"Based on the quality of your retorts in this thread and others, I'd rank your mental capacity somewhere between spore mold and a toaster oven."

Nice try Zaak. Just stick to the thread and not to personal insults.

Someone mentioned TDF pros??? Why does the layman have to label a pro as a TDF pro. There are plenty of elite cyclists who do not ride the tour. And as for sprinter using a 50-36...hehehehehehhheeh. They would be quickly pedalled out by their lead out man who will be using a 53-11 if they were on a 50-12. hehehehehe. Get real dude. Those guys are hitting 75kph on flat windless terrain. But maybe a pro sprinter may use a 50-36 on mountainous terrain to stay in the autobus.

When people start taking suggested bicycle gearing as a attack on their manhood, they need to stop, take a big breath and rethink their priorities in life.

coming from you?

Barcelona rider, your posts are a really fun to read! FWIW, although I'm sure you have ridden it and will disagree, here's what cyclingnews.com says about gear ratios on the Angliru, "As those of us who ride sit back in awe, it all comes home in a most frightening and real manner when we think of the gearing used: chainrings of 30 or 32 teeth and rear sprockets of 25 or more." And that was their observation for racers in the Vuelta.

Yes th Angliru is an absolute nightmare. There is a climb very similar but shorter on te east coast of Spain which sits at 25-27%. The minimum you need to spin up is a 39_27 if you are a STRONG climber.
Also near Santander there is a climb we did a TT up last spring. My friend lent me his rear nucleon wheel cos it had a 25 on it and I just had a 23. This was about 25% for about 5-6km.
I drove up the Angliru in a 4x4 back in 2000. We had trobule getting up it. It normally rains in that regio about 6 months of the year so you can imagine riding a road bike up with the back wheel slipping.
If I had to TT the Angliru I would sling on a 50-36 and slap on a cassette which had anything as a big as a 30 or 32 on it. The Angliru is exceptional but the idea of this thread is to find the most useful set up for the aerage rider adn for me the 50-36 mated to an 11-23 just about gets it.

some how son....you just don't get it. You are not what the world goes by. Here, I'll give you one more question set. And if you think about it you may get it...

In all the years the Shim has produced products, which crank set was the fastest they ever produced [as in from paper idea to real product]?
And why do you think that is?

+1

I put an 11-32 cog set on with a 53-39 crank for my brother who did not want to spend the $$ for a CC and he uses downtube shifters. He does not shift much and when de does he likes a big jump so that set up was what he wanted. It was a fun set up to ride as I tested it out. But the CC can do it just as well without the big jumps.

Also, some stand; some sit. I stood a lot more in my 20's then I do now. I like to sit and spin now. It is about setting it up how you like it and not how the world would like it set up for you.

Just get out and ride. Just done a ride which was supposed to be a mix between aerobic and endurance. 8 guys who were out there on Isaac Impulses, Dogmas, and carbon fibre deep sections. Lookig great on their chiny machines and in their cool winter kit. But no they are not posers. Just guys who have enough money to spend on what they like. Yes one of them said that he noticed no diff between his dogma and his prince apart from a bit better shock absorption. A clique of guys who are between 40-50 and train a lot and love riding too and ride the equivalent of the Etape du Tour every month. We have a lot of "fondo" rides here. The big question going round was about getting a 50-36 over their 52-39. Almost everyone had a 12-25 on apart from the ISaac guy who had a 12-27. Compact seems to be the way forward and a sensible option and fashionable to boot. No I don't set the standards by what the world should go by but at the same time in Europe most important bike racing is done and is filtered down to the general public rapidly. Road cycling is not a fashion thing which people get into cos LANCE is the man. Yes people love to copy the pros and CSC's Basso was recently promoting the compact and Tyler Hamilton used the comapct blah blah blah. But this is a debate and discussion and not an oppotunity for trolls like you to insult others or try to eek out what you think they mean to impress the reest of the 95% american users on this forum. Come to Europe. I invite you and see how people ride here. You may even get to ride wit Flecha around the coastal roads. And whether you ride a 53 or a 39 or 34 or whatever, it is a persoanl thing but this post is designed to find out the best fit combo for most conditions.

Thats pretty funny coming from you, considering that your specialty seems to be to pose questions and when others reply honestly you violently disagree and hurl personal insults. Why bother asking the question?

That was actually posted by another ride. In the quotation boxed by the rectangle is my answer to the guy where it starts "Nice try Zaak".

Are you with me??

Just done a 132km endurance pre season ride around the lakes area between Barcelona and Tarragona. 14c in mid-December and a few short climbs and hills. Great place to test your gearing. We ride here in Europe and get on with it. rarely do we talk abikes when training. You guys just troll around whilst dreaming of your Colnago c50's with triple chainsets. The guy who owns competitive cyclist must be laughing his way to the bank.

Of course from all the weight weenie guys who buy compact doubles to replace perfectly good cranks only because they can't push the real deal and need to look cool. Don't worry, the 42-30 double will come out soon and you will buy it because it is "fashionable" and weighs 5g less. Then you can start a thread about what gearing is better than the 42-30 double with the new DA15 6-28 cogset and ignore anybody who may use something else.

What really matters is the gear you are in, not what you have.

Darn. I just put a post on another thread saying how respectful the people on this forum are. Guess I was a bit early on that one.

Nah. What really matters is if you can hang with the big dogs --- regardless of what gear you're in.

Riders in the vuelta get to the angliru after 1-2 weeks of 45kph riding and one the day probably do a ouple of passes before they do the angliru. I would do it on fresh legs and a good warm up hence I would not need anything as low as a 30-25!!!!! Besides I would not go up it at racing speed; merely go up slowly without having to put my foot down for pride's sake which means having a 36-27 would be more or less ok, although I daresay I would attempt t on a 39-25.

The problem with compacts is that you can't get long crank arms.

Here's what I use: Campy Record 53-39 in front, 13-29 in back with 177.5mm cranks. I got all the climbing power I need!

This was just unnecessary.....you try to make your point ok. Dont go there with all these sterotypes,its out of order.
14 deg c....big deal we do 75 + mile training rides and its 4 degrees...why on earth do you feel the need to pop this kind of ****. ? it just makes you seem.... why bother..?

+1