I have a chance to get my greedy little hands on a set of the new 50/36 Bontrager compact carbon cranks and I was wondering the pros and cons of 36 vs. 34.
I suppose Bontrager went with the 36 inner ring to keep the tooth difference at 14 like 53/39. So there should be no issues when shifting between the front rings?
Also, it seems to me that 36 might also have the advantage of allowing us to use our 11-23’s instead of having to swap for 11-21 which many folks seem to be doing.
Not a huge difference between the two, but enough to matter. I live in a pretty hilly area - there’s really not much in the way of flat rides. We also have mountains - 5 canyons within 20 miles of my doorstep, ranging from average 5% to 9% grades. I’m telling you this so that my gearing choice will make sense. I use a 50/34 and an 11/25 (you have to buy two cassettes and mix them up). This is awesome for me. I can do all of my long rides, even the hillier ones, in the 50 chainring. The easier canyons I can do in the 50 as well, but the steep ones, especially in races, I tend to bottom out so I can spin like crazy.
I run 50/34 with a 12-25 10spd cassette. I can spin out the 50x12 when I’m coming down a big hill or have a wicked-hard tailwind, but that’s about it. If I get really strong over the winter I can see possibly going 11-23, but really the whole reason I got compacts is because I suck.
Where’d you find 130 BCD 36 rings? I have been told by damn near everyone that 38 is the smallest that are out there. I can’t even find them on their website. Do you have a link?
