Compact gears?

[Mike5537]

Can someone please explain to me the gearing on road bikes. Basically I'm looking at ordering a Ribble and I'm clear on must aspects but the gearing confuses me. So...

1. Whats the difference between compact and normal?
2. How many gears should I go for for normal riding/commuting.
3. Whats the difference between shimano, sram & camp (and which is best?)
Any other advise or stuff I should know please impart it this way!

Thanks :confused:

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[mancaus]

Just bought a Ribble myself, so although I'm a bit of a cycling "beginner", I'll attempt to answer:

• There are three basic "chainset" options - double, compact and triple. Doubles and compacts have two chain-rings, or gears on the crank (front). A triple has three. A triple's smallest chainring (e.g. for hills) is smaller than a double's, giving you a lower set of gears to use up hills. A compact's small chainring is closer to a triple's small chainring in size, but that means there's a big jump in gearing from one chainring to the other, which means more gear changes to find the right gear ratio. On the back you get "cassette's", or sets of gears, that differ by number of gears (generally 8,9 or 10) and range of gears. If you get a wide range (e.g. 11-28), then there's a wide range of gears to use, but a big difference between each gear. It's a trade-off between the gaps between the gears and the min/max gearing.
• IMO if you're not a strong rider and there are steep hills where you ride, go for a triple. Occasional hills, but steep, go for a compact. No hills, go for a double. On the cassette try something like an 11-23. You can go with a broader range on the cassette, or a narrower, depending on if you want a "granny gear", or only small increments as you go through the gears - it's personal preference. If you want both, consider a 10 speed groupset.
• I think the brands are all quite similar in terms of options and performance. They each have "levels" though. E.g. Shimano has Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, ... The cost difference between each level can be massive, for very little gain in performance.

 

[HLaB]

Can someone please explain to me the gearing on road bikes. Basically I'm looking at ordering a Ribble and I'm clear on must aspects but the gearing confuses me. So...

1. Whats the difference between compact and normal?
2. How many gears should I go for for normal riding/commuting.
3. Whats the difference between shimano, sram & camp (and which is best?)
Any other advise or stuff I should know please impart it this way!

Thanks :confused:

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

1. A compact double covers almost as wide a range as a normal tripple but the gaps between gears are greater; both are more conducive to climbing. A normal Double has larger chainrings and is therefore faster in top gear (downhill) but is harder for climbing.
2. I'd go for as many gears as possible to reduce the gaps between gearing so you experience a more subtle transfer, however IMO its the range rather than number which is more important a lower cog number for downhill speed and a higher cog number for climbing, like an 11-26.
3. There just different systems and what is better is subjective, I like Shimano (Tiagra & above) for sprinting and Campy for climbing but I've never had SRAM and others may feel entirely different.

 

[Mike5537]

Thanks guys, that is much clearer! ill go for a compact as I imagine most people would laugh at what I call hills round here!

Next question is wheels, would it serve me better to have cheaper gears and pay for better wheels our vice versa?

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[HLaB]

Thanks guys, that is much clearer! ill go for a compact as I imagine most people would laugh at what I call hills round here!

Next question is wheels, would it serve me better to have cheaper gears and pay for better wheels our vice versa?

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Performance wise, bang for buck you'll see more with better wheels.

 

[Garz]

Catch 22 as people have limitted budgets. If you can afford to push the boat out do as HLaB suggests and get good wheels as they will last.

 

[Dave7]

Ribble do (or did when I got mine) Fulcrum 5s at a good price.......they were highly recommended to me. I got 105 compact for gears-having had tripples before.. and I am happy with them.