I really liked the 11/23 on the rear, but I am moving to a 12/25 to see how that goes. I may end up on an 11/25, though.

I'm 50/34 with a 12/25 on 700c tires. I'll never go back.

Very happy I switched. I run 50/36 x 12/23 9-spd on my road bike, and 50/36 x 12/23 10-spd on my TT bike. I am very much a spinner, and generally ride above 90 rpm, so the smaller big ring gives me a better gear range.

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I race duathlons and like it.

50/34 with a 11-23

love it. nice having the super low and the really high for when I need it

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-zakk

Death Squad Cycling Club
http://www.ridethedeath.com


"Why is that people will drop $2000 on race wheels and a few c-notes for an ugly tattoo and then balk at the race fee?" - Blackie

I live in Oregon where it's fairly hilly and this season I put a 50/34 on my tri bike; I use a 12-26 on the back. I love it, I wasn't so sure the first ride but once I got my shifting patterns down it was great.

In fact, I have a 7 mile loop course that I frequently ride. Most of this loop is non-stop climbing and it gets fairly steep in places. I recently rode the loop a couple times on my tri bike and I beat my PR (set on my road bike with 53/39x12-25) on both rides by staying in the aerobars and spinning up the hills. It took me some effort to get comfortable staying on the aerobars and spinning up hills in easier gears, but I'm amazed at the momentum I can generate/maintain by climbing this way.

I'm sooo slow on the uphills so I'm going with a 46-36 Compact Cross crankset. Yeah I'll lose some speed on the big ring but given how often I'm on the outer ring, this will work nicely.

50/34 with 12-25 on both the road bike and tri bike. I'm changing the road bike to 11-23, as I just installed powercranks on it and due to the drop in cadence I'm spinning out the 12 and need an 11- spinning out being a relative term, as my max sustainable cadence right now is in the high 80's. I expect that as I adapt to the PC's and my cadence comes back I might go back to the 12-25. On the tri bike I train on the 12-25 and then select either 12-25 or 11-23 for the race wheel depending on course profile.

50/36 with an 11-21 or 11-23.

Love it. I like the close ratios with the 11-21. 50/11 is taller than 53/12 so no problems on the downhills.

Basically I've got the same or greater range than a 53/39 setup. Less overlap, closer ratios, and everything is smaller, so there is a tiny bit of weight savings.

FWIW, I don't think a 50/42 would need a compact crankset. Both those chainrings would fits on standard cranks. The whole purpose of a compact cranks (smaller BCD) is to allow for a 34 or 36 inner ring. If you don't plan to use that small of an inner ring, stick with standard cranks.

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Justin in Austin, get it? :)

Cool races:
- Redman
- Desoto American Triple T

I don't think that's a "compact crankset"... it's typically a 50/36 or 50/34 with the smaller ring allowing you to spin uphill. A 42 is larger than the typical 39 so there won't be much spinning with that setup!

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

Loves it.

I'm now on 50/34 with 12/25.

My big ass can't get my climbing very fast but now I can spin through climbs.

Would never, ever give it up. Except maybe 50/38 with 12/27. But what for?

Man, someone with a smaller big ring than me. For the moment, I am claiming the fastest half Ironman bike split ever on a 48 tooth chainring at 2:15, but now we have a dude on a shortwitch approved 46 tooth!

Great to hear !

On shimanos' website they offer a 50/39. Think that is a good setup?

I ride an FSA Energy 9s 50/34 with an 11-23 cassette. I love it gives me the best parts of a triple great for training especially for long hills like the 12km climbs (900-1000m+) of Mt. Cypress and Mt. Seymour climbs in Vancouver. The I prefer spinning up the climbs I usually never ride up them in anything easier than a 34 with a 19 tooth cog, but it is great for doing over/under training on those climbs w/o killing myself in the early season. I also like that I have a bigger gear than a 53--12 combination. I find the 50--11 more tan sufficient for my purposes.

I know a Cat 2 rider who is one of the top Cat 1/2 road riders in the area and he switched to a compact crank, b/c of its greater versatility. I mean hey if Ivan Basso--arguably the best current top stage race (climber) road rider uses a compact...I am sure it has sufficient big gears for me.

I'm switching my standard 130 BDC cranks to a 50/38 set-up (Salsa chainrings at Excel Sports). Pairing it with a 12-25.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

Not a compact crankset post but...

At IMNZ05 I broke my big gear cable at the top of that first climb and therefore rode 180km in the small ring (a 42 but 650 wheels). Spent 4 minutes or so trying to fix it before accepting my fate. My bike time was 5:49.

So I am claiming the fastest IM bike split in the small ring : ).

Cheers

Vernon