Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

forum
road.cc bike forum

Alpine gearing Help!

by Royal1664
Sun, Nov 30, 2014 20:15
10

Hi Team,

Purists Dont hate me (#RULE 42) but I am racing in the SWISSMAN XTREME Triathlon next year and the bike leg climbs the Furka pass, Gotthard and the Grimsel. I am fairly strong on the hills, and have cycled around the Alps near Nice before, but only on a Tri bike. My question is with 50/34 up front will my 11-28 cassette be enough for the 4500m of climbing in one ride? Easy climbing cassettes normally mean lack of speed on the flats!

I will be riding my Felt AR5 with Cosmic Carbones

RULE 5 isn't the answer!

Thanks again

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

10 comments

Avatar
allanj | 10 years ago
0 likes

I managed a couple of cols in the summer on hired bikes, with 34X28 the lowest gear, and I'm no hero so you should be OK. Having a 32 to fall back on would be nice though.

Avatar
surly_by_name | 10 years ago
0 likes

My rough rule of thumb (running a compact) - more than 2,500m of climbing in a day, 25t, more than 3,500m of climbing in a day, 27t.

Your current set up will be perfect. 34x28 will be fine for the uphills and a 50x11 is not far short of a 53x12 (from memory), so I don't think you will have much to worry about on the flats either.

The "racing compact" (52/36) is a good idea but no one (I thnk) sells them OEM so only really an option when it comes time to replace entire drivetrain.

Avatar
surly_by_name | 10 years ago
0 likes

My rough rule of thumb (running a compact) - more than 2,500m of climbing in a day, 25t, more than 3,500m of climbing in a day, 27t.

Your current set up will be perfect. 34x28 will be fine for the uphills and a 50x11 is not far short of a 53x12 (from memory), so I don't think you will have much to worry about on the flats either.

The "racing compact" (52/36) is a good idea but no one (I thnk) sells them OEM so only really an option when it comes time to replace entire drivetrain.

Avatar
dave atkinson | 10 years ago
0 likes

I know it's not really a solution here as you don't want to replace your whole drivetrain but i've been running 52/36 and 11-32 (11-speed) on a couple of test bikes of late, and it's almost the best of both worlds:

- big gears for pounding along the flat
- low gears for climbing (36/32 is about the same as 34/30)
- gear spread on 11spd is good, no clunky gaps
- gap between big and small ring isn't quite as big (44% instead of 47%) as compact

Avatar
dave atkinson | 10 years ago
0 likes

11 speed ultegra, or 10?

either way a SRAM cassette will be fine, spacing is the same. 11spd 11-32 is a great choice because it's just an 11-28 10spd with an extra 32T in terms of the ratios. it's not even a compromise, really.

if you want to go to 30/32T you'll need a mid-cage derailleur. standard cage mechs don't cope well with more than a 28T

Avatar
Royal1664 | 10 years ago
0 likes

I'm currently running ultegra so I take it the sram cassette wouldn't work on my setup and I would need to invest all round?!

Stupid question- Can't I just put my 11t cassette ring onto the ultegra 12-30 instead the 12t supplied?

Avatar
backflipbedlem | 10 years ago
0 likes

Check out the SRAM Wifli, has a 11-32 at the back, was a 10 speed, but just added an 11 speed too.

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 10 years ago
0 likes

You could get a 11-32 cass with a shimano gs long cage derailleur. I have the 50-34 front and 11-32 cass. Even when I am pretty dead in the legs I can spin up pretty much anything.

Avatar
Poptart242 | 10 years ago
0 likes

I know absolutely nothing about tri, but I'd be tempted to go to a 30 cog rear so that you can spin as much as possible... Would that save some energy for the last leg?

(I have no idea what leg the bike is).

Avatar
russwparkin | 10 years ago
0 likes

should be fine, but one of the greatest climbers around my way even dropped to 50/34 11/30 for alps

Latest Comments