Originally Posted by hoodlum
I have been thinking about buying a compact for my Soloist. I just want it for my half-dozen trips up to the Blue Ridge Mountains each summer, and I am happy with the 53-39 almost all of the time around home. I already own a nice set of carbon cranks, and would prefer not to spend another $400 on a crank I will use 6 times per year, and I also don't want to put a piece of crap on one of the nicer bikes I own. My question is, is it possible to replace only the chainrings without replacing the entire crankset? It looks like the 50-34 might be pretty close in relation to the existing bolt pattern, so I'm not sure if it will fit.
It won't. 38 is the smallest that can physically fit on a 130 mm BCD crank, and it's not worth the trouble for one measly tooth (2 1/2% difference from 39.)
It would be easier and cheaper to go to a bigger cassette (and a new chain.)
My "Century Special" 13-30 cassette is quite popular, and will almost certanly work with your existing derailers.
If you don't mind replacing the rear derailer, you could go for something bigger, such as one of my "Cyclotouriste" 1-34 or 14-34 cassettes.
See
http://harriscyclery.com/9 for details.
Sheldon "Options" Brown
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