What size chainrings do tdf riders use?
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What size chainrings do tdf riders use?
on mountain stages, what size small chainring do they use? (I assume all are on doubles)
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I think it depends. I can't throw any numbers your way (maybe someone else can?) but on stage 17 of the Giro I remember some the riders saying that they were going into Mountaion Bike territory it terms of gearing...I also have an interview with Dave Z where he says that he used a compact to get up Brasstown.
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The compact wouldn't surprise me at all... Why cook your legs when you still have 1000+ miles left to race?
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They use doubles, yes. 39t or 36t. Quite a few riders are on compact cranksets this year for mountain stages. I'm quite sure they aren't using a 34t inner ring though, at least not yeat - but I may be way wrong.
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I would guess that with ten speed cassettes, they wouldn't need compacts.
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And with compacts, they couldn't get a high enough gear for descents. I'm guessing 53/39 in mountains.
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The ones with 36s are the ones that finished way down on the stage Menchov won last week?
Was watching repeats of last week tonight on OLN, and they were showing Mercado and Dessel pedalling very slowly on the easiest back gear. (on the stage they won). The hill didn't seem huge, and I couldn't help thinking that they could be spinning my granny gear to go the same speed while sitting down.
Was watching repeats of last week tonight on OLN, and they were showing Mercado and Dessel pedalling very slowly on the easiest back gear. (on the stage they won). The hill didn't seem huge, and I couldn't help thinking that they could be spinning my granny gear to go the same speed while sitting down.
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Originally Posted by smellygary
I would guess that with ten speed cassettes, they wouldn't need compacts.
Originally Posted by smellygary
nd with compacts, they couldn't get a high enough gear for descents. I'm guessing 53/39 in mountains.
That all being said, I would still guess many (most) are on 53/39 for the mountains and probably 53/42 for the flatter stages. Cassettes with 27T for the steeper mountain stages. Maybe only 25.
Last edited by 'nother; 07-17-06 at 11:17 PM.
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Originally Posted by 'nother
That all being said, I would still guess many (most) are on 53/39 for the mountains and probably 53/42 for the flatter stages. Cassettes with 27T for the steeper mountain stages. Maybe only 25.
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You guys have no idea. For the alps - a 39 and a 25 at the very very most.
The first few hairpins on Alpe d'Huez are ridden at over 20 mph. The average speed up this climb for the winners is around 13 mph. 13 mph is a cadence of 90 with 39/21. To get that speed with a 39/25 they would need a cadence of 120!
The first few hairpins on Alpe d'Huez are ridden at over 20 mph. The average speed up this climb for the winners is around 13 mph. 13 mph is a cadence of 90 with 39/21. To get that speed with a 39/25 they would need a cadence of 120!
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Originally Posted by EURO
13 mph is a cadence of 90 with 39/21. To get that speed with a 39/25 they would need a cadence of 120!
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Or shift up a click or two.
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Bobke was asked this question yesterday. His answer was 39/21 or 39/23...
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At the Tour of California at least some pros were using 39/27 on Sierra road. I do not find it out of the question to think that some might use a 25 or 27 cassette on the steeper mountain stages of the Tour (which L'Alpe d'Huez is not).
At any rate the question is on chainrings and I believe we have that covered.
The question he was asked was what gear they were in, not what gears they have on their bike. It was funny because immediately after he answered that question they had a camera shot of someone's bike and you could very clearly see that they were not in the lowest gear of the cassette, they were up...yep, a click or two. Making a 25 feasible and quite possibly 27 for the non-climbers.
At any rate the question is on chainrings and I believe we have that covered.
Originally Posted by flipped4bikes
Bobke was asked this question yesterday. His answer was 39/21 or 39/23...
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Originally Posted by 'nother
The question he was asked was what gear they were in, not what gears they have on their bike. It was funny because immediately after he answered that question they had a camera shot of someone's bike and you could very clearly see that they were not in the lowest gear of the cassette, they were up...yep, a click or two. Making a 25 feasible and quite possibly 27 for the non-climbers.
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Originally Posted by flipped4bikes
I never claimed Bobke was being accurate (God love him!)...
On a 27 cassette (stock, anyway), the next lowest gear is a 24. On a 25, the next lowest is a 23. On both, the next after that is 21. As such, those cassette choices are not inconceivable. I have my doubts that the stronger climbers had anything that low, but don't forget there are 150 or so other riders that are not getting camera time.
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Originally Posted by smellygary
I would guess that with ten speed cassettes, they wouldn't need compacts.
Today, it would be foolish to assume that because a bike has twenty speeds that it has the correct gears for a given day of riding. Many current road bikes with ten cogs have only about 12 distinctly different gears with reasonably straight chainlines. And, of those 12 gears, only 1 or 2 might be suitable for the sort of brutal climbing through the Alps that the Tour de France imposes.
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I read somewhere recently that they use the same gearing most of us use. 53/39 in the front and either 11/23 or /25 in the rear in the mountain stages. I also read in the Giro some riders were planning on using a compact on that killer mountain stage but most stayed with the standard gearing.
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