Triple to compact double?

Out of interest, where do you reside?
Your hills sound fun.

I've ridden a triple on my road bike for 12 years, there are multitude of benefits, you have a bike that is ready for any situation and you never need to change equipment, so if you don't like mechanics in your spare time, like me, it's great....also agree re: close ratios.

In most day to day riding and training I only ever use the middle chainring, I quite like having these mid-range gears instead of having a selection of high gears and a selection of low gears....and never having to do front mech changes.......

Ed's recommendation of a 11-28 seems low, I have never used bigger than a 25 on the back and can't imagine anything lower being necessary with a 30t front...rode Grossglockner last year with this set up...and I'm 20k heavier than Object.

I wouldn't say that, it's about riding style too, I've always been a spinner and I seem to be more efficient on long climbs if I stay seated and pedal fast.....if this is you and you wanna ride a lot of hills with a broad range of close-ratio gears, triple wins!

So on a compact double set-up you'd have me running -

39 x 32 = 33 GI
or
39 x 28 = 38 GI

as my smallest gear.

Comapcts are usually 50/34 so the smallest gear would be
34 x 32 = 28 GI or
34 x 28 = 32 GI

Is it acceptable to run an 11-32 cassette with a double?

Yes, Contador ran a 11-32 in the Giro back in 2011.

Guildford.

Hah, of all the 3,000km to Morocco, Guildford was the only place I actually have to get off the bicycle and push it.

I've adapted winston's middle of triple approach, and run a smaller big ring on a double. 46t with 12-23 or 47t with 14-25 (winter bike) gives me close ratios, good chain line, most terrain done in one ring without using the cross-chain gears.

A 39/25 or 34/23 is enough to get up any Surrey climb, though to be honest I'd still have sprockets to spare, even for a 25%er, and could manage them in the 'big' ring if I had too.

I'm not bad at short punchy climbs.

I can definitely see where you are coming from, albeit you may be joking a bit.

What percentage gradients on routes you regularly use make it acceptable to run a triple?

Is it acceptable to run an 11-32 cassette with a double?

Could you be tempted to accept that its better to run a triple to enable continued use of a closer ratio cassette than running an 11-32?

Regularly? Perhaps 15-18%? Triples >>>

Cassettes should never have teeth counts > 28 unless you're a mountain biker in which case triples are already acceptable so carry on.

The triple kind of spoils the close ratio cassette though because you're always hunting around with the front rings. Climbing up a mountain isn't quite as steady state or on the rivet as TTing so larger gaps in say a 12-27 have never bothered me.

Yes, Contador ran a 11-32 in the Giro back in 2011.

Racing in a Grand Tour permits you to do whatever the funk you want. This does not carry over to mortals.

I punch badgers, because they're short.
.

What about a short punchy climbs that involve turning 90 degrees off of a busier road at the start so it is very very hard to start with any speed / momentum?

Sickeningly, he's really good at those too.

Racing in a Grand Tour permits you to do whatever the funk you want. This does not carry over to mortals.

Racing in a Grand Tour permits you to do whatever your sponsors pay you to do.

Racing in a Grand Tour permits you to do whatever your sponsors pay you to do.

Unless it's to the detriment of your performance, thereby rendering your sponsorship useless.

So would you reconsider the triple if you had lovely little local routes around you which - say - involved ascending 70m at nearer 25%.

My triple is 52 / 39 / 30. It's basically a double with a granny ring for when hills get silly. I'm not sure how this makes life that much more difficult or complicated than a double? Ride it like you would a double, then when you hit a 20% plus hill think about dropping to the granny?

70 metres or 70 miles? If I had 70 miles at 25% then yeah, I'd probably fit a triple. 70m though I wouldn't bother.

Thing is, most 25% climbs in this country only last a little while. They're short enough that I can climb them in whatever gear I have. I could understand if one was in the middle of a commute and you didn't want to get sweaty then triple will probably help ya.

So would you reconsider the triple if you had lovely little local routes around you which - say - involved ascending 70m at nearer 25%.

Hippy rode Zoncolan with 39-53 and a proper cassette, that's 10.1k, rising 1,210m which makes is 11.9% average gradient over the distance. It does max out at 22% though (making him a big softy).

Zoncolan is a pig, the hardest climb I've ever 'done'.

I could do it clean now, I reckon, I'm lighter and healthier.

Clean, I don't mean I was drugged I mean, no zigzags no stops.

Fuck that thing was relentless.

Put a repeat in the diary.

@Jeez - if you're talking about Mare Lane, then yes, definitely a big ring climb if attacked.

Put a repeat in the diary.

It's all about riding along shitty motorways these days. I do have a trip to Madeira to sort out. Italy could definitely happen again though, once I get sick of this time trialling bollocks.

TTs are for morons so at least you're well suited.

Put a repeat in the diary.

In. I'm a little bit fitter as well these days, I reckon I might enjoy it more this time.

If you want a triple fair enough. But unless you're doing flat TTs, 50:11 is going to be fast enough. So why not a compact? I cant think of anything I cant ride up 34:25. So with a 11-25 cassette everything is covered.

The thing for me is being able to get a little further up the cassette while in the big ring. Makes maintaining cadence over undulating terrain a touch easier. With a triple the chainline get too out of wack. Its not a massive difference. But I'd notice it more than not having 53:11, or 30:23.

That is what I was thinking of in Hascombe (know it or looked it up?)

We are talking your big ring not a 'proper' big ring aren't we?

Have been up it, but looked it up to refresh my memory. I refuse to do absolute crosschaining, but with a 12-25 cassette, I could do it in 53/23, yes. Not seated though. I'd be 46/21 with the current setup, so 3" 'easier'.

As for seated, 34/23 would be fine even at the end of a century, in mid-winter, with an injured left leg that required me to only pedal with my right, possibly even during a double dip recession.