I have not been on my road bike in at least 2 years (maybe even 3). Been riding my tri bike exclusively. I am going to pick up a new road bike and I am curious about standard vs. compact cranks. I have compact cranks on my tri bike, which I love. Perfect for my chosen races (IMC and IMWI).
Is there any reason NOT to go with compact cranks on my road bike? Do the reasons for going compact on a tri bike hold true for a road bike. Yeah, I know, possibly stupid questions.
I do plan on riding the Horribly Hilly Hundred next year, for which a compact would be very, very nice. Is there any reason NOT to go compact all the time on the road bike?
I’ve been thinking about adding one—even a lot of the ‘fast guys’ I know have 'em, and think no shame in it, esp if doing the Hilly Hundred—interested also in seeing responses
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Go with a compact and an 11-28. Excellent all-around setup, with both a lower and higher gear ratio than on a standard.
Works great on the HHH course or anything else up in the 20% grade category.
The only complaint you might find is having a “middle” gear somewhere in the middle of the cluster when at around 18-21mph you’ll find one gear a bit too tall, one too short. Still worth it, though.
I have a road bike,which is also my tri-bike and this year was also my touring bike(pulling a trailer) and it is fitted with compact cranks…It works great for me…
One with, one without… I keep one of my road bikes out in CO. Out there, a compact is almost a must (IMHO). Spinning up a 6-10 mile climb or longer, a compact just feels a ton better.
Mine came with them standard. I’m not a Pro and a short ride near my house has 2000+ft of climbing, so it works to my advantage.
One option is to go with the new ‘mid-compact’ setup that Specialized seems to have on a bunch of their 2012 models: a 110BCD with a 52/36. You can then swap for a more traditional compact setup of 50/34 if you need the hill climbing capability of a 34x28.
I’ve had one, but going back to a 53, and I’ll alter the free wheel as needed. With the compact I’m frequently running awkward chain angles. With a 53 I’ll be more in line. I live in an area of constant rolling hills.
I ride a standard on my road bike. It gets use on fast group rides and some fast descents, so having the bigger gearing is a plus.
I use a compact on my tri bike though. More solo riding and flat riding, where I don’t really need the big gears.
I could probably switch either bike to the other crank and it wouldn’t make much difference for the type of riding I do.
People overthink it way too much, if you ask me. The difference on the top end really isn’t that big. It isn’t going to hold you back unless you are an absolute monster on the bike.
As I have been tracking my fitness over the last 15 months and doing threshold and Vo2 intervals, I started finding that I was in the no man’s land for my road bike compact–big ring/large cog or small/small. I went back to a 40 front and I was back to riding in the middle of the cassette. Your gearing should reflect your strength on the bike and relative needs according to terrain. Just last week I rode one of my favorite climbs in Utah (on a family trip) which has a 20-minute stretch of 13 percent grade at 8-9,500 feet; suddenly I wanted my compact back as I was pushing 105% of FTP just to pedal 60 rpm.
I’m guessing if your FTP is north of 300 watts or you never ride steep hills, then you don’t have any use for a compact; othewise…
if you get to around a cat3 road racer, there will be times on attacks that are downhill or downwind where you run will out of gear with a 50/34
of course you can always put 52/36 rings on a compact, and then you will probably be good even if you make it to cat 1
I’ve got 50/34 on my bike and in 3/4 crits sometimes I’m at pretty high rpms on downhills, and I once ran out of gear chasing down a strong couple on a tandem.
Wife has 52/36 on her compacts, should be fine forever
Warning! Potentially stupid questions ahead …
I have not been on my road bike in at least 2 years (maybe even 3). Been riding my tri bike exclusively. I am going to pick up a new road bike and I am curious about standard vs. compact cranks. I have compact cranks on my tri bike, which I love. Perfect for my chosen races (IMC and IMWI).
Is there any reason NOT to go with compact cranks on my road bike? Do the reasons for going compact on a tri bike hold true for a road bike. Yeah, I know, possibly stupid questions.
I do plan on riding the Horribly Hilly Hundred next year, for which a compact would be very, very nice. Is there any reason NOT to go compact all the time on the road bike?
My Tri bike hasn’t come off the 52t ring in possibly 3 years and I don’t think my road bike CAN come off the 52t ring. But I live in flat Florida, so not much use for anything else. Even when I was living in the Mid-Atlantic and racing hills (CO and UT guys, stop laughing), I would never come off the big ring. Just fly around the cassette and you’ll be fine.
IMHO no reason not to ride it on a road bike unless you live in your 53(4)/11. As has been said a number of times here and other places a 50-11 is a bigger gear than a 53-12.
When I got my new tri bike this year it had a compact on it and my “road bike” is actually a cyclocross but personally I’d never go back to a standard crank. (There also are some ridiculous 19% hills 3 blocks from my house so…)
Unless your FTP is over 300, IMHO a compact is the right choice for any rider. Even if your FTP is over 300, I believe a compact 52/36 would be the right choice.
No idea how horriably hilly the HHH is, but a second (or third) option would be SRAM XX cassettes.
They are 11/32 or 11/36 10 cogers!
A 34/36 is 13% shorter than a 39/36
A 34/36 is 23% shorter than a 34/28
(if my math’s right)
Insane ideas aside, there’s no real good reason why a road bike should be anything but a compact, unless you are regularly going 40mph+ (52/11 @ 120rpm = 44mph; 50/11 @ 120rpms = 42mph)
