Originally Posted by DiRt DeViL
My son's bike currently has 53/39:28/13 gearing and is hard for him on climbs, I ordered a compact 50/34 crankset in oder to ease the gearing up front.
Now the question is, should I change the cassette with a different gear combination? or should I keep the current one. I have 2 spare road cassettes that could use if needed, 23:13 and 26:12.
39x28=37 gear inches.
34x23=40 gear inches
34x26=35 gear inches
34x28=33 gear inches
The other thing to consider is what gear he likes to use on a dead flat road. You'd like for that gear combination to fall in the middle of his cassette when he's using the big ring. That way he'll only have to shift front chainrings as he approaches a steep hill.