A bike company rep (who, like Pentagon sources, spoke on condition of anonymity) told me today “We have bikes in stock with 54 and 55 tooth Dura-Ace 10 speed chainrings now” I put my money where his mouth is and bought a few.
Now, this morning, I met with our Shimano rep, Bill Rehor, and he told us he was instructed by Shimano to “Not bother with trying to sell components anymore” since they don;t have a lot of them anyway. He said the ETA on 55 and 54 tooth DA rings is “Maybe June”.
i guess chainline. I must admit there are times when i would prefer a larger ring up front (i normally run a 53x12, accassionally a 52x11 if it’s a hilly race and i don’t want to shift into the 39) But that’s only for attacks in very fast road races a 53x12 is good for spinning until atleast the mid 40’s.
I don’t know why triathletes want to use massive gears up front. The range of speeds in a pro road race are much more top heavy for longer periods of time, and most are using 53x12’s or53x11’s
Or is it just a macho thing to brag that you’ve got a 55 on your bike. I’m a spinner and live in a hilly area so a 50/34 compact with 12/25 for 700c or 11/23 with 650c is much more sensible. I sure couldn’t spin a 55/11 700c unless riding down a mountain, and even then it makes more sense to tuck aero and coast.
I can see it for 650c bikes(I have a 54 tooth on mine) but lately I have noticed more and more guys and gals on the group rides with 54’s or bigger on their road bikes? I fail to see where you are using the 54/55- 11 with 700c wheels. I guess its like the old Spinal Tap line " well these go to 11"
I saw a quote from some womens pro racer a couple years ago after finishing 2nd in a sprint. She claimed that she had flatted earlier and the neutral support wheel only had a 12 tooth cog. She needed the 11. Mario Cippolini puts out over 1000 watts in a sprint and has won hundreds of races in the …52 or 53x12. Your telling me that domestic womens races require an 11 tooth cog and amateur racers are running 54 and 55 tooth chainrings? Hasn’t Lance taught us anything about high cadence versus big gear mashing?
They’d still mostly have to be mashers and live in flat areas. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the difference between 700c and 650c approx equivalent to one gear on the rear cassette. That would still be about the same as a 55/12 700c.
I’m not talking about pro road racers or Bjorn Andersson. The 55 seems like over kill for most AG’ers.
I am not saying that one technique is better than another. Obviously Jan and Lance arrive at similar results with very different styles.70,80,90,100 or more, rpms all work for different people. I just question what cadence most amateur triathletes can turn in the 54/55-11. Is there anyone who is more efficient at 30 rpms? I also question having the 55 tooth chainring on your bike when you ride around all day in the 55x23 combo
CG, is spot on. Those dinner plates may look cool, but very few athletes need one. I had this discussion with Gordo when I heard that the Swedes were running 56 or I think a 58 up front. That was until one of them was visiting and I followed him up a hill in my 39x21 and he was still in his big ring. Scary amount of power. But those guys aren’t your normal biker.
I looked at a gear calc and can’t see how most mortals could justify the 55 other than aesthetics. (which is a viable answer in my book)
Using a 650c wheel with an 53x11, even the lowest cadence gear masher at 75rpm is travelling 26.3 mph. Most racers are around 95rpm on the flats which puts them travelling at 33.4mph. I’d be stoked to look at my cyclometer on the flats and read 33+. Yea-haw! All those Flinstones vitamins are working! How fast do your customers go? Plus, when increasing the outer ring, the inner ring also has to increase in size, and thus the cogset has to get larger to keep the same hill climbing gear. IMHO, keep the 53x39 on the 650c bike, and save “extra” cog for something mid-range. Otherwise most riders just ride around shifted up or two gears.
Well, you can believe that this is an issue that doesn’t really confront me, as I am far, far, from needing a 55 chainring.
That said, it’s kind of misleading to say that a 53/11 on the flats at 75 rpm is 26 mph, etc etc. I no more want to be riding my biggest gear on the flats than I want to be riding my smallest gears there. There are downhills as well as uphills.
