Originally Posted by bhaubold

Hello,

Long time old biker riding an old bike. All is well at the moment. But, I still dream of buying a new bike someday. Thing is, I just don't get this compact crank thing. I mean a crank with 34/50 teeth just doesn't appeal to me. But, alot of bikes I've looked at have them. I would prefer the 39/53 crank.

My question is, if I bought a bike with a 34/50 crank, could I just change out the chain rings to 39/53, or would I have to replace the entire crank?

Thanks for your help,

Bob