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2012-01-01 6:37 PM
in reply to: #3965315

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Champion
7595
50002000500252525
Columbia, South Carolina
Subject: RE: compact triple or double

Fred D - 2012-01-01 7:25 PM

a compact double with appropriate cassette is just as good as a triple for serious climbing.

IME, this is entirely true.  My old tri bike had a compact double, and I found it just as capable of a climber as my triple-sporting roadie.

Yes it's the 'way of the public forum' to disregard the way a bike looks like, but the realities are much different. Many of us care bout the way we look, act and the way our house looks like. Not completely strange to care what your bike looks like as well (yes I know you say you don't care). Simply bing honest, which of course is a public forum faux pas....

I agree with all that, Fred (and I also care what my bike looks like), but honestly (and we just have different aesthetic sensibilities here) I never thought of the triple as ugly.  (I know you won't be offended if I express my honest view as well!  It's a little surprising how often plain honesty on a public forum is so often taken to be offensive.)



2012-01-01 6:41 PM
in reply to: #3965338

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2012-01-01 6:43 PM
in reply to: #3963094

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2012-01-01 8:14 PM
in reply to: #3963094

Subject: RE: compact triple or double

I have tipped the scales at 235-240 for the last few years and rode a standard with an 11-27, riding some very hilly courses (Wildflower, pumpkinman in Vegas, California 70.3) and training in So Cal.  Recently lost 20# AND switched to a compact with 11/27, and wondering why I didn't do it sooner.  I was fine riding hills standard, but compact makes life so much easier.

2012-01-01 10:39 PM
in reply to: #3963094

Master
10208
50005000100100
Northern IL
Subject: RE: compact triple or double
I've never heard anyone mocking a triple in person, whether the person with the triple was around or not. Use the equipment that will get the job done.
2012-01-02 12:54 PM
in reply to: #3963094

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2012-01-03 1:18 PM
in reply to: #3963456

Master
9705
500020002000500100100
Raleigh, NC area
Subject: RE: compact triple or double
falconsprint63 - 2011-12-31 10:15 AM

fwiw, I still tip the scales at 250 and live in the foothills of the blue ridge mountains with some significant climbs in the area. 

Compact crank with a 12/27 cassette on the back.   That'll get you up most climbs in NC.

2012-01-03 1:54 PM
in reply to: #3963094

New user
595
500252525
Connecticut Shore
Subject: RE: compact triple or double

Once, when I was a little kid,  I had a bike that had solid plastic like tires.  I rode it over to a friends house where a few of the neighborhood kids were playing.  They all saw my solid wheeled bike an made relentless fun of me.  When we were playing hide and seek, a few of the kids hammered nails into the tires.  They all laughed and thought it was funny. 

On the ride home, I skidded out on a corner, because of the nails and got a bloody knee.  I had to push the bike all the way home.  When I got there, I threw it off the cliff in the back yard.  I think its still there.

Needless to say I am a little touchy about the fact that I have the entry level bike with a weenie looking triple on it.

At least now, when I attend a group ride in my generic shorts and entry level triple road bike, and some guy on a $5k carbon says "Nice bike", at least I'll know he is  a sarcastic bastard and not just suspect he's a sarcastic bastard.

LOL

2012-01-03 2:07 PM
in reply to: #3968562

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2012-01-03 2:16 PM
in reply to: #3963094

Master
1366
10001001001002525
PNW
Subject: RE: compact triple or double

My road bike has a triple on it and since it's shiny and beautiful, I can't imagine why anyone would find it aesthetically displeasing. That said, I get the macho thing and yes, in real life, I don't know too many men who are OK with triples unless they happen to be in the act of making one of those hour-long 7 mph climbs. I find that *most* (not all) women have less concern with how their gearing looks to other people.

My tri bike has a compact double and while yes, I have the lower gears I might need to climb hills, it's not smooth shifting at all. The front derailleur jump from the 34 up to the 50 is huge and annoying. On the slightly hilly terrain I ride near my home, it's a pain as I find myself wanting to be in gears that just don't exist on the compact. I don't enjoy the constant flip back and forth of the front derailleur either. On my triple, the same roads are workable in the middle ring with significantly less shifting.

I wouldn't mind having a standard double on my road bike (or my tri bike) but that just wasn't an option in either situation for me. Frankly, I'm finding myself a bit biased against the compact double configuration. I don't like it at all.



