Big Cookie, anyone?
 

Who here has ridden a 55 tooth chainring?
Who is afraid to?

What do you have on your most-often ride?

I think i have 52 as my biggest chain ring in front and my smallest chain ring is 12 in the back

I'll admit it, I'm afraid. Hammering a 55-11 downhill would get me to, what, 60mph? I fishtailed oh-so-slightly at 50mph a few weeks back. I think I'm gonna slow it down a bit.

a few weeks ago someone on here said they bought a team saturn bike that was equipped with a 55, but i can't remember who

I'm dumb enough to try something once. I plan to move from a 52 to a 53 soon. My buddy (newbie), doesn't think one tooth will make much difference. Schmuck.

umm, one tooth, say 12 to 11, does make a difference, but 52 to 53, not so much.

I own them, 57 Campy SR ring, 56 or 57 Dura-Ace, maybe some other odd 56s, but I can't use them any more.

They were good on tandems when we could only get 12s, but now that we can get 11s, the drivetrain is better optimized to the power available with 53 X 11, because that allows a lower gear at the other end of the triple. This is with mixed teams, of course.

I used them on singles for time trials. Not because I could turn a 57 X 12, but because that would put me in the middle of the freewheel (this is the old days), where the gear splits for consecutive cogs were smaller, and I could stay closer to optimum rpms, which helped me squeeze out a few more watts. Club and USCF TTs are now scarce here. I don't TT anymore, though I would start again at the drop of a hat, for a regular series, or even just one a year that didn't require me to do a crit or a RR to do the TT. I don't mind losing. I'm just a 50th percentile kind of guy, after I pick the slackest looking USCF category. On the other hand the head-to-head battles are incredible. Once we had six guys finish within twelve seconds in the club 8-mile time trial. Talk about concentration......

These days both the tandem and the single have 53 X 11 for a top gear. Two years ago I was spinning at 55 chasing a tandem down a hill after I foolishly let them get a gap at the top of the hill. They did 56 and pulled away. Owww.....