Originally Posted by
MetalPedaler
I'll second that! That's been my experience, too- only going from a triple to a standard double. Didn't even think I'd be strong enough yet to ride the standard on the hills here.....but I took her out for the first time, and not only made it up all the hills...but had the best performance EVER! Going to the standard has instantly made me a better cyclist.
Yeah. My older bike is a compact and my new one is a standard 53/39. I had some trepidation about how that would work on hills, but it hasn't been a problem. The new bike came with an 11-25, but that was too daunting for me., so I put in a 12-27 and I haven't had a problem (though there aren't many super-steep hills here). And the unexpected benefit is that I use the small ring so much more. On the compact, I'm only in the small ring when climbing, but with the standard, I can spin on the flats in the small ring and the smaller cogs. Works great.