At IMNZ I had a strong tailwind pushing me out to the turnaround point twice (two laps).
At 29 mph and a cadence of about 70 rpm my heart rate was a good bit lower than it would have been at 95 rpm and 29 mph.
There is a correlation between heart rate and cadence for me. The higher the cadence, the higher the heart rate.
So, going with a strong tailwind, as in New Zealand and many other races, having a minor “supercruise” capability is a valid idea. It enables the rider to reduce cadence and heart rate and gently turn the pedals at lower RPMs. It isn;t about muscling the gears.
In the 53/11 at IMNZ I had a very, very light touch on the pedals riding the tailwind out to the turnaround at high speed. I was just floating on the pedals, in a huge gear, maintaining momentum and saving energy. Once I made the 180 turn and headed back into the wind I pulled back on the shift lever, put it on the 16 (or larger) and used my leg strength to try to manage 17,18 or 19 mph all the way back to Taupo- of course going all the way up to the 42/23 on those “little” hills with the nasty wind coming down them.
Totally valid, I was illustrating the extreme. Optimal on the flats is two, three cogs up? Say a 13? At a slow 85rpms that’s still 25.2mph. At 95rpms shifted up to the 14 is 26mph. Sounds like a perfect gear to me.
Downhills do exist. I’ve punched over 50mph in Tahoe plenty of times. (and only one ER visit for broken ribs, stitches, and a bunch of road rash, but that’s another story. No, no children yet) By the time I’ve spun out my 53x11, I’m probably better off to tuck and enjoy the ride.
I can see your excitement about these rings. Currently I am in the process of trying to get off my 650c horse as I am 5’10" and am having some shifting limitations with that shortened length (e.g. 8 speed Ultegra @ 55/42 X 11-23; 55/42 X 12-25). So, as I look into building out a 53cm, 700c, Guru Crono and the current cycling market is more likened to a host of endangered species than a populated world of vibrant, authentic safari of innovative ideas.
Here’s the current melee of component groups I have spotted in the wild or have heard might be seen on race day. The FSA Carbon Pro Team Issue has 10 speed compatibility but reports from the ST forum and from FSA themselves that the pros and amateurs have reported less than crisp shifting with this setup. . .the FSA TT ring(s) would likely be included in the snafu and likely worse. Next, the standard rings for the DA FC-7800 which have been rumored to shift like buttah’ however I heard that these rings flex like taco shells that have been in the cupboard of a sweaty Mexican cantina. So, other options I have read on this forum and others are what I would consider after these two.
Furthermore, I can confirm that a DA 54 or 55 ring for the FC-7800 is more likely to be seen on Marlin Perkins’ Beachcomber than in the transition area this summer. More rumor is that Shimano is actually conceiving a different crank altogether for TT - now THAT’S kooky!
I agree people push much to large a gear be it vanity machoness stupidity whatever there is a guy in this area that has a 60-42 rings and 11 straight block, and has been injured for the last 2 yrs wonder why. If you will look a a gear inch chart you will see that given the same cassett say 12-23 on a 650 56-42 roughly equals 53-39 on a 700c.
In a TT or a Triathlon you spend probably 90% of the time in one gear. Even on the hilliest of courses, the vast majority of the time is spent in your ‘flat land’ gear. The reason to run a 54, 55, 58 whatever, is not so much so you can run a 55/11 combo, but so there is less chain deflection in the gear you are going to spend a majority of the time in. For me, a 55/42 combo, with a 11-23 cassette, gives me more or less a straight shot on my chain when using the 55/14-16. Those are the gears I spend almost my entire race in.
Road racing is a completely different matter. For one, cadence tends to be higher for most people so you can respond to surges easier. Also, it’s unlikely you will spend much time grinding at LT (unless you make it a habit of doing long, solo breakaways), so your gearing should be geared more towards managing pack surges, and hills, than addressing your individual, solo cadence.
And of course the real answer to the original post is, no, of course a vast majority of AG triathletes don’t need a 54 or larger chainring. Some do though, and if I owned a bike store, I’d want to have the option of supplying them, which I think is what Tom was getting at.