Edited by GLC1968 2012-01-03 2:16 PM
2012-01-03 2:32 PM
in reply to: #3968596

New user
595
500252525
Connecticut Shore
Subject: RE: compact triple or double
Fred D - 2012-01-03 2:07 PM
Flapjack - 2012-01-03 2:54 PM

Once, when I was a little kid,  I had a bike that had solid plastic like tires.  I rode it over to a friends house where a few of the neighborhood kids were playing.  They all saw my solid wheeled bike an made relentless fun of me.  When we were playing hide and seek, a few of the kids hammered nails into the tires.  They all laughed and thought it was funny. 

On the ride home, I skidded out on a corner, because of the nails and got a bloody knee.  I had to push the bike all the way home.  When I got there, I threw it off the cliff in the back yard.  I think its still there.

Needless to say I am a little touchy about the fact that I have the entry level bike with a weenie looking triple on it.

At least now, when I attend a group ride in my generic shorts and entry level triple road bike, and some guy on a $5k carbon says "Nice bike", at least I'll know he is  a sarcastic bastard and not just suspect he's a sarcastic bastard.

LOL

. Those are deep wounds my friend. Deep wounds indeed lol.

 

The guy was riding a bike with independent cranks; both feet could be down at the same time.

 

I told him that I had an allen key in my tool bag and that it might take the slop out of his crank set.

 



2012-01-03 2:37 PM
in reply to: #3968620

Subject: RE: compact triple or double
GLC1968 - 2012-01-03 12:16 PM

My road bike has a triple on it and since it's shiny and beautiful, I can't imagine why anyone would find it aesthetically displeasing. That said, I get the macho thing and yes, in real life, I don't know too many men who are OK with triples unless they happen to be in the act of making one of those hour-long 7 mph climbs. I find that *most* (not all) women have less concern with how their gearing looks to other people.

My tri bike has a compact double and while yes, I have the lower gears I might need to climb hills, it's not smooth shifting at all. The front derailleur jump from the 34 up to the 50 is huge and annoying. On the slightly hilly terrain I ride near my home, it's a pain as I find myself wanting to be in gears that just don't exist on the compact. I don't enjoy the constant flip back and forth of the front derailleur either. On my triple, the same roads are workable in the middle ring with significantly less shifting.

I wouldn't mind having a standard double on my road bike (or my tri bike) but that just wasn't an option in either situation for me. Frankly, I'm finding myself a bit biased against the compact double configuration. I don't like it at all.

I switched to a compact double this season and was having the same issue with the jump from 50 to 34 and back.  Seemed like it was really finicky, but had a different mechanic adjust it, and he explained some of the idiosyncracies of SRAM, and at least over one ride seems to have smoothed out.  But someone on ST mentioned switching to a 48/36 compact with 11-27 (for climbing) on the back.  A bit more like a standard crank in the ratios and overlap I guess.  I am going to give the 50/34 one season to see how it shakes out then re-evaluate.  

I continue to ride a standard w/ 12-25 on my road bike, even in the hills.  Figure it's good training and will make the compact seem easier when racing.

Edit my post above, I'v always ridden 12-27 on the tri bike, not 11-27



Edited by ChrisM 2012-01-03 2:39 PM
2012-01-03 5:42 PM
in reply to: #3968686

Master
10208
50005000100100
Northern IL
Subject: RE: compact triple or double
Flapjack - 2012-01-03 2:32 PM
Fred D - 2012-01-03 2:07 PM
Flapjack - 2012-01-03 2:54 PM

Once, when I was a little kid,  I had a bike that had solid plastic like tires.  I rode it over to a friends house where a few of the neighborhood kids were playing.  They all saw my solid wheeled bike an made relentless fun of me.  When we were playing hide and seek, a few of the kids hammered nails into the tires.  They all laughed and thought it was funny. 

On the ride home, I skidded out on a corner, because of the nails and got a bloody knee.  I had to push the bike all the way home.  When I got there, I threw it off the cliff in the back yard.  I think its still there.

Needless to say I am a little touchy about the fact that I have the entry level bike with a weenie looking triple on it.

At least now, when I attend a group ride in my generic shorts and entry level triple road bike, and some guy on a $5k carbon says "Nice bike", at least I'll know he is  a sarcastic bastard and not just suspect he's a sarcastic bastard.

LOL

. Those are deep wounds my friend. Deep wounds indeed lol.

 

The guy was riding a bike with independent cranks; both feet could be down at the same time.

 

I told him that I had an allen key in my tool bag and that it might take the slop out of his crank set.

 

Just like a set of ....    Powercranks? Haha

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