quote:
Originally posted by wantin150:
Has anyone here ridden a compact crank and if so, how does the gearing compare to a triple? Also, does anyone know if it is possible to switch to a compact without changing derallieurs or shifters? I would swap the BB to an ISIS type but that's all the money I want to spend right now.
I have a compact crank on mine.
The front is a 36/50, the rear is a 12-27.
The bike came with a 12-23 in the back, but that was worse (for climbing) than my last bike. So I wanted to wussy gears for the hills around TN.
I'm about 10% easier now than my last bike in the 36/27.
As far as comparison, I've never had a triple, but I do like the compact becuase I can stay in the big ring most of the rides I do. Only on the big hills I have to take it to the smaller ring.
If you want to compare gearing check out this chart:
http://home.i1.net/~dwolfe/gerz/
You can imput your current gearing then compare what a compact would give you. Bear in mind that most compact gears have a 34/50 whereas mine is a 36/50 so you can see that 34 upfront would be pretty close to the low end of your triple.
Also the new 10 speed rear gears really help compared to the older 9spd's. All my gears are really close from 12/24 then it makes a big jump to 27. I call it my bail out gear. Hahaha.
As far as changing over. I thing you have to change dereailer and that is it. But I would consult a bike shop to be sure.
If you have any other questions let me know. So far (about 800 miles) I really like my compact compared to a standard double of 39/53 with a 12/25 rear.
Also note that I'm a spinner, with an average cadence of about 94 rpms. I spin compared to grinding (except on hills) for the most part and even at 27 mph I'm not out of gears. If you can run faster than 30 mph or so, you might want to look at an 11 rear gear.