Bingo Blingo

Will a new lighter carbon bike with compact gearing feel about the same on the hills as an old heavier aluminum bike with a triple? My current bike has a triple with a low of 30/28 and I use the low gear lot. I am an over-50 rider that likes hills. I am considering a new bike with a better frame carbon and wheels. The wheels on the new bike will be about 300 grams lighter and the entire bike will be about three pounds lighter.

Currently my low gear gap is two (30 front minus 28 rear). If get a compact the gear gap will be five (34 minus 29). That gearing is roughly 10% harder. I am assuming the new bike will be slightly faster. Would the newer bike feel about the same on the hills as my current set up?

rpeterson

Probably not, unless you've got Apex with it's larger range.

ericm979

https://www.gear-calculator.com

Jed19

Yep, run the numbers.

You can compare a bike from 1940 to one manufactured yesterday by doing comparative numbers analysis via a gear calculator or dividing the chain ring tooth count by the cog tooth count, then multiplying the result by 27 for 700c wheels or 26 for mountain bikes.

Camilo

The difference in weight of 3 pounds may or may not make a noticable difference, but it won't be the magnitude that you're talking about. The only way to tell is to try it out on a hill you "know".

I went from a Cannondale R2000 w/ an Ultegra triple set up (30X26 lowest gear) to a Compact my current bike (34X28 lowest gear). I really loved the gear range, steps and smooth front shifting of the triple. I like the compact OK, it really does work fine. The lowest gear isn't quite as low, the bikes a couple pounds lighter (not really meaningful though), and really the low gear issue is more of a thing where I have to stand a little bit more than w/ the triple, but it's not a horrible grind for me. I'm late 50s and live in a land of many hills, some of them very steep and some of them very long.

The main gripe I have about the compact is that I believe the front shifting is inherently poorer because of the large jumps between the rings. I really don't believe it's possible to have it as smooth as a good triple or a good standard crank. Perfectly fine, yes. But as good, no.

Then there's the large jumps in the rear cassette because you naturally need more range back there to get the low gears you need, compared to a triple. That doesn't bother me all that much.

It's really a shame that they don't put triples on really nice bikes any more. 10 years ago, you could get Ultegra and Dura Ace level bikes with good, high end frames, in triples pretty easily. Now they've all drunk the Compact Coolaide.

rdtompki

I'm running a 34-32 on my compact which is pretty close to the 30-27 I had on my triple. If I were older (I'm 66) I wouldn't hesitate to run an 11-36 cassette. You'll appreciate the feel of the lighter bike for sure, but the weight difference won't make much of a difference in a climb. What I've found though is that my lighter CF bike is easier to maneuver when standing on short stretches.

Drew Eckhardt 

Maybe. Assuming you weigh 150 pounds and went from a 20 pound bike to 17 an hour long climb will now take you just 59 minutes assuming the harder gearing doesn't result in unacceptable fatigue that slows you down.

Depends how you define "about." With the same assumptions the weight change will make hill climbing 2% easier thus requiring 7% more force to ascend the steepest grades at the same speed.

It'll feel about like your old bike would with a 26 cog.

Drew Eckhardt 

Long before you get to "really nice" you can have a frameset in your choice of materials built with a gruppo from the vendor of your choice in whatever combination they sell.

In 1996 I had a Litespeed frame built up with a Look carbon form, Campagnolo Chorus + Racing-T (except for Athena brakes and headset) with Open Pro rims in hand-built wheels for $2200 tax included.

With inflation the same shop's prices have climbed to $3000 and change but that isn't half what a "really nice" Madone runs and you could move up the food chain. Custom geometry in aluminum (Tsunami), titanium (XACD by way of Habenero ), and steel (other small vendors) is even available at that priec point if that's your thing.

Both Shimano and Campagnolo still make 10 speed triples (although you'd want NOS 2010 Campagolo Centaur Ultrashift levers).

hueyhoolihan

i can run a higher gear up hills on my CF bike than i can on my old Trek. (too many variables to predict how much higher if any, YMMV) i think it has to do with the combination of weight (12.5lb vs 18lb) and being a lot stiffer (carbon vs Reynolds 531). the wheels/tires aren't likely to enter into it much seeing as how the hubs, rims, spokes, nipples, tire liners and rim tape are identical and the tire weights are roughly the same.

Camilo

I'm not sure if we're agreeing or disagreeing. I know that you can still get the nice triples in custom build-ups, but I was trying to say, that 10 years ago, I could walk into every bike shop in my town and good, upper level bikes with triples were in abundance in their stock, on the floors, ready to ride. The situation 99.9 % of cyclists are in when they are shopping for a new bike.

The Shimano 105, Ultegra, and to a lesser extent Campy triple drive trains were very common in stock bikes. Nowadays, I almost never see that level of triple in a built-up stock bike in a bike shop. I do see Sora and Tiagra level triples, but even they are getting less common. (btw, those are perfectly fine groups).

The Compact has taken over - for whatever reason (some rational, some not). Many shops are now offering compact doubles with MTB cassettes and MTB rear derailleurs. Yes, they'll get you the gears just fine, and are probably a fine set up for a huge percentage of recreational and enthusiast riders. But a good closely spaced triple crank with a good, closely spaced cassette is a better set up for those who need the very low gears. Both set ups work, but the triple is better, imho.

Seattle Forrest

No.

Seattle Forrest

Your question implies that you think carbon fiber is going to be so drastically easier to pedal that, well, different gears will feel the same. Go test ride some carbon frames. You shouldn't buy a bike without test riding it anyway, but you'll get a much better sense of things by experiencing them than by asking a bunch of clowns on the blagotubez.

Bingo Blingo

Thanks all. The comments from those rare birds that have life experiences with aluminum and carbon fiber bikes is especially helpful. They provides insights that may be missing on a road test or simply looking a gear chart. It seems like the consensus here is that low gear on the new bike would feel like a half of a step harder than the low gear on my current bike - which would somewhere between the 28 and 25 sprockets. For myself, that gear is low enough for short trips, but may be a little high for full day rides.

DerHoggz

Doubtful, most of the weight is still from the rider, so unless the difference percentage-wise in rider+bike is the same as the difference in gear ratio it will be harder. More or less of course but that is probably the simplest comparsion.