Paul J

We are thinking about changing out our chain rings this winter. We currently have a Race Face crank with 54/44/32 rings. We rarely get into the 54 and are normally in the 44 with the small ring for climbs. I've been thinking if we went to 52/38/30 we could use the middle ring, 38 on more of the moderate climbs and have a better low-end for long climbs with then using the big ring more for riding on the flats. What is the typical gearing coming on new production bikes and what has some of your experiences been? The cog set is 11 or 12?/34

nfmisso

We have 54/44/26 with a 9 speed 11-34 cassette. 44 is perfect for 95% of the time for us. We typically start out in the 44/30 combination on level ground; and 44/11 takes us at pretty good clip. Before the swap from 7sp to 9sp; we used a 54/12 combination once. I could see swapping the 54 for a 52 or 50, but would leave the 44 - for us. The 26 is a total bailout granny gear.

Carbonfiberboy 

Our used Speedster came with that same set of Race Face rings. We went to 52-39-26 rings. The usual stock rings are 52-39-30. As to ratios, you'll get many different responses, because it depends on the power to weight ratio of the team. The only real caveat is to get a middle ring that's designed to be part of a triple. The inner ring is just a flat plate and the outer rings are the same for double and triple. I like Shimano Ultegra rings, though our 26T is not.

A simple way to figure out what you want is to use a gear and cadence calculator like this one:
https://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm
Go out to a typical long climb, flat, or whatever, and note your speed. Plug that and your desired cadence at that speed into the calculator. It'll tell you what gearing combinations will work for that speed.

diabloridr

Our Speedster also came with same Raceface cranks and rings.

The stoker cranks were too long so we sold the Raceface equipment and switched to Ultegra cranks with 52/42/28 rings. Our cogset is 9-speed 11-32.

We do most of our riding in the 42, since we can readily climb 8% grades (or steeper short sections) in it and can go up to about 27 MPH on the top end. Faster than that, we need the 52, steeper we will often use the 28.

Paul J

What chain rings is the current Speedster spec'd with?

Carbonfiberboy 

-FSA Gossamer Tandem Crankset, which I think comes either 52-39-30 or 52-42-30.

mkane77g

We like using the big ring on the flats and the middle of the cassette. Seems to keep wear to a minimum out back. Middle ring for climbs (we stand a lot)and the middle of the cassette also. Small ring for seated climbing. 52-39-28 / 12-27

NoTrail

Our tandem has a 53/39/30 paired with a 10-speed 11-32 (and it feels perfect). For most of our riding the middle 39 is great, and the 30 is great for seated climbing. We have yet to feel comfortable standing on a climb with our tandem, but we've only had it for about a year. The 53 hasn't seen much use yet, but it's nice for the long downhills.

jnbrown

We use a 50/39/28 on front. For a few years I had 11-28 on back and this year changed to a SRAM 12-32 because my wife was having some knee problems which she is over with now but I still like having the 32.
However because the 12-32 has some big jumps in it and doesn't shift very smoothly when you get to the larger cogs, I am compromising and just ordered an Ultegra 12-30.
Since we are pretty lightweight and don't put out a lot of power I find I prefer the 50T large chain ring to something larger and it is the same thing I have on my single.
We can spin out the 50x12 on some down hills but that doesn't bother me at all.
Ideally I would like a 50/36/24 on front and 12-28 on back but nobody makes a tandem crankset (110 BCD) with that combo that I know of.

merlinextraligh

This is a nice tool to see the effect of gearing combinations, where the shift points are, the spacing, redundancies, etc.

https://www.gear-calculator.com/#

Paul J

These gearing charts are awesome. For years I've ridden 53/39 on my single with most of the regular riding in the 39 and only used the big ring for more serious efforts. So my logic what this would be a good combo for our tandem adding the small ring of 30. What we have found is not being able to stay in the middle ring for some of the shorted steeper climbs with it being 44. I talked with Mel and it looks like he has the Race Face rings in a 52/38 for the large and middle rings and then I'll have to decide on the small ring 30 or 28. I'll look at the charts to see what difference the 38 will make rather then the 39 which was in my original thinking. We stay seated as my stoker isn't comfortable standing and we have some hills here in central PA. We don't have mountains like out west but many steep climbs between 1/2 mile and more where we can't just stand "gut it out". It is interesting it seems that the 55/44/32 has given way to the 52/39/30 as the more standard configuration.