you people out there riding double or tripple? - Page 16

Triples are also for road bikes ridden in the mountains. Climbing at 4-5 mph is easier with a triple, and still way better than walking. I've passed plenty of guys stronger than me walking uphill just because they don't have the gears they need. Of course, if you've got the horsepower of Lance, and never drop below 10-12 mph in the mountains, the 39/23 will be all you need.

Also, I'm a firm believer that what you ride (gearing) comes back to what you start out on and for me that was a 42 which i rode fon 1.5 years before i found out you could get a smaller one. Once your body becomes pretrained to an extent you just get used to it. and i've always ridden a double cause i like to climb fast, with tempo, its just my nature and the fact that nature blessed me with a small body and good cardiopulmonary capacity where i rarely have problems with any sort of gradient.

I find i love my small chainring when i'm mountain biking, on severe inclines, but to me it just feels wrong on a road bike ( and i have given them a go) as i find my roll on and momentum are to great to spin a tiny cog on asphalt without bouncing off the bike entirely. But its just my personal preference . Anyone who rides a triple, good on you, cos at least your still riding, and thats what we're all here for.

I have triples on both my road bikes. Why? I live in West Virginia and I weigh 265 pounds. I have standard Ultegra 52-42-30 setups on both bikes, with XT rear derailleurs and custom 13-34 cassettes.

Both my mountain bikes run standard 44-34-22 chainrings and 11-34 cassettes.

The lone exception is my fixed-gear bike -- a straight 42x18 setup.

triple are for girls. If you cant get up a hill kepp your pride and walk.

Thanks, but I'll use the gears that get me up the mountain the fastest. It may not be fair, but I take pride in passing young macho guys walking their doubles up hill.

Besides, aren't doubles for "girly men" too? 102 years ago, Henri DeGrange (founder of the Tour de France) said: "Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailleur? We are getting soft......As for me, give me a fixed gear!" Seems back then, real men rode fixed-gear bikes.

Wow! With a MTB that has 22 in the front and 34 in the back, you must be able to climb up walls!

I say if the technology is available - use it!

I too have this same combo. Although I'm contemplating a tripple chainring conversion on my road bike.

I've been into road bikes for longer then mountain bikes. Every bike I've had before has been a double. But concidering I live in Vermont, some of the roads I like to ride on are pretty dam steep and long. So I've been looking into a tripple setup.

Case in point

How many of you have a hill you climb where you can't maintain 11mph? From riding with a fairly fast group of people in a relatively non-hilly area, a lot of them (90%) can't. They average slightly over 20mph on 20mile rides. And if you believe in maintaining a high cadence, and don't want to _have_ to stand up, then you need a triple or play more with chain rings.

Even a 39x27 at 90rpms is 10.2 mph on 700c (2.096m circum)

I find I maintain better efficiency above 90 rpms, and usually find myself around 100 rpms. Average cadence on a recent century was 96 rpm.

So, now if you have a climb that's 1+ miles long, where it's quite unlikely you'll want to be out of the saddle that long, and you can't maintain 10mph. You need a triple.

In the area around here where most rides have climbs under a mile, there isn't a need. But I want to be able to sit on any climb and

Now, I would like for someone to contribute some other numbers to this thread. I'll do it soon when I can get my Polar power system installed on my bike.

For a 150lb rider, what power output is necessary to maintain 10mph (assume 90 rpms, or choose what you feel your efficient cadence is) on a climb where everything has reached equilibrium? (no more heart rate change) Let's vary this as a function of grade, but start at 5%. And through 10%. And also increase speed. (try and not make temperature or other variables be present) Now another variation, at your optimal cadence and at some variable powers (let's say 300 W, 350W, and 400 W), what is your speed?

That will provide for an interesting discussion here, as we can start to put numbers against people's subjective comments. It would seem logical the majority of people here can't maintain 400 Watts over a minute or two. And if that's what's required to maintain a "normal" "unembarrassing" speed at a given cadence up a hill, then one can provide a good argument as to whether a triple is necessary since we want to find a combo sufficient for max sustained power at efficient cadence depending on the topology of the area.

Maybe the people saying only doubles here are the ones that don't ride real hills? Or do varying workouts on hills?

I ride with a tripple. I can get a bigger gearing range out of a tightly spaced cassette, which is pretty handy where I live (right between the Adirondak mountains and the dead flat St. Lawrence Valley).

I see you live in TN, so will assume that's probably east. Terrain is similar here; lots of climbs on local rides that exceed 10% for 1/2 mile or more. I've got a triple also, after many years of a double, find I can climb these mountains better and longer in a triple.

But a lot of people don't have sustained mountains like we do to climb, and can get by with a double just fine. Also, some have enough strength to grind out a low cadence at 5-10 mph in a double for many minutes at a time.

Agree 10 mph is a good "break point". If people find themselves climbing very often at 10 mph or less, I say the triple would be an advantage. It gives us a tighter set of climbing gears on the inner ring, easy to shift up/down while climbing as needed.

Power Numbers: Just calculate your vertical power in ft-lbs/sec, and multiply by 1.36 to get watts. EG, 10 mph is 14.66 ft/sec. On a 10% grade; 1.466 ft vertical/sec.

Multiply vertical speed by your total weight (bike + rider) to get power. For a 150 lb rider on a 20 lb bike, thats (1.466 x 170), or 249 ft-lbs/sec, or 339 watts. I'd throw in another 10% to account for drivetrain loss, tire friction and wind, and get 373 watts required.

As you said, Lance and the gang can do this kind of power output all day long. On last weekend's ride, I was passed by a local racer on a 1.2 mile, 10% grade. He was climbing seated, in a double 39/23, at 9-10 mph, while I was going about 5. He got to the top, zoomed down, and rode up again for a bit more training. No triple required.

Thanks for posting the formula. WHen I get that power unit installed, it'll be interesting to compare and see what kind of efficiency my bike/me has relative to the formula.

You're right about the topology here. It's not tough and one can get by without the triple here. I think the main point of backing this stuff up with numbers is that I want to able to output my max power at a high (>90rpm) cadence. I'm sure I can stand for a while and put out a lot, but I think the determining factor for people here is that they should be able to deliver their strong power at a high cadence while sitting. Better for the knees, less energy lost than standing, and arguably more efficient. More versatile!

Those arguments for weight, aerodynamic gain, shifting ease, etc. aren't really applicable to even the people that think they're fast reading this group.

Quad chainrings (thats right 4!) on my tandem.
Triples on my Road, Mt, Commuter, Winter Commuter, and guest Mt Bike.

What exactly does a quad chainring look like? I guess the simple answer would be "just like a triple, but with another chainring." Is there a smaller or bigger ring then a standard triple?

Yes, just another chainring. Actually its a 16 tooth freewheel cog on an adapter from Mt Tamer that gives me a great-granny. The chainring teeth are 16-28-44-54. Some minor tech details were required to get it to work, but it shifts fine and gives me a nice wide range of gears.

What do you have for a Front Derailleur? Is it a regular triple from Shimano, or something special?