triple gear combo

I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional mountain
ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.

I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?

One side issue - these will be 105 components, with Dura-Ace triple brifters. Any problems there?

 

Michael wrote:
> I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
>
> I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?

With a 30T chainring, a 23T cog gives nearly the same gear as a 39front/30rear, i.e. a 23T large cog
would give you "about one more gear lower".

A 30front/25rear would be equivalent to a "32.5" tooth rear on your current setup, i.e. about two
more gears lower.

Now you need to decide how low you want to go. How close to adequate is the 12-27 you have now?
Almost? Go with 23T big cog. Not nearly low enough? Go with a bigger cog.

If you like close-spaced stuff with a bailout for the occasional steep bit, you can also (probably)
get a 28 or 26T front ring.

BTW, I use 52/42/30 with 12-23, swapping to 13-26 for mountains, thinking about a 26T ring with
13-26 for a really big mtn ride this summer.

Regards,
--
Mark Janeba remove antispam phrase in address to reply

 

"Michael" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
>
> I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?
>
> One side issue - these will be 105 components, with Dura-Ace triple brifters. Any problems there?

Personally, I think 52-42-30 is too much gear. A few recommendations:

Get a TA Alize crankset from Peter White Cycles. Any chainrings you want. I run 50-40-28 with a
13-23 in the back. Nice tight cluster with a good range.

Get a 110 BCD crankset such as the TA Zephyr (also from Peter, but rather pricey), or a Sugino
XD from Rivendell. A 110 BCD allows a smaller middle ring, allowing you to go with something
like 46-36-26.

The logic behind using smaller rings in the front is twofold:

1) you are limited by the size of the largest cog you can use on the rear with a 'road' derailer, to
perhaps 30
2) with a wide range up front, and a more useable middle ring, you can enjoy small jumps in the back
by using a tight cluster.

Just my thought process.

Kyle

 

> Now you need to decide how low you want to go.

I just assumed a triple on the road would go about as low as my MTB triple, meaning REALLY low - I
can tow 60 lbs of kid and trailer (on top of my own 230 lbs of bike and rider) up a steep grass hill
in the granny gear. I'll have to see what the ratios are on that bike.

I don't need to go that low for the road, but I do want some really easy gears for mountainous
centuries.

 

On 18 Jun 2003 06:43:07 -0700, [email protected] (Michael) wrote:

>I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?

12/25 is typical but it's really not that different than the12/27 your are using. There is a 13/25
in Ultegra and a 13/26 in a 105 cassette that would get you the 16t cog.

 

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 15:18:12 GMT, "KBH" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Get a 110 BCD crankset such as the TA Zephyr (also from Peter, but rather pricey), or a Sugino XD
>from Rivendell. A 110 BCD allows a smaller middle ring, allowing you to go with something like
>46-36-26.

If he uses a 110 bolt pattern double, 48/34 and the existing 12/27 he has the range of a 52/13 to
30/24 and doesn't need the triple.

 

"Michael" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
>
> I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?
>
> One side issue - these will be 105 components, with Dura-Ace triple brifters. Any problems there?

Typical cassette? Hardly. That's one nice thing about bicycles. You can have it as you wish and
riders do indulge their idiosyncracies here.

You might consider: Start over with an Ergo system. You get a nicely integrated system that was
designed for use with double or triple and everything mixes and matches very well. Cassettes up to
28 and a standard inner chainring format ( same as your 105 actually) down to 26t.

Or an Ergo Nine system with a Shimano compatible (Phil, Shimano, etc) hub and a SRAM or SunRace or
Shimano Nine cassette. Low gear can be 32 or 34 if you are so inclined.

There's also a strong argument for ditching the big ring. In that scenario you use a Sugino or
Ritchey crank with standard ring format and run something like 28-38-48.

Spend some quality time with a gear chart before you go much further in this.

--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971

 

I highly recommend going 13-25 for the cassette; much better than the 12-23 I previously ran.

"Michael" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
>
> I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?
>
> One side issue - these will be 105 components, with Dura-Ace triple brifters. Any problems there?

 

I just got back from Tuscany where we did as much as 4500 ft. of climbing over a 50 mi. distance. I
ride a 53/39/30 Durace triple with a 12-27 cassette. This was perfect, allowing me to spin along
some really long climbs during the latter part of the week (we rode 6 consecutive days) as well as
providing a sufficiently high gear to hammer the flats and descents with. "Michael"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
>
> I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match with it?
>
> One side issue - these will be 105 components, with Dura-Ace triple brifters. Any problems there?

 

"A Muzi" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> "Michael" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

> > I'm getting my first road triple and have to spec the gear sizes. I currently ride 53/39 with
> > 9-speed 12-27 cassette on my double. I decided to spec the triple to handle the occasional
> > mountain ride and for winter riding, where the bike and my legs just don't seem to work as well.
> >
> > I'll be getting a 105 crankset, presumably the 52/42/30. What a typical cassette to match
> > with it?

> Start over with an Ergo system. You get a nicely integrated system that was designed for use with
> double or triple and everything mixes and matches very well. Cassettes up to 28 and a standard
> inner chainring format ( same as your 105 actually) down to 26t.

I like Ergo too, but that's an awful lot of money to spend for a mere gearing change. That's sort of
like trading in your brand new Volvo for an SUV, just because you need snow tires.

> There's also a strong argument for ditching the big ring. In that scenario you use a Sugino or
> Ritchey crank with standard ring format and run something like 28-38-48.

Here's my suggestion. Since one of the most expensive parts is the STI front brifter, why not try to
stick with a double? How about a 34-46 crank, and an XT cassette, either 11-32, or 12-34? All this,
including a new rear derailer, should cost no more than $150-200, or less if you shop aggressively.
It might not be as peloton-fashionable, but it'll work. The lowest gears are similar to the triple
arrangement you're considering. The triple offers tighter gaps, but how tight do you really need?

> Spend some quality time with a gear chart before you go much further in this.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Sure, why not. However, modern drivetrains have so many gears that gaps shouldn't be a problem, even
with really wide-range setups. 12-15% between gears is just fine. I think the "double-wide" is a
good option these days. It's certainly the easiest and cheapest conversion.

Matt O.

 

"lenny zwik" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I just got back from Tuscany where we did as much as 4500 ft. of climbing over a 50 mi. distance.
> I ride a 53/39/30 Durace triple with a 12-27 cassette. This was perfect, allowing me to spin along
> some really long climbs during the latter part of the week (we rode 6 consecutive days) as well as
> providing a sufficiently high gear to hammer the flats and descents with.

Cool. I did some gear calculations and came up with basically the same thing. With a 12-27 cassette
I'll have identical gearing in the larger 2 rings between my double and triple bikes (a nice
feature), plus I'll get 2 extra low gears on the little ring on the triple - 34 and 30 gear inches.

The 30 inch gear splits the difference between the low on my double (39 inches) and the granny on my
MTB (21 inches) so should be enough for the mountains. If not, I could always swap the inner 30 ring
for a 26, giving me a crazy low 26 inch gear.

Thanks all for the help.