, and the Specialized Allez doesn't fare much better.
Currently I do 5000km/year on a mountain bike and around 2000 in my commute with a folding bike. Based on my climbs in group rides I feel that I'm a good climber, and I'm used to long, steep and technical climbs where I'm forced to use my MTB granny gear (22/32) to maintain a reasonable cadence. On most races I've done this year I usually finished among the first 15%, so I think I'm in good shape.
Do road bikes really roll that much better to compensate such a high gearing? even my Dahon Mu P27 has lower gears (and curiously, also higher)!! I feel that with this gearing I may as well call the bike a knee breaker!
How are you supposed to climb using such high gearing? I feel it's either standing and mashing or being extremely strong to avoid slowing down and maintain a reasonable cadence.
Is it possible to fit smaller chainrings in a road bike?
Thanks
I'm a mountain biker just about to buy a road bike. I'm looking for a cheap bike for occasional use, so I'm leaning towards Decathlon's Triban 3A.
However, I've been looking at road bikes gearing and I feel that all of them have way too high gears. In the area were I live, there are also lots of steep road climbs, some of them reach a 30% slope, and I'm trying to understand how can anyone climb this with the high gearing that road bikes have. The Triban 3A I'm looking for, for example, has a lowest gear of 30/25, and the Specialized Allez doesn't fare much better.
Currently I do 5000km/year on a mountain bike and around 2000 in my commute with a folding bike. Based on my climbs in group rides I feel that I'm a good climber, and I'm used to long, steep and technical climbs where I'm forced to use my MTB granny gear (22/32) to maintain a reasonable cadence. On most races I've done this year I usually finished among the first 15%, so I think I'm in good shape.
Do road bikes really roll that much better to compensate such a high gearing? even my Dahon Mu P27 has lower gears (and curiously, also higher)!! I feel that with this gearing I may as well call the bike a knee breaker!
How are you supposed to climb using such high gearing? I feel it's either standing and mashing or being extremely strong to avoid slowing down and maintain a reasonable cadence.
Is it possible to fit smaller chainrings in a road bike?
Thanks
#10
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Checking on a GPX track I recorded there, It shows a maximum grade of 27%, and there's mostly nothing less than 15%. It's a 3.5km climb, so it's quite long considering the grades.
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 28,682
Bikes: 1990 Romic Reynolds 531 custom build, Merlin Works CR Ti custom build, super light Workswell 066 custom build
Mentioned: 109 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 58 Times
in
36 Posts
I live in Spain. 30% is not sustained, but the hardest part of a climb. I've done it with the MTB several times and it took almost 30min to climb and I definitely had to use my 22/32 on several parts of it.
Checking on a GPX track I recorded there, It shows a maximum grade of 27%, and there's mostly nothing less than 15%. It's a 3.5km climb, so it's quite long considering the grades.
Checking on a GPX track I recorded there, It shows a maximum grade of 27%, and there's mostly nothing less than 15%. It's a 3.5km climb, so it's quite long considering the grades.
#12
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Granted, but isn't that a worst case? Maybe road bikers just don't climb that kind of hill. Any more than they would go on a mountain trail. Nothing like that exists in the major stage races that I know of. Perhaps it is just not a route that is intended for road cycling. You can just avoid it when on the road bike. It is much more important on the road bike to have the intermediate gears than huge cogs for that kind of climbing. I hope you don't live at the top or bottom of that road. That would present a bit of a problem.
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Escondido, CA
Posts: 2,240
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I live in Spain. 30% is not sustained, but the hardest part of a climb. I've done it with the MTB several times and it took almost 30min to climb and I definitely had to use my 22/32 on several parts of it.
Checking on a GPX track I recorded there, It shows a maximum grade of 27%, and there's mostly nothing less than 15%. It's a 3.5km climb, so it's quite long considering the grades.
Checking on a GPX track I recorded there, It shows a maximum grade of 27%, and there's mostly nothing less than 15%. It's a 3.5km climb, so it's quite long considering the grades.
Road bikes are limited in their low-end gearing and even 12% would be uncomfortable in the lowest gear for many people. On top of that, there is a recent trend to eliminate triples (and that means 34T minimum in front on most road bike models).
On anything steeper than 12-15%, you have to go out of saddle.
The best you can do in your situation is to get a bike with a triple and replace the cassette (and the chain). That would get you to 30/30 or 30/32 without having to spend too much money. If you also swap the rear derailleur for a mountain version, you can go to 30/36 (but you have to pay attention to makes & models of shifters and derailleurs, the situation with compatibility between road shifters and mountain derailleurs is complicated).
