Originally Posted by
genejockey
50/34, I somewhat concut. It seems like at cruising speeds on lightly rolling terrain, I'm either crosschaining in either chainring. I never get that with 53/39. With 52/36, I'll find myself hardly shifting the front at all, even when it would be better.
I felt the same way when I first got a bike with that combo. Here in the flatlands, it seemed the gear I wanted was always on the verge of cross chaining, and it was a pain to switch from big-big over to small-small. The 50-34 combo really shined when I took the bike to Kentucky. Small chainring to climb the hill, flip over to the large ring to come back down. Rinse and repeat.