TassR700

Instead of looking for smaller gears on the back, why not put a larger ring on the front? 50/39/30 is not real tall gearing. Most triples go with a 52 or 53 big ring. Swapping out that ring could be less than $50 and it will give you a higher top end.

adriano 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(physics)

shabbasuraj

get stronger

cheval

cough...cough...triple...cough

snpiperpilot

I have the opposite problem. I bought a compact thinking that would be a low enough for the hills near me since I started riding again last year at age 50. Even now that I have lost nearly 70 lbs, the compact isn't quite low enough for me to maintain a decend cadence on some of the hills I ride. Consequently, I plan to change to a triple. That will be me a bit more top end for downhills and a bit more low end for uphill.

Now, here's my question. My Trek 2.1 came with a Shimaon Tiagra Front Derailleur. Can that be adjusted for a triple? It specs the bike with that derailleur for both a compact and triple but before I buy the new crank, it would be nice to know for sure.

fordmanvt

Same gruppo, different part.

You have FD-4500 but the compareable triple part would be FD-4503. If you do go through with this, opt for a 105 or Ultegra FD.

snpiperpilot

Thanks, I finally found that data later. What is the advantage of the 105 or Ultegra? Are there any issues with the install? If I change to the 4503, I have to do nothing but change the actual derailleur and adjust the settings. Since both of those are for 10 speed clusters, I assume at the very least, I'd have to change to a 10 speed chain, right? Anything else?

Thanks,

SN

Nikolai

I have not a single "HTFU" response in this thread...Not one! What is BF coming to??

fordmanvt

No, the size difference in the chain is not large enough to matter. 105 and Ultegra are considered the best bang for the buck. example

curtwally

Hi FooserX,

So if this is ultegra shimano 10 speed your solution is to go to a compact crank of 50/34 and 11/25 cassette in the back. You will be able to climb most anything.

If you have ultegra 9 speed go to Harris Cyclery.com and order their 12/30 casette and put it on with your origninal chainrings of 53/39. You may have to increase chain length and the positioning screw on the dropout that affects how much chain wrap you have on the cassette may have to be switched out to a longer screw. This cost $0.05 at a hardware store to move the chain wrap around the 30 tooth cog to less contact with the teeth. This has worked great for myself and wife with our 9 speed Shimano setups. They do not offer this yet for Shimano 10 speed.
You will be able to climb anything.

happy cycling, regards

curt wally

brandontw

So i checked out the gears on my bike, i'm rolling with 12-25 on the back and a 39-52 double on the front.

I came from riding a mountain bike with quite a granny gear on it, so when i first got on the road bike i was like "what the devil, this is hard as hell" but in about two weeks or so i was cruising up my regular hill no problem, and a darn sight faster too.

I say just HTFU and ride it.

curtwally

Hi Palu and others.......

More comments. I have made a number of posts here. So here goes again. I/we live in flatland mid Michigan but take numerous trips to the hills/ and mountains. While I am a former racer I am not in that shape now but pretty close. Palu, It is hard to understand your ability to use a 39 front 25 rear living in the rockies. We did the Ride to Rockies 3 years ago with 39/27 and on some of those 1.5 hr uphill passes I wished I had a 29/30 rear. Yes I made it in the 27 rear but would have been more efficient and faster spinning a lower gear. Maybe because we were from 700 ft. vs. 8000 that that was the difference but I think not. RTRs routes have actually gentle inclines of about 4-6%. Last fall we did the 7000ft. climb of the Cincy bike club in Ohio over 60 miles. These hills are real stinkers with inclines exceeding 10% and length much longer than being able to sprint over. We used the Harris cyclery special combos of 39front/30rear and these worked great. So I think it is absolutely proper to get gearing that works for the terrain being used and fit to your physical ability. So FooserX is just starting out. He will make great improvements over the summer but for those of you saying just grind away I do not think that is the solution. Look at Lance. He spins up the hills in races vs. slugging it out at low rpm with gearing not properly set up. The best racers spin up the hills. They don't slug it out and destroy their endurance. So get the gearing that you need. I am not a fan of triples but have nothing against them. If a 30 is what you need up front then get a triple. Again the principle is to be able to spin up a hill vs. labor inefieciently at low rpm.

Regards, Curt Wally

bigreen505

I'm old, fat, slow and asthmatic (the first one is relative), so take this for what you will. When I first got back into road riding I did it with a 53/39 and 12-25. That was brutal so I swapped the 12-25 for an 11-28 mountain bike cassette. Over the course of a summer I eventually got strong enough to pedal my sorry ass from Dillon to Vail and back, but brutal didn't even cover it. Next bike I went with a triple and 12-25. I put far more miles on in the mountains because I could actually get up a hill, but I really needed at least a 12-27 on the back because I ran out of gears frequently. I was riding Squaw Pass weekly, but never felt strong enough or had enough time to continue on up the hill, partly because I didn't want to pay for it. Squaw Pass from Evergreen to Echo Lake is not real steep, just constant. Probably 8% or so. This was about the time that I took a new job and didn't have energy to ride at all and my family of two became three.

Because I was riding more (or used to ride more) I got stronger and lost weight, so I decided to join the cool crowd and get a compact double, so my lowest gear went from 30:25 (which was nowhere near low enough for me) to a 36:25. It doesn't take a math genius to know that wasn't going to work, so I swapped the 36 for a 34 and suffered, because you know, I'll get stronger right? Yeah, no. Instead of getting stronger I stopped riding because everything around my office was hills (big ones, at least for me). When that frame cracked, riding stopped.

Now I have a new bike and I'm running a triple on it because I'm not stupid and I know that if I'm going to ride it has to be enjoyable. So I'm back on a triple with a 12-25 and hope to get strong enough again that I can ride in the mountains and enjoy it. I like to spin a pretty high cadence and my knees have issues (two ACL replacements, IT-band problems, no cartilage in one knee, arthritis), so that is a contributing factor as well.

I'm not sure where you bought your bike from, but if you demoed a bunch of bikes that were compact drivetrains, and they sold you a standard double without warning you, I would have a word with the shop manager. That is a despicable thing to do to a new rider, and selling you a 12-27 cassette to replace the 12-25 that came on the bike does not make it right.

I think you need to be honest about your fitness and physiology, and understand that most of the people on this board that respond to questions like this are racers who put 10,000 - 20,000 miles per year on a bike. I'm guessing you are neither, but if you can take standard double over Lookout Mountain, you are stronger that you let on.

umd

While I agree with the first part of this, it is certainly not true that most of the people on "this board" are racers, nor that most ride 10,000-20,000 miles annually. Even pcad for all he rides only puts in, what, 12,000? I'd bet that 3,000-6,000 miles is far more typical.

melon

is there any reason i cant make my compact a standard by changing out the chainrings? do the rings have a diffrent bolt pattern?

i have a 50/34 compact and im a little unsure about it. i feel inbetween rings. often the big ring needs to go down one more gear to be comfortable, but i cant becuase of the crossing. i dont want to go down to the small ring as its too much of a drop.

FooserX

Update from OP.

I've kept riding with my standard double, and my mountian climbing has gotten noticeably easier in just a few more rides. It's still tough, but the faster speed I'm now clibing at (as opposed to granny gear with the triple) is pretty cool.

If all I'm doing are small climbs, or one pass a day, I think the standard will suit me fine. If I had to do multiple passes, then I'd probably switch to a compact.

Thanks!
X