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Minas Ithil
Posts: 9,173
Mentioned: 66 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2432 Post(s)
Liked 638 Times
in
395 Posts
Just get a bike with a triple crankset, whatever cassette your legs and lungs require and go ride and be glad you have climbs where you live haha. Compact cranks blow.
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Escondido, CA
Posts: 2,240
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
If it's Spain, 30% grades are not totally out of the question. They probably still have lots of roads which were originally laid by Romans and designed with donkeys in mind.
#17
cowboy, steel horse, etc
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: The hot spot.
Posts: 44,837
Bikes: everywhere
Mentioned: 71 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 12768 Post(s)
Liked 7,683 Times
in
4,078 Posts
Toughest road climb around here gets close to 20%. It's not too bad 39x27, just gotta stand up and stomp.
It's a little harder on the fixed gear 43x16.
A little easier with the Lemond and its road triple, 32x26, I think? I usually go up a couple of gears so I can get it over with faster, though.
It's a little harder on the fixed gear 43x16.
A little easier with the Lemond and its road triple, 32x26, I think? I usually go up a couple of gears so I can get it over with faster, though.
#19
~>~
Since you live in Spain you must have a local road cycling club that know the terrain and gearing, ask them what set-ups are required.
Road bikes are designed for quick gearing changes to match the gearing to the rider/terrain, it's been figured out for the last century or so and modern machines have a plethora of efficient options.
The pic above shows the gearing Contador was using in the Giro's nasty mountain stages in '13.
Since you are fit making the transition to the road will be easy if you get w/ the local road club, some of the top pro cyclists came from a MTB background.
-Bandera
Road bikes are designed for quick gearing changes to match the gearing to the rider/terrain, it's been figured out for the last century or so and modern machines have a plethora of efficient options.
The pic above shows the gearing Contador was using in the Giro's nasty mountain stages in '13.
Since you are fit making the transition to the road will be easy if you get w/ the local road club, some of the top pro cyclists came from a MTB background.
-Bandera
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 28,682
Bikes: 1990 Romic Reynolds 531 custom build, Merlin Works CR Ti custom build, super light Workswell 066 custom build
Mentioned: 109 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 58 Times
in
36 Posts
But that doesn't mean you have to feel deprived if you can't ride you road bike on them. Every type of bike has a purpose, and without special modification that is not particularly good for most road riding, a 30% grade is just not part of the road bike repertoire.
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 28,682
Bikes: 1990 Romic Reynolds 531 custom build, Merlin Works CR Ti custom build, super light Workswell 066 custom build
Mentioned: 109 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 58 Times
in
36 Posts
Okay, so what does that say? Normal folks would want to ride elsewhere, eh?
#22
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 28,682
Bikes: 1990 Romic Reynolds 531 custom build, Merlin Works CR Ti custom build, super light Workswell 066 custom build
Mentioned: 109 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 58 Times
in
36 Posts
Even gearing down has a limit. Exactly how slowly do you want to go and still try to keep the bike upright? A normal rider would have to put out 500 watts to maintain 4.5 mph on a 30% grade. For how long can you do that? Not to mention the bike handling difficulties. If you get off the straight line of the road, you will be constantly fighting to keep the bike from falling over. What difference does it make what the gearing is that you can push over? Is that the way you want to ride your bike?
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Zang's Spur, CO
Posts: 9,083
Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3375 Post(s)
Liked 5,514 Times
in
2,857 Posts
10s Shimano XT drivetrain, with 44T chainring replaced with 48T "trekking" chainring.
Cassette is 11-36.
FD is IRD Alpina-D, although I'm told a Tiagra FD also works in this application.
Cassette is 11-36.
FD is IRD Alpina-D, although I'm told a Tiagra FD also works in this application.
#24
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Escondido, CA
Posts: 2,240
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Even gearing down has a limit. Exactly how slowly do you want to go and still try to keep the bike upright? A normal rider would have to put out 500 watts to maintain 4.5 mph on a 30% grade. For how long can you do that? Not to mention the bike handling difficulties. If you get off the straight line of the road, you will be constantly fighting to keep the bike from falling over. What difference does it make the gearing that you can push over? Is that the way you want to ride your bike?
#25
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Minas Ithil
Posts: 9,173
Mentioned: 66 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2432 Post(s)
Liked 638 Times
in
395 Posts
But that doesn't mean you have to feel deprived if you can't ride you road bike on them. Every type of bike has a purpose, and without special modification that is not particularly good for most road riding, a 30% grade is just not part of the road bike repertoire.