New crank, new cassette or HTFU?

Why not wait until you can try it out on the road and/or the actual hills before deciding? What's the rush?

Don't forget to drop the front drlr down about 5mm when you switch to compact...

Oh, it's fine on the flat / commute - just don't think I'm going to be strong enough to take it into the hills.
But you're probably right - I should go solo into the hills and see how much I struggle before I decide

Best way to get stronger on hills is to ride them. Why not just see how it works out before you decide to change anything?

Most shops will swap out parts even money when you get a new bike. I'd go to the shop and ask to switch to a compact crank since that is what you are used to. I ride only compact cranks and have paid zero to swap them out to $50 depending on the crank that comes on the bike.

If you do it now it may cost you nothing. Wait and see how it is, it will cost a bunch more.

I'm a firm believer that most folks don't have right gearing for their bike and ride to aggressive gearing. Triathlon is like time trialing goal to keep even effort ie power throughout the bike portion of a race. With hills many folks hammer up them to then coast down and waste a lot of power. Having proper gearing to ride a hilly course with even power is ideal especially doing longer triathlons.

Egos get in the way of proper gearing. Really it is a power to weight ratio thing, how strong a cyclist you are relative to the hills you will be climbing.

You'll be fine.

I mentioned this at the time I bought the bike, and it was something the LBS was reluctant to do as he said he wouldn't get a resale out of the standard.  Probably all to do with the prices & demand here in Australia.  That being said, if I did it myself, I could buy the crankset from the UK at half the cost of the LBS....

Think I'll see how I go first before I make any rash decisions.

I think choice 3 is the most cost effective.

the 11-25 is plenty.  You will get stronger over time.  keep the 28 for biiiig hills.

I know what Chopper Reed would say!

Can't tell if you are male or female from your profile pic...do you have any idea what your functional wattage is? If you are a small woman with an FTP less than 180W or so, I see no reason not to do both 1 and 2. It's what I do. I get all the gearing I need for my terrain. In fact, I frequently wished i had a granny gear for the hills. I agree with Kathy and I actually find it absurd that people can tell you you'll be fine on your standard 11-25 gearing without knowing anything about you. (Maybe they know something I don't). Now if you are a male who's FTP is 220W or higher then just HTFU.

if you want, you can go to sheldon brown's website and input the smallest gear ratio you'll get from your current standard (39-25) with the gearing from the compact and your current cassette (34-25) and both gearings from the other cassete (39-28) (34-28). In fact, I think that you can input both the front and rear gears and get a nifty printout of the gear ratios and where the gearing will overlap. You can then do the same for the big and and find out how much top end you'll be losing, and if it's even a top end you can expect to maintain given your current and likely projected fitness level.

Compare all that to how much better you (think) you'll be able to train in the hills given the smaller gearing.

BTW, Those wattages are just based on riders I know, what gearing they use and feel comfortable with in hilly terrain as well as experience with myself and other athletes. YMMV. There are plenty of small fast women who's sustainable power is only about 150W, and they definately benefit from compact cranks and a bigger rear cassette for hilly terrain. On the other hand, again if you are a male, particularly if you are new to training and likely to gain bike fitness quickly, then it may be just time to HTFU.

Don't let someone else's ego get in your way.

Edited by AdventureBear 2010-01-04 6:18 PM

Hmmm, last time I looked I was a 81 kg (178 lb) male but I have no idea as to my power output. (Have lost 15 kg (33 lb) in 12 months though).

Been cycling 12 months now, but didn't do much over the winter down here (summer now).  I am getting stronger the last few weeks purely by riding more and commuting more - a new bike helps here!!!

Given that I am probably not going to go into the hills that often, I guess I should just ride more and get that strength back that way and only hit the hills in a group when I feel more confident in my legs.  My train of thought was that if I changed either the cassette or went to a compact I could put more hills in my training sooner. 

But then again, the HIM I'm doing in May is a flat course anyways.....

Thanks for all the comments guys, appreciate them!
Nigel

Option 3.

I run 53/39 and 12-23. It gets tricky at about 9% grades, but only when I feel like slacking.

In that case, HTFU.

Looks like it's HTFU then, at least in the short term.....!

Looks like it's HTFU then, at least in the short term.....!

Looks like it's HTFU then, at least in the short term.....!

You know - your other option is to have a second set of wheels - either a standard set like the one that came on your bike or an upgrade to a racing set, and then place your second cassette on the new wheel.  If you are going to be racing flats but riding and training on hills, you can put the less agressive gearing on the wheel you use for training so you can ride with your group etc and the more aggressive cassette on your race wheels that will be ridden in mostly flats and the softer gears are not needed.
One thing I wasn't clear on was - did you sell the other bike or do you still have it  - meaning could you use the ols wheels from your last bike and take them over to your new one?  That would be a net cost of zero and give you some options. 

I did keep my old bike, but it doesn't have the sort of wheels I could use on the Felt.  Cheap and cheerful doesn't come close  
Good suggestion though about getting extra wheels with a different cassette, not sure I could get that past the wife though :P

I am going through exactly the same situation and have asked a few people their advice on, erm, a differant forum, is that allowed? Anyway the upshot of it, and I even investigated a triple on the front but this is too much other component changes and too expensive, was - a 50/34 on the front and a 11/28 on the back will give you a bigger gear to push down the hills and plenty more 'easier' gears for the ups than our current set up. Looking on ebay I should be able to get all the stuff for less than £100.

Don't care what anyone says - a 39 to 25 on some of the hills on the UK 70.3 is very, very hard going. So, I take the HTFU advice as well but there's no point pushing that a hard gear if you don't have to, especially when there's another 40miles to go and a run!

I've ended up deciding on the 50/34 compact on the front and 11/28 on the back. This is the cheapest and most versatile option IMO

HTFU by all means but do that with 'better' gearing and you'll also SPEED TFU!