Chain rings are in hand. I’m about to switch to 52/36 with 11-28 10 spd on my Road bike. Training for a double century. Do a lot of canyon and mountain climbing in training. Switching because a good portion of this race is flat and rollers and keeping on the gas in a pace line is perceived to be better with the 52/36 config. That said, one thing I am concerned about is the climbing in training and in the race itself. How big of a difference is my 34-11 to 36-11? I spin the climbs at a pretty high cadence for the main reason that I’ve dealt with some knee issues over the years.
The qualitative answers can be not so useful since people’s perception of the difference will vary so much, depending on how many watts/kg they have and what RPM range they are comfy with.
I would never have a problem with 36x28 except in absurd courses like savageman with 20% grades, but others might.
I just did this one week ago. One exception: i went from 50/34 round rings to 52/36 Q-rings in OCP #4 position.
My advice: don’t try it for the first time in a race! Your quads will take a beating the first few rides. I’m still getting used to it, but I’m committed to trying them out for at least one month before I make up my mind.
You may want to keep your cadence in check, and remember to drop to the smaller chainring on steep hills sooner. I was taken aback at how soon I ran out of gears with a 52T front versus the 50T front.
I don’t need a 53, but I do like the more usable (to me) 39 vs a 34. I can actually ride rollimg climbs in the small ring. Also like the 14t jump vs the 16t jump. Generally run 12-27 cassette.
I’d rock a 50/38 or similar with an 11-28 if I was starting fresh.
Just did the same swap w/ 11-28 in back. I’m able to stay in the big ring longer, spin out only on steep descents, happy I made the switch. I did have to remove 2 chain links.
I run 52/36 and it’s perfect for me. I switched a long time ago because I didn’t need the lowest gears and once in a while I felt it would help to not get pedaled out on the downhills (due to one riding mate in particular but that’s another story). However, keep in mind you’re talking upper 30s or low 40s here. You won’t notice the 52 on a flat at all, only on the super fast descents.
I’ve settled on using a 50/34 for my last 3 tri’s of the season. I was going to need a new chainring anyway and I poured over data from my A race and I… or rather my run, will benefit more from the compact than the standard. One of the biggest advantages is staying in the big ring up rolling hills. The small ring becomes dedicated to climbing or very strong headwinds on false flats. I’d prefer a 52/36, but I’d have to either get a Dura-ace or change to 11 speed it seems.
I made the switch from 50/34 to 52/36 earlier this year and swapped my rear cassette out from an 11/28 to an 11/25. Huge difference. So much so that I did the same thing on my TT bike. I went with the Praxis cold forged rings on both and haven’t looked back.
I don’t spin out as much and my climbing has actually improved. It’s not a huge difference but it’s easier to react to attacks when road racing with the new gearing too.
I made the switch from 50/34 to 52/36 earlier this year and swapped my rear cassette out from an 11/28 to an 11/25. Huge difference. So much so that I did the same thing on my TT bike. I went with the Praxis cold forged rings on both and haven’t looked back.
I don’t spin out as much and my climbing has actually improved. It’s not a huge difference but it’s easier to react to attacks when road racing with the new gearing too.
Sorry that does not make a whole lot of sense. Your climbing is better? You mean you just have less gears to us because you still had that gearing, you just are not using the 28. Same with responding to attacks, you just would be in a different cog, you still had that gearing. I am not denying you perfer that gearing but that is a different scenerio.
As far as spinning out, great you can hold that extra 1mph on the flats at 36-37mph. Impressive. But on down hills you jus spin out about 10 seconds less going through that speed
I made the switch from 50/34 to 52/36 earlier this year and swapped my rear cassette out from an 11/28 to an 11/25. Huge difference. So much so that I did the same thing on my TT bike. I went with the Praxis cold forged rings on both and haven’t looked back.
I don’t spin out as much and my climbing has actually improved. It’s not a huge difference but it’s easier to react to attacks when road racing with the new gearing too.
Sorry that does not make a whole lot of sense. Your climbing is better? You mean you just have less gears to us because you still had that gearing, you just are not using the 28. Same with responding to attacks, you just would be in a different cog, you still had that gearing. I am not denying you perfer that gearing but that is a different scenerio.
As far as spinning out, great you can hold that extra 1mph on the flats at 36-37mph. Impressive. But on down hills you jus spin out about 10 seconds less going through that speed
Actually I can see plenty reasons why the extra 1-2 mph would be beneficial. If you are trying to “flatten” a course power profile, it would be very beneficial to keeping some power going on the descents. Sure there are going to be times when you spin out on big descents, but that isn’t always the case… I agree that a 11-25 on a larger gearing would remove some of the uphill benefits though.
I personally went 52/36 with 11-28 on my new bike and will probably pick up a set of 54/42 rings and 11-25 cassette for flat courses and TTs. I’m a bigger guy so the compact crank made some sense but I didn’t want to sacrifice the ability to push downhill as well.
I switched to 52/36 and then switched back to 50/34. I guess I really liked the 34/28 b/c I like to spin more than mash. I miss the 52/11 a little bit though.
Thought about running 52/36 and 11-32 or something in back but didn’t want to go through new derailleur, cassette and chain
I just switched from 50/34 to 52/36 and had my first race with it, Rev3 Wisconsin Dells, and was pretty good with that combined with an 11/25 cassette. My A race is IM Wisconsin so I am going to go up and ride the course soon to make sure the 36/25 is enough on tired legs.
Here in San Francisco, I spin a 39/53, 11-23 combo often and on some occasions, I manage to overspin that gearing so I could not imagin what it would be like with a 50/34 and a 12. I would say that if you have the legs for it, the standard chain rings and a 11/23 would be faster than a compact and a big cassette combo.
Was that meant for me? I had standard on before. I couldn’t imagine climbing some hills at IM Wisconsin with a 39/23. And you must be going pretty damn fast since spinning out of a 53/11 at 100 rpm is 39 mph! Don’t need that gearing. I’d rather take my 52/11 and also have a 36/25 so I’m never out of gears on a climb. But to each there own!
Your quads will take a beating the first few rides. I’m still getting used to it, but I’m committed to trying them out for at least one month before I make up my mind.