Originally Posted by
Poonjabby
Ok my bad.
What I mean is he is on the largest front gear and the smallest rear gear and climbing isn't a challenge. Now we ride in Kansas so we don't have huge mountains or anything. SO I was thinking a maybe a non-compact crank and 11-23 rear gear?
Poon
The 11 tooth cog will give him about 9% more at whatever his cadence is. A 53 tooth chain ring will be 6% more than his compact. The cassette makes a bigger difference.
He'll still spin out on a steep enough hill, maybe 3 mph faster.
There's nothing at all wrong with 11-23 with a standard double. That's kind of standard in fact if you're a beast and especially with mostly flat territory. For most people the 53x11 combination is totally wasted except for brief moments going down a long hill, which may explain the skepticism of some here.
Swap the cassette out, then decide if the compact double is limiting him.