It’s hard to decide which guy is better: The one who can ride all day in a 53X11 or the guy who averages 24mph on hilly courses. We definitely need to have a ST throwdown between them. Some mildy hilly course with good flat stretches might be best? It would be quite a matchup.
I ride all day on 53-11.
I couldn’t find the specs to confirm but I’m fairly certain that the '08 P2C came with compact cranks. My buddy has that exact bike and changed his 50/34 FSA for a 53/39 DA crank.
So, if you are referring to your current setup you are probably only riding 50-11. A jump to 56 is gonna hurt.
EDIT: At 80rpm a 50-11 combo is still over 28 mph.
I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt. It is most certainly possible that he lives at the top of Mt. Washington and all his rides are downhill.
I just bought a new Dura Ace 7800 56 x 44 off ebay.
I plan on putting it on my 08’ Cervelo P2C “Ulterga” build.
Bigger gearing than the stock Gossamer, but how much bigger?(not just literally 3 more teeth in the big and 5 more teeth in the small)
I have a road bike that i train hills on, and save the cervelo for long flat rides. But on occasion my flat routes have a couple climbs that require dropping into the small chain ring, and even all the way into my granny on an (11-23). With the 44 am i going to have a lot more difficult of a time? Or will it just be a little bit more of a challenge?
Also am i going to have any problems with the 56 x 44 Dura Ace being compatible with the stock ultegra group?
Thanks in advance. Nick
I have the same rings on my Tri bike. Used them for the vineman half last July paired with a SRAM OG 1090 11-26. It worked perfectly well for me on that rolling course, but I would say unless your W/KG is above 5.0, you might be missing that smaller gearing on climbs that last more than 10min ea.
FWIW, This year I ordered up a new set of SRM/SRAM red group with 54/41 set of TT rings. I’ll save the 56 for the 40k Time Trials.
I to ride compact 50/34
Gear spacing is better for me on a 12 / 21 then a 12 /27
And them giant pie plates front and back just look funny
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I’m swapping out my 56x44 for 53x39. Anything I should be aware of when doing the install (chainrings only). I know Ive got to slide the front d down, but in terms of the rings themselves…
thanks in advance.
I’ve found that Shimano mounts the chain rings dry and that can cause creaking. A very small touch of grease where the rings touch the spider and on the fasteners is good insurance.
Pay attention to which way the rings face inside/outside and also the orientation to the spider. There is a small triangle stamped on the ring.
Other than that, it’s mostly a 20 minute remove and replace although there are always knuckle busting opportunities available working around chain rings.
Probably not, but you will have to lower your FD and readjust.
If your chain was on the long side to start, you might need to remove one link.
To give myself as many ratios as possible with a huge range so I’m not constantly changing cassettes and chainrings (because I ain’t made o’ money). I’m running a 55/39 with a 12/27 (all Ultegra). I’m hoping to switch to a set of RotorCrank RS4X’s with the new DA cassette out back since I can increase the cassette to 11/28. I spoke w/ John Cobb and he also said I might want to switch to a 54/39. However if I can find some DA Di2’s that fall off the back of a truck, I’ll be limited to an 11/27 out back.
I prefer the 55 over the 56. I used to have 56 with a small 42 but depending on the course I had to use a 27 in the back which made the jumps between gears bigger than what I like. The jumps are already bigger due to the bigger chainring so I didn’t like that much. With the 55 I run a 39 in the front and I’m much happier now. I also ran 9sp with the 56/42 so 10sp 55/39 is a world of difference to me.
Did you buy my 56/44? j/k 
Most likely yes.