It is common that less costly bikes will have a triple chainring on the bike...this is in part due to the MFG'g presuming that if you are on a less costly bike - you are a beginner. Most stronger riders do not need that chainring inside the crankset as the 39 (or 42) is good enough when matched to the proper gearing on the rear wheel.

If you are a newer cyclist and would like easier gearing you could easily add a larger cogset on the wheel of your bike and get closer to the gearing that your ride partners have for the hills. I am not 100% certain but I think that there is no Ultegra level triple crankset out there (but I may be wrong). If you are training hard and working I am sure that a double is all you will need in the future as your strength improves.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Thank you, looks like I need to develop my engine on the hills more..

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"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky

good introductory article on gearing:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Port/2945/Gears/Gears.html


Yes, you can get triples on tri bikes. And yes, depending on your needs, triples might make hilly rides more fun, unless you are a hardcore roadie, in which case your sense of shame nullifies the fun you thought you were having up spinning up the steep grades. Double vs. triple can be a religious question. Just ignore the zealots and get what best suits you. That said, taking a bike you own that's already a double and turning it into a triple can involve considerable cost.

>>Double vs. triple can be a religious question.<<

Ha ha. When I bought my road bike last year, I inquired about getting a triple. A certain very fast Cervelo ride from whom I bought my bike said, NO WAY! Though for next year's trip to the Tour and the Pyrenees, I will take Gerard's suggestion about gearing for the Prodigy.

I think most bike shops in the Bay Area slap a triple on any bike they sell as a matter of course. I even saw a few triples at the SF Crit yesterday in the men 3s race.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

You might just want to trade in the rear cassette. The P2K comes standard with 11-23. You might want to switch to a 12-25 or even 12-27 if you ride in hilly areas.

Cerveloguy,

Thanks for the advise,,,,

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"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky

 
What gearing are you going to use for next year's Tour trip? On this year's trip, were there ever any times you were wanting more gears?

"had a much more easy time navagating the hills"

when we begin our look at 2004 products later this month we're starting with bike components, and one reason is because we're going to highlight FSA's compact drive and other similar gearing options.

if i was to choose one single technical equipment problem that bedevils more triathletes and causes more problems, it's gear ratios (maybe just as much as bike fit), and you can see what i mean if you just put together two pieces of information we write about here on slowtwitch:

1. cadence is very important, and a higher cadence of 90-95 throughout the entire race would be close to ideal.
2. spreading the work evenly throughout the bike leg is a virtue in triathlon, thought it's a vice in mass start bike racing.

both points 1 and 2 relate as much or more to the run as to the bike, even though they both refer to the tactical approach during the bike leg.

so, if you're going to average 200 watts throughout a triathlon bike ride, and even if you're going to go a bit harder on the hill, say 230 watts, how in the world do you climb a 7% grade at 90rpm at 230 watts if you're 150 pounds? even if you have a 39x27 you can't get it done.

hence, i'm a big fan of lower gearing. yes, you may very occasionally have a need for a larger gear than you've got if you're riding a 50x12 on the top end, but that's nothing compared to the nostalgia for the lower gear you don't have, if that's what you need at the moment.

triples are nice on road bikes. they're somewhat more problematic on tri bikes, because of bar-end shifting and shorter chainstays (tho they're by no means impossible to use). smaller chainrings are the big underreported story in triathlon.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Re: I am not 100% certain but I think that there is no Ultegra level triple crankset out there (but I may be wrong).

Yes, Shimano offers both the Ultegra and Dura-Ace as a triple configuration. I have an Ultegra triple on my Trek 5200, and love it on long climbs. That said, I probably wouldn't get a triple on my tri bike because most tri's don't have that much climbing, and I'd be doing most of my training on my road bike. If your tri bike is your only bike you might want to consider the triple. The other issue to consider is that most tri bikes have shorter chainstays that road bikes, which will create more chainline issues resulting in potentially poorer shifting. I seem to recall a thread here a while back about people having some issues with a triple on P3's, for example, though I don't remember if someone ultimately offered a satisfactory resolution to the issue.

>>On this year's trip, were there ever any times you were wanting more gears?<<

Oh yeah! Remember, I'm a Clydedale chick so I go downhill real fast. Not so fast uphill. Specifically, a triple would have been real nice the day we rode the Col de la Ramaz, especially when it bumped up to 11-14%. And, on the Alpe, which I only rode some of, due to the steepness and the fact it was +100F degrees.

>>What gearing are you going to use for next year's Tour trip?<<

I'm going to follow Gerard's advice and look into the FSA compact crack. That will give me a 50-34 in the front and a 12-27 in the back. I belive he (GV) used this at IMC.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

This dude has a pretty good chronicle on his decision between a tight triple and a wide double. It deals with a roadie (not a tri bike), but the gear ratio charts he's put together are nicely laid out. Personally, I went with a 53x39 and an 11-28 which ought to hold me until I get back into shape. The big gaps kind of suck, but I'm enough of an old school roadie to not want a triple on my bike. My buddies with triples routinely kick my ass going uphill, however.

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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