Originally Posted by
Daytrip
So, thinking about this some more, I come to the following conclusion:
Leaving the spacer on the shaft, means that my primary ring would be the 39T, with the 50 used mainly when I need a higher gear at the top end.
If I remove the spacer, that shifts the 50T into the middle, making it the primary ring, with the 39T serving as the granny gear.
I'm assuming that a standard double uses the latter configuration, i.e., most of the time is spent on the larger ring.
Have I got that right?
I think thats true although I wouldn't do it that way. I ride for a junior team and the biggest gear thats allowed for sprints is 52/14 so we have to work on high cadence drills in the winter. we are not allowed to use our big rings all winter. I have a compact 50-34 crank and i could not keep up with the pedals with my 34/14 so I put my old 11-23 on and I could spin that up to about 30MPH so I would use the 39 as the main chainring, 39/11 or 12 will work fine for 90% of any kind of hill in the east san francisco bay region I live in.