Originally Posted by 2_i

I do 50-32-20 on Brompton. The problems I had, before modifying the cage, was with 32-20 shifts, but I do not recall any particular with 50-32. When working with rings that are not matched, you try different orientations to get positions along the ring circumference where the chain can naturally climb from the smaller to the larger ring.

Originally Posted by pinholecam

I have a 52/36T chainring and 11-30t cassette on my Bike Friday.
IMHO, 56T is only necessary if you are riding against roadies and riding fast.
The only times I find that I wish I had it was when road bikes try to drop my on a slight decline where they can crank that higher gear.
On a flat course, where its hard to crank 110+ gear inches for a long distance, 52/11 on the foldie isn't that bad at all.


I've done a 80+km climb of 4%-8% (probably a 10-12% somewhere on the course but not that many) on my Bike Friday and the gear combo was enough.
In fact I was the top 3 who reached the summit (the other 2 riders on road bikes)