Ok I just got a 48cm Cervelo P2C with compact set up and 650 wheels. I’ve ridden it a couple of times (4-5x max ride distance 50miles) and feel like I’m losing the top end of power especially downhill. I’m having a hard time finding the right gear combos that feel like my old road set up which was standard with 700cc. I feel like I’m always riding in the biggest ring combo. Any advice on what to do? I’m doing Timberman this year and know the small ring will help on the hills.
What is your cassette? If it is 12-25 maybe consider switching it to 11-23.
I don’t know a lot about this but from what I’ve read here, 50x11 is actually a bigger gear than 53x12.
Agreed, though I’m not sure how much effect adding 650c wheels will add to the equation. Needs to be looked at with a gear table.
GG, have a look at this table and work out what gears you had on your previous set up, it should let you what gears you are missing and which cassette to get. I would guess that you just haven’t “found” the gears that you used most before. I think the change to 650c will have made the biggest difference.
Ok I just got a 48cm Cervelo P2C with compact set up and 650 wheels. I’ve ridden it a couple of times (4-5x max ride distance 50miles) and feel like I’m losing the top end of power especially downhill. I’m having a hard time finding the right gear combos that feel like my old road set up which was standard with 700cc. I feel like I’m always riding in the biggest ring combo. Any advice on what to do? I’m doing Timberman this year and know the small ring will help on the hills.
A 650c wheeled bike needs bigger chain rings than a 700c bike to remain even in distance traveled per pedal revolution.
A 53/39 is somewhat equivalent to a compact on a 650c. You’ve given up a ton of top end by going to a 50 big ring.
I can’t see putting a compact 50/3x on a 650c bike unless you are going up Mt Everest or not strong at all.
For 700c
53x12 = 115 gear inches
50x12 = 108 gear inches*
For 650c
50x12 = gear 102 inches
53x12 = gear 108 inches*
56x12 = gear 114 inches
Putting on something with a 11 will help, but only get you to 111 gear inches, still short of your 700c top end.
Oops, this gear table:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/About_the_Bike/GEARTABL.XLS
.
Compact cranks x “compact” wheels = granny gearing. It’s normal to go in the opposite direction crank-wise to compensate for the 650 wheels; i.e., 42x55 or even 44x56 is fairly common to approximate a standard 39x53 setup.