Actually the discusion is focused on the front, tripple vs. double, I suppose the gear combonation could have some effect on shifting but the original argument was the old standby that you cant shift a tripple. However your point is still valid from a gearing point of view. Dependant on what is on the rear

I still feel that varable gears are only for people over forty-five.
Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer?
We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!
--Henri Desgrange, L'Équipe article of 1902

Agreed. someone who is in the condition of a profesional wouldnt need a 30 chainring. For myself I ride and live in Michigan. For the most part its pretty flat. But I do travell for work and somtimes I am able to bring a bike with me. If there are any hill or mountains close to where I am staying you can guess where I will be riding. and on more than one occasion, that granny gear was the difference between getting back on my own power or calling a taxi.

You are one lucky cyclist. That is beautiful.

Wrong side of road.

I have a feeling that if this was a video, you'd be saying "Wrong side. Right side. Wrong side. Right side..."

Yes, and I bet good old Henry used to sit on his porch and yell at the kids in the neighbor hood to get off of his lawn.

i ride a double (compact) and i'm a chick. and YOU ride a triple....

so, maybe triples aren't just for chicks. you have some faulty logic going on

probly making his own switchbacks, or his eyeballs have popped out of his head from the effort.

I will be 45 this year so shave my legs and call me Nancy... my road bike may just need a triple.

who are you refering to? I think we've had more of the ladies in this thread than I have ever seen before. Its a good thing. Its a shame they came out for this thread.

The multi quote feature is broken, it doesn't deselect automatically anymore. You have to go back to it and unchecked it.

That's my buddy Pete on his Klein with a 39x27 low switchbacking up. You name it, I've used it up this hill and I still have to tack near the end, 34x27, 39x25, 30x26, even for kicks a 28x29. The wrong side of the road has plenty of dirt and Eucalyptus leaves to lose traction on as well.

This is not quite the bottom. I always include this block on hilly San Francisco rides so people have something fond to remember.

Thanks, I was starting to get a little frustrated.

06 allez triple here, 52/42/30 + 12-26. I bought triple because I didn't know if I'd need it or not (I was starting out back then). Since that time, I've installed a double fd but only because LBS didn't have triple fd in stock. I ride everywhere in 52 and 42 in flat London so I'm not bothered.

One day I'll put a triple fd back on. Doesn't bother me how many rings are up front.

Or you could dump the small ring and use the limit screw to lock out that position on the shifter, Viola, a double is born.

Eh, that's absolutely pointless in my opinion. All that does is block out a gear that is otherwise there. I chose a compact because I like a narrow Q factor. If I had a bike with a triple - wait a second, I do. It's a mountain bike - I wouldn't block out a chainring just to feel more "manly".

Fixed for accuracy by somebody who rides up a stupid hill like that every effing day.

Yea. It looks like the OP is gone, but when I saw this, I was pretty surprised that this wasn't bounced out immediately. Nothing like homophobia to go with your misogyny. Props to the women in here who called him out on his flawed logic, and the men who called him out on his sophomoric choice of words.

Wow...everything from stabs about my amateur climbing status to my lack of political correctness.

I apologize for my lack of tact, although I think the level of political correctness in this country is ridiculous (this is in no way a statement that says I hate America). It just seems that the ones promoting this PC movement aren't even the ones being targeted. But my opinions on the wussification of America are irrelevant.

I'm also new to the sport, so I forget that women are part of the forum too. It was not meant to be chauvanistic and I know there are plenty of women that can kick my ass in any sport out there, it was just supposed to be an expression. Like Trix are for Kids. Triples are for Chicks.

Same with the use of the word 'gay' as a slang expletive. I'm NO homophobe and I have a few gay friends that would attest to this. Of course name dropping won't do me much good, but whatever. My intentions weren't to denigrate gays or women.

Thanks for the helpful comments. I'm pretty sure that parts of the hill i'm climbing are steeper than 15%, but I don't really know how to measure it. Can I use the level on my iPod to do that? I only know that the overall grade is about 11%.

Ok I'll bite, wtf? over. where did that quote come from. Can you also fix it for context. When did Mt doom become a stupid hill?

Edit
You got me bad on that one, I had a hard time figuring out what the heck this quote was from. Flat land sucks. You would miss your stupid hill if it disapeared.

oh i was referring to the OP. he said 'triples are for chicks' then went on to say he had a triple

goddamit, do you not see that I'm referring to myself as a chick, because I have a triple? seriously, what is up with the sensitivity. I was poking fun at myself in hopes that it would avoid this kind of situation, but apparently not.

Mods, please close this thread.
This is ridiculous and it will only get worse from here on out.

Lighten up a little, you came in a little strong you SHOULD xpect to get a little flamed. Take it as a lesson about trhe interwebs. Plus there is some good info in the thread you can learn from. You cant come here throw around things that others will find insulting and not expect to get called on it. Weather you meant it or not.
But you did appologize, so be sincere and ride it out.

Okay - I won't belabor the point too much. But the argument that this is a "slang" or "just an expression" is absolutely hollow. It just means "i haven't thought a lot about what I'm saying, so I don't really mean what the words actually mean, and you should trust me for X, Y, and Z anecdotal reasons." Using gay in a derogatory sense implies something about the way you feel about gay people, even if you don't feel it. And the fact that it's become so normalized in our culture doesn't give us the right (i would argue no matter how many gay friends you have, and would even say if you are gay yourself) to continue perpetuating that. But really, i think these days, it just makes you sound thoughtless.

Same goes for the "chicks" usage with respect to weakness. Just thoughtless, and sure, flippant and careless and maybe you're not a homophobe or a misogynist. So why adopt the language?

As for climbing - i have an 50-34 (chainrings) with an 11-23 (cassette) in back, and I live in seattle. I do hill repeats on Queen Anne, and it's got some pretty steep sections and a solid 500 feet of elevation gain from top to bottom with sections of 20% grade (which correlates to rise over run, not 20 degree angle, i think). I'm on a light bike (17-18 pounds) and I'm light myself, so that factors in, so this works for me. If a triple works for you, most people aren't going to notice, and the people who do are probably going to judge you no matter what - your shoes not matching your bike, your Bell helmet, wearing anything from Primal. So just find what works for the hills in your area, and ride.

And maybe work on cutting the hateful language out of your vocab.