Originally Posted by
davidmikesell
As of right now, the parts I can use are dictated by what I have. I would rather spend money on a new cassette than a new crankset. I'll probably get an 11/34 at least at this point.
this is where things start to sound like death by a 1000 cuts. When I built up my CC with a double I tried it for awhile with a 48/34 and 11-34, then a custom made 13-34. Then switched to the triple with chainguard for a double 44/30 and 12-28 cassette.
For $82 this is getting pretty cheap unless your bike doesn't have a square taper bb. I spent close to three times this after buying a triple Sugino, extra chainrings and chainguard. The 30t chainring can give you a very low gear with 34t cassette and the 46 can provide all the big gears one needs for normal riding. The ability to spin high rpms when needed is a better way to achieve short term speed than having huge gears that will only be used going down hill.
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...-crankset.html