Originally Posted by
GovernorSilver
Funny thing is, on my "commute preview" ride last Sunday, I forgot to downshift from the 50T to the 34T on my crankset before stopping at a left turn stoplight. So when the light turned green,
there was an embarrassing delay as I struggled to start rolling on my 50T. The driver behind me didn't honk but just passed me - I think shifting my bike to the right side of the lane helped there.
I'm not enough of a stud to start from a dead stop on a 50T. Well, I'd rather not do it on the road with cars behind me, anyway.
. Nobody is going to give me a medal for starting from a dead stop at a road intersection with my chain on the 50T - they're more likely to give me grief instead. It doesn't take
that long to start rolling on the 34T and work my way up to the 50T anyway.
Well, yeah, that was my point earlier. I think most commuters would be better served with a 39 middle ring, or a 42 or 44 ring. You can ride on the flats in that ring, and only shift down a couple of gears for stops to get rolling again.
In a 50, you have to downshift a handful of gears or downshift to the small ring. Compared to a 39, you're more likely to be close to the lowest cog, possibly cross chaining or having to shift down to the small ring. It's doable, but less convenient.
The 50/34 is optimal for no one it seems. The only widely spec'ed alternative option is the mid compact, 52/36, which is usually geared towards "race bikes" rather than endurance models. These are also more likely therefore to have tighter ratios with a 11-25 or 28, so you lose 2 or 3 climbing gears as well.
Fortunately, many hybrids and street bikes, esp. at the lower end, still have triples.