Topic Title

I am thinking of buying a proper road bike and need some advice on whether I should go for a compact or a triple. If I do go for a compact, is it best to go for a 50-39 or 50-34? Most of my riding is in and around York, Howardian Hills and North York Moors. I currently ride a triple which is fine but the compacts offer better transmission speed and are of course a little lighter. What do people use? I occasionally go up White Horse bank - would a 34-27 be OK for this, my triple is a 30 with a 25 block? Any thoughts gratefully received.

I can't see any advantage in using a 50-39 as you'd have the same small ring as a conventional double; a 50-34 sounds more like it. The late Sheldon Brown's excellent website has a gear ratio calculator which you might find useful for comparing front and back set-ups - http://www.sheldonbrown.com

I find 34-50 an annoyingly large gap. The small ring is too small to use except uphill and the large slightly too large for gentle rises/flats unless you are feeling strong.

If you're not racing, I'd just get a triple. When I used a compact, I ran 34 x 48: limited the top gears a bit (but not much with a 12 sprocket), but means you can just leave it in the big ring most of the time.

One of the many little advertised benefits of Clifton membership is being able to go for a bike ride with Nick Scull who will happily calculate all your gear ratios to 3 decimal places in his head; mis-spent youth I call it. So you don't actually need Sheldon Brown's site! The ratio is of course (front/back) x 27. 27 is supposed to be the diameter of the rear wheel in inches, but, confusingly, its actually a bit less - don't go there!

For clubruns/audax/sportif riding the range you want may well be mid 30s (32x26, 34x27) to around 100 (50x13, 48x12). But everyone's different - Karl Bently swears by 76-fixed for White Horse Bank....

Once you've chosen your range you then have a choice of spacing 20 gears across it or 30 gears across it. Obviously, with 30 gears you get smaller steps.

Many will say that a compact double looks more stylish - but not as stylish as getting to the top first!!

And finally; the great Miguel Indurain used a triple in the Dauphine Liberie (or however you spell it) in 94.

Have fun.

I've grappled with this question a fair bit. It seems to me that there are 2 contradicting arguments at work: The need for nice low gears for steepish hills vs ease of use (= close ratios) on the flatter terrain we tend to ride on for most of the time.

Having recently and regularly used a triple, a 34/50 compact and 39/53 double I'd say that the choice comes down to how strong you are (i.e. what gear do you use when you do White Horse Bank?)

If you are reasonably strong then my personal preference would be a standard double with a generous rear cassette - say 27/13 - unless you plan on doing more hills when a more generous set-up may be preferable.

With a 34/50 I find that the gap between the rings is annoying - you either spin away in the little ring, mash along in the large ring or perpetually run the chain at a sharp angle from the larger cassette sprockets to the big chain ring.

With a triple I spend nearly all my time in the middle - 42 ring. This is OK 90+ % of the time and it is nice to have the inner 30 ring if you find yourself doing lots of hills. Dave Cook (edit: see below) told me that it is best to think of a triple as a standard double with an extra bail-out option if you need it. I feel this is probably right - but it does rather offend the purist in me!

Campag do cassettes with greater range than Shimano. This may be worth bearing in mind too as it's a whole bike you are getting rather than modding an old one.

I have one bike which I use for club runs etc on a compact 50/34 with 12/27 cassette which i like and is fine for me up White Horse etc.

My other bike is on triple 52/39/30 with 12/27 which I use for Dales Grimpeur and other long steep rides. Going up a 1 in 4 is very different after 100 miles, raining, headwind than a dry calm day after 20 miles.

I like both, but I have never found any disadvantage in running the triple.

You could check out which gear ratio you are currently comfortable with, if you can get up White Horse in 2nd (which maybe be 30 chainring 23 cassette, then you would be ok with a compact 34 and 27 cassette

30/25 is 32"
34/27 is 34"
30/23 is 35"


Hope this helps

Dave Cook

Campag do cassettes with greater range than Shimano. This may be worth bearing in mind too.

I'm a big Campag fan, but the opposite is true as you can run Shimano MTB cassettes on their road double (with a long cage mech) if wanted.

For what it's worth, here's another view.

I ride compacts on both my winter and best bikes. I knew the 34-50 jump would be annoying, so I now run 34-45. OK you fork out for the chainset and a new ring, but it's cheaper than new STIs to swap to a triple.

My reasoning is that I want a "big" ring I can ride on in the middle of the block most of the time and which still offers me some pretty low gears for the rolling hills without having to drop onto the small ring.

I know people like their top gear to be big, but really this is far less limiting than finding your bottom gear isn't small enough. Chris Boardman did a 45 minute "25" on a 108 inch gear (eg 48x12).

So I also run a compact cassette - 13-25 - so the jumps are nice and close.

Like I said, just another view.

Nick

My cassette is 10/25 which is not helping me on the stiffer hills, and to get me through my summer exploits, I want something bigger as a safety net. Campy do a 13/29 which would give me the safety net I'm after, but there's mention on some websites that you also need a medium length rear mech - is that the case or will my existing short one do the job?

It'll be running on a 50/34 compact.

Any advice gratefully received.

I have a 50/34 and 12/27 cassette which is fine for most hills. I just find when the gradient gets much above 17% then you struggle to spin and stay seated. Have ridden in the Alps and Pyrenees no problem with this setup and have had gears to spare but did struggle with some of the hills in the Etape du Dales last year but dont feel a triple is worth the investment for a couple of extra gear ratios. I may regeret that decision in this years Etape du Dales however.

I have a 50/34 and 12/27 cassette which is fine for most hills. I just find when the gradient gets much above 17% then you struggle to spin and stay seated. Have ridden in the Alps and Pyrenees no problem with this setup and have had gears to spare but did struggle with some of the hills in the Etape du Dales last year but dont feel a triple is worth the investment for a couple of extra gear ratios. I may regeret that decision in this years Etape du Dales however.

Hi Jon, what is your rear cage size, with that set-up?

It's justa short cage road rear mech not a long cage mountian bike one. I think if the sprockets get any bigger you will need a long cage one however.

Big thanks to all the responses, very helpful. Guess I've got to stop dithering now and commit.......

On Etape du Tour rides I see lots of people footing it on socks pushing their shiny bikes up the steeper sections. These are those with triple phobia.
Triple riders never walk.
What is it you like to do?