FSA Carbon Compact review



ghsmith54

New Member
Jan 22, 2004
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I've read Stephen's review of the FSA carbon compact but thought I'd add my own impressions.

First, some background so you can decide whether my results apply to you. I'm 50 years old, 6'2", 170 pounds. I've been active all my life and a runner/cyclist since I was 15. I average about 1000 miles per month riding. I live in the Texas hill country and I like climbing.

I own two bicycles: a Trek 5900 and a Serotta Legend ST. I have Dura Ace on both with a 53/42 chainring on the front and 12/27 cassette on the Serotta and a 12/23 on the Trek. I put on the 12/27 because I found the only time I ever went to an easier cog than the 21 was when I was climbing a *really* steep hill so I thought "what the heck, if the only time I use it is on really steep hills, change the 21/23/25 cogs to a 21/24/27."

For those of you who think Texas is flat, you're mostly right. However, in the hill country there are a few pretty good climbs with the toughest (that I know about) being 3/4 miles of 18% grade, straight up i.e., it doesn't go up, flatten, go up more, etc. It continues on for a mile or so with 4 shorter pitches ranging from 12%-15% so, as I said, it's a pretty good climb. I've done it on the Trek with the 39/23 but some days ya got good legs and some days ya don't. I put the 12/27 on for the days I don't and decided to give the FSA a try for the same reason. Also, I'm planning on doing the Central Coast Double this year which has some pretty good climbs (see http://www.centralcoastdouble.com/course/elevate.html if you don't believe me!)

OK, enough background. I installed the FSA and also changed the rear cassette to an 11/23. By the way, if you're even moderately handy you should do this yourself. The only "tough" parts are you'll need to move your front derailleur down a bit and shorten your chain since the 50 is smaller than a 53.

Riding impressions. One of the things I really liked about the 53/42 setup (which I've retained on the Trek) is I nearly never need to shift to a different cog when jumping up/down between chainrings. If I'm loping along on the big ring and come to a hill, dropping to the small ring generally puts me in the "right" gear without those few seconds of frantically spinning legs while I shift. I like that a lot. The downside of course is that there is a lot of overlap in the shifting system since the "distance" in gear inches between a given cog and the 53 or 42 isn't as large as between a 53 and 39. You definitely give that up with the FSA and the jump from a 50 to a 34 (16 tooth jump as opposed to 9). The upside is that I tend to stay on one chainring (the 50) more.

So how is it on climbs? Pretty darn good. I've done the above mentioned route (as part of a 100 mile ride) and never got down below the 21 so I still had some "gears left". Also, since I have the 11/23, the 50/11 combination gives me a higher speed than the 53/12 (see any gear chart for details). So the end result is a lower low gear and a higher high gear. I'm not real crazy about always having to shift when changing between chainrings but life's imperfect. I'm reasonably confident that with this setup there isn't much I couldn't climb.

Hope this helps.

Greg
 
Here in eastern New England, it also is not flat, there are some pretty good climbs. I have a FSA Compact coming in the mail . Thank you for your information. Though I also have ordered a 12/27 cassett, I will give my 11/23 a try with the FSA for a while.
 
Originally posted by jp111
Here in eastern New England, it also is not flat, there are some pretty good climbs. I have a FSA Compact coming in the mail . Thank you for your information. Though I also have ordered a 12/27 cassett, I will give my 11/23 a try with the FSA for a while.

I think either would be a good choice, depending on both the terrain and your conditioning. The thing I like about the 11/23 in conjunction with the FSA is it gives an overall greater range than a 53/39 with a 12/25 cassette so you're not really giving anything up in terms of either ease of climbing or top speed. Also, there are fewer large jumps between cogs on the rear cassette with the 11/23.

Really though, I don't think there's any such thing as "perfect" gearing for all terrain which is why I've got the Trek fit out with the 53/42 and 12/23 combination and the Serotta with the FSA. I choose between the two bikes based on how steep it is where I'm planning on riding and how I'm feeling that particular day.

Hope you enjoy the FSA!

Greg