Originally Posted by
RT Metro
I currently have an Alivio 48 38 28 crank paired with an 11-32 8 speed cog. The front and rear derailers are also Alivios shifted by Ultegra bar-ends. My normal shifting pattern starts off with the chain on the 38 ring and a middle cog, then upshift to the 48 then click up on the rear. I mostly cruise on th 48 ring. However I seem to stay at 3 out of the 8 cogs for the majority of my ride. I am thinking if I swap out the 38 and 48 rings to a 44 and a ring guard, I could spread the shifting to more cogs in the back. I rarely use the 28 on the commute, only when I took the bike (old 71 Super Sport frame modernized components) off road did I really felt the need to shift down that low. Can an Alivio front derailler handle a 44 to 28 shift or should I use a "road" derailler. I like the way I shift when riding my other roadbike with a 50 34 compact crank. The components are 8 speed era Alivios.
You might find a tighter cassette with your current rings more enjoyable.
You're running something like this
11-13-15-18-21-24-28-32
with big gaps in your cruising gears where you could have five choices like 15-16-17-18-19 on the big ring (instead of 3 of 15-18-21) and eight as 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21 in the middle (not 4 of 13-15-18-21).
In the 8 speed era my favorite setup was 50-40-30 x 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21, providing tight gearing for plains rides East of Boulder, CO and an ample low gear (like 42x28 or 39x26) enough to get me over anything in the Rockies West without changing cogs depending on which direction my lunch hour ride chose to go.