Originally Posted by
cny-bikeman
Why would you want to go to 53 teeth and give up the lower gears on top of that. Even someone who's a Cat II racer would be fine with a 50-11 or 50-12 top gear.
I'm also puzzled as to why your daughter needs a 53T big chainring? As noted, a 50/11 or 50/12 high gear is as much as most strong riders can use effectively, never mind a higher gear yet. If the 34T small chainring gives too much of a gap, you could change out only the inner ring for a 39T or so at lower cost. BTW, what is the current cassette? Perhaps a cassette with a smaller largest cog and closer gear spacing is worth considering if the 34xX is now too low.