You are reading a single comment by @Courant and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Courant
Some miscellaneous thoughts...
I have the following cranksets: 53/39, 50/39, 50/34. My cassettes are 12-23 and 12-25. 34-25 gets me up anything, and I'm planning on taking this combo to the alps this summer. 50-12 is definitely not undergeared, despite the comments here!!!! 50-11 is a big gear, if you're strong enough to "need" that, then you wouldn't be asking questions about gearing!
You need a triple if: a) you're weak and like to plod along (this isn't meant critically, more a statment of fact!); b) you carry luggage up hills; c) you'd doing long rides (where 100miles is only the start of long).
People who really suffer on longer rides generally fall into category 2a) but don't know it - know your strengths, and there's no shame in running a triple.
Most people should be using a compact, 50/34 with 12-25 is going to do it all. If you start with that and decide you don't like it, it's easy to buy a 36 chainring or 12-23 cassette (if tighter gearing is what you'd like) or a bigger cassette e.g. 13-29 (if you can't get up hills). If you do want to run a triple, 12-23 is probably what you'd want.
Alloy centaur is good stuff! I use it. The 09 shifters are excellent and a definite upgrade on the previous shape. However, cassettes and cranksets have taken a slight step back in quality - I recently picked up 06 Chorus alloy cranks and a cassette on ebay. If you want older kit, any of the old 9 or 10-speed campag stuff centaur/daytona and above is great kit.
FWIW I'm going to build a light touring/audax bike later this year - I'm highly likely to fit a triple, because I can see myself wanting to lug more around (e.g. tents) for longer and up bigger hills than anticipated, plus I have other bikes if I want to have a blast. I guess it all boils down to intended usage: luggage and/or long==triple, no-luggage and short==compact, strong==53/39.
The only other thing to bear in mind is that serious tourists sometimes use mountain bike derailleurs for robustness and gearing range. Check out Thorn cycles website, their promo material has some interesting discussion about suitable equipment choices for audaxy and touring bikes.
Finally, Dave Yates, master framebuilder and audax enthusiast, has this to say about gearing (from his website):
"[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Work out what you think will be a low enough bottom gear and add one or two teeth to the sprocket ! When you are well into a long event the hills start getting steeper and gears you would not normally contemplate become very inviting. I consider a triple chainset a must although some still ride a double. A well thought out triple set up can actually weigh less than a double with big sprockets. The weight of the inside ring is negligible, the sprockets can be much smaller saving quite a big chunk of steel My own preference is for a 48-40-28 chainset with a 12-21 or 23 block I know its a bit high but you get the general idea."[/FONT]
Hope the helps!