Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 13,496
Likes: 936
From: Boston-ish, MA
Bikes: 72 Peugeot UO-8, 82 Peugeot TH8, 87 Bianchi Brava, 76? Masi Grand Criterium, 74 Motobecane Champion Team, 86 & 77 Gazelle champion mondial, 81? Grandis, 82? Tommasini, 83 Peugeot PF10
I'll weigh in on the compact double setup. Long before anyone called them that I had set up my bikes with smaller rings. ( I should sue somebody because they stole my idea.) Through the fortuitous accident of it being cheap I upgraded my Peugeot with a Sugino Maxy and later found that the 110BCD gave my a cheap path to lower gears. Also with smaller rings and smaller FW the bike is lighter that using a larger FW.
The point was, I almost never used the 52/14 combination for either sport riding or commuting, and I certainly never needed it. But I was always wishing for lower gears. So why not trade off one big combination for one little one?
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Real cyclists use toe clips.
With great bikes comes great responsibility.
jimmuller