Crank for Road Bike

I switched to a compact this year on my road bike and I'm very happy with it. I used to ride a 53/39 with 12-25. I could manage the hills fine, but found myself very worn out if there were a lot of climbs. The compact has me going about the same speed, but I can spin up them and feel fresher at the top. I now ride a 50/34 front and 11-23 in the back. The spacing is nice and tight but I have plenty of gear to go up virtually and hill.

I've heard very few reasons not to have a compact. I can still use my TT wheel (with a 12-25) in a pinch. The only reason I can think of is if you need exact compatibility between the TT and road bike. A good side effect is that you can have a more tightly-spaced cassette if you want.

Are there good places to ride in Bangkok?

Edited by MonkeyClaw 2013-02-08 8:56 PM

Riding can be a challenge - trucks, dogs and motorbikes. I am looking to do the Tour of Friendship in May, hence the need for a road bike.

http://bicyclethailand.com/tour-of-friendship-r1-2013-bicyclethaila...

I went mid-compact with 52/36 best of both worlds.  Not burning myself out on tailwind sections anymore against the standard crank people and not killing myself getting over a hill against the compact crankers.

I forgot to mention the chain-rings for a mid-compact are 110bcd which means they are compact cranks with slightly larger chain-rings.

The drawback of a 12-28 cassette is the wider spacing... it can make it difficult to find the "right" gear, one gear is slightly too tall, but the next one down is slightly to low... That's one of the benefits of a compact, it allows you to use a much narrower spaced cassette without giving up the low end or top end.

Personally, I would use a 50/36 combined with a 12-25 or 11-23 (depending on terrain...). 50/11 is a taller gear than a 53/12 btw, so you're not giving up any top end.

Plus, changing the cassette is much less expensive than swapping out the crank

Edited by audiojan 2013-02-10 11:47 AM