[moff_quigley]

I'm getting close to building up a new bike, but I'm having problems deciding what gearing I should use. My current ride is 42/52 with a 13-26 7spd cluster. New kit will be Rival.

How does one go about deciding what gearing to use? I'll be building the bike myself so I'm not limited by OEM spec.

My inclination is to go ahead and get a 34/50 with a 11-23 cassette. Maybe even bump up the 34 to a 36(which would be comparable to 39/53 with a 12-25). We have rolling hills where I live and no real monster climbs. I'd like to have the tight spacing on the 11-23 cassette but not sure I could run that with a 39/53.

Any tips or suggestions?

 

[MtnbikeMike]

I ran a 50/34t compact with an 11-23t cassette for base training and thought it was fine as far as gaps were concerned. We have some monster climbs around here which a 25t would have come handy, but for your needs it sounds perfect. Plus having the 11t will be nice; a 50-11 is bigger than a 53-12.

 

[JRogers]

I've been running a 50-36/11-23 with pretty good results. Terrain around here is mostly rolling hills, with a few stiff climbs. I like the shifting performance and feel that there are enough low gears for the terrain around here. Only time I really needed more gears was doing the Burke Mountain toll road, which is a ridiculous climb.

One thing I dislike is that (and this could be my imagination) some of the gear jumps feel bigger than with my last combo, which I believe was a 53-42/11-25. I also feel like I don't spend as much time in the big ring as I used to because of the smaller cassette, but the small ring is a bit small sometimes (the end result is just a bit more shifting in some situations). That could be my imagination and the result of lighter body weight and higher cadence over the past year for me. The lighter weight and better shifting performance of the compact setup is good and I can live with the other things; I'd make the upgrade again.

 

[James]

Sometimes the SRAM cassettes have bigger/different jumps than the Shimano ones, so watch out for that. It's always an adjustment when I get on a bike with a SRAM cassette for me, nothing major, just a tooth here or there...