What cassette are you using?

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At the moment a 12/34

Boils down to what gears you’re most frequently in. I find I spend the majority of my time in around the middle of the cassette(11-28) with a 52/36 chain ring, which gives ideal chain line for drive train efficiency.

Need to obviously make sure you have proper gearing/range to handle your terrain. So if you’re running an 11-25 in a hilly area it might not be ideal to step up.

It’s nice having DI2 and looking at the wahoo app as it records all the gearing helping to make informed decisions. Otherwise you can just take mental note while riding.

You didn't keep the old rings or they aren't usable with the new meter?

Otherwise I would either have swapped them over OR ridden the new rings "just to see" then if I didn't like it just swap them back.

Folks can look at the expectations but this is one where it's a good idea to just go on some "grab bag variety" rides with some hills and flats or surface texture and see how the gearing actually feels to ride.

I swore to myself I needed a 2x to ride mix of road/gravel. Bought a 1x bike, feels fine on what I use it all for.

I still have the old craknkset but I don't think that the rings are compatible.

About 5 RPM lower on the small ring
About 4 RPM lower on the big ring

MOST (but not all) 50/34 and 52/56 chainrings are 5-bolt 110 BCD, so they might be compatible. Shimano 4-bolt chain rings being the major exception.

The key question is how much do you need or use that 34 cog? Jumping up chainring sizes effectively makes your rear cassette look like an 11-32 equivalent on your original chainrings. So, if you find yourself in that big cog often, then you might either need to keep your original chainring sizes or get a larger rear cassette.

https://www.gear-calculator.com/...7,30,34&UF2=2135

From Sheldon Brown's website: https://sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html


You can find out your speed at various RPMs of the different ratios. Then plug into http://bikecalculator.com/ to see your wattage at various speeds and/or grades

My take on it is that the 34 helps me on uphills far more than the 50 hurts me on downhills.

That's great you are now have a faster high end speed when needed and depending on tail winds and down hill angles.

a 52/ 12 is 4.33 ratio
a 50/ 12 is 4.166 ratio

a 34/ 34 is the back is a 1.00 ratio
a 36/34 is a 1.06

2.168 m for a wheel at 1.00 ratio at 70 rpm covers 151.76 m per min
2.168 m for a wheel at 1.06 ratio at 70 rpm covers 143.17 m per min


or you can do the 1.00 ratio at a rpm of 66 rpm and get the same at 143.17 m per min.

so always remember a watt is a watt.

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