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Old 12-21-10 | 03:50 PM
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Drew Eckhardt
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Joined: Apr 2010
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From: Mountain View, CA USA and Golden, CO USA

Bikes: 97 Litespeed, 50-39-30x13-26 10 cogs, Campagnolo Ultrashift, retroreflective rims on SON28/PowerTap hubs

I do have to admit though that when i had it set up on a 10s triple I didn't like. Your extra cog is probably going to be around the 18t cog and most riders really don't notice it.
I notice a missing 18 a lot, especially on a compact crank where the 34 is too small to be useful on flat terrain without a head wind and I'm staying on the big ring.

I think it's much more important than having a 12 cog.

And campy really only has one triple ratio of 30/42/52
1. Campagnolo also sells 50-40-30 triple cranks

2. The inner position has a standard 74mm circle, so you're free to swap on a 28 or something even smaller (might need a chain catcher to shift well)

3. TA sells 135mm first and second position rings if you want something stranger with Campagnolo crank arms (while not quite as elegant as the 2-ring versions, the Record triple crank is probably the best looking 3-position crank ever made).

4. Campagnolo derailleurs work as well as the pins and shift ramps allow them to on non-Campagnolo cranksets (Campagnolo and Shimano do a better job than companies like FSA)

Do you really need the top that the triple provides? Have you thought about a super compact double, say a 30/46 with the 10s rear?
I don't need any more than 52-42 x 14-16-18-21-24-28 but I really like having closer gears with the same range.

Living in Boulder, CO with mountains west and plains east I ran 50-40-30 x 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21 in the 8 speed era, added a 23 cog on the end when Campagnolo discontinued that, and made the mistake of switching to a 50-34 up front when I wore out the chain rings since 34x23 was the same low gear as 30x21 and I bought into the story that two rings are better than three.

50x21 at a pleasant cadence only reaches down to about 15 MPH, while 50x14 only nets about 17 MPH. So there are fatigue/wind/terrain combinations where the compact double means I'm doing a lot of shifting between the two ends of the cassette which takes two right shifter wiggles to get from 34x14 to 50x19.

That didn't happen with the triple - 40x21 will go below 12 MPH and above 20 MPH at cruising cadences so it covers those situations. Where the 40's not enough it's only a three cog move (one right shift) up to the next gear on the 50 ring.

The triple shifted better too, but I'd guess that's as much a difference in the inferior pins + ramps on the FSA compact chain rings than the 16 vs 10 tooth jump.

If I really needed it, the triple can be setup for much lower bail-out gears than a double of any sort.

A 12 or 26 cog with the move to 10 speeds and a compact double would help a little but still have the same shifting behavior and low gear limits.

Last edited by Drew Eckhardt; 12-21-10 at 03:56 PM.
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