What cranks & cassette to go for?

[cambsno]

In the process of choosing my first road bike - it will be more for exercise rather than racing and live in Cambridgeshire which is probably the flattest part of the country!!! Ok, we do have hills but not too many!

can go for a 50x34 & 11x28/32/34 or a 52x36 & 11x28

In the real world is there a best option in that or are they all much of a muchness?

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

If you are after your first bike then 50x34 with 11x28 should be good enough for what is presumably a flat area.
The bigger chainrings will give more speed once you can push them properly, but most of your rides will be adequately covered by 50x34.

Always remember if this is your first bike and you like the game then you will be on a different bike in 12 months!!!

 

[ColinJ]

If you really will not be riding up many significant hills and will not be going above about 20 mph then a singlespeed bike would be ideal for you!

If you really want gears then you certainly don't need low ones so the 52/36 or 50/34 with 11-28 would be fine for you.

 

[AndyRM]

Personally I'd go with the 52x36 considering you're generally going to be riding on the flat.

There isn't really a 'best option', it's all about preference, though a 50x34 will give you a slightly easier time up bigger hills.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon

I tend to prefer higher gears and it is possible that the modern trend for low gears and high cadence has gone too far.

For most people 60-85 rpm is a reasonable range, going lower than this may hurt your knees and higher needs a lot of training to adapt to.

If you look at triathlon you may see that the trend for lower cadence is in fashion especially among triathletes that also have jobs and limited training time.

I live around Worcester, Shelsley Walsh (car hillclimb) and ankerdine hill, short and steep and the Malvern hills.

I would seriously consider a 52/42 chainset as personally I find 34 gives very low gears but most of the time I can't change onto it and ride roads that go up and down without needing to go up and down the whole cassette or keep changing chainrings.

42-28 is a very low gear for a bike without luggage and the hills that you describe.

The green cells are the gears that I spend most of my time in on 52/42 11-25

Bye

Ian

 

[Cycleops]

Sounds like you could go for any of the combinations you mentioned, perhaps you could even consider a single speed Fixie 👍

And BTW

 

[HLaB]

I've been cycling a bit so would definitely go for the 52/36 & 11-28 (actually that's what I run on my bike at present). But thinking back considering Cambridgeshire I'd have liked it as a beginner too
If you plan to go outside Cambridgeshire maybe consider the 50/34 with an 11-28 cassette to handle more undulating terrain. I'd still go for the 52/36 &11-28 elsewhere personally, but I like to think I am a strong climbing cyclist

 

[DCLane]

It's personal preference. Like @AndyRM has put I started on 50/34 with 11/25 because that's what the bike came with. I now ride 52/36 or 53/39 apart from my cross bike with an 11/28 cassette.

Try with 50/34 and, depending upon the crankset type, you can move to 52/36 with just new chainrings and a longer chain.

 

[Notafettler]

Rohloff.
Raven Tourer that's the best for you.
I think I saw one for sale on this site. Worth a look. And I don't live to far from you!

 

[Notafettler]

Sounds like you could go for any of the combinations you mentioned, perhaps you could even consider a single speed Fixie 👍

And BTW

Or rohloff!

 

[Notafettler]

Personally I'd go with the 52x36 considering you're generally going to be riding on the flat.

There isn't really a 'best option', it's all about preference, though a 50x34 will give you a slightly easier time up bigger hills.

Rohloff is perfect for flats and hills. I saw one on here for miserly £1200. Giving it away!

 

[freiston]

Like has been said before, it's a personal choice. I have a 26/36/48 triple with 9 speed 11-34 cassette on my touring bike which is my default road bike too. I tend to spin at about 90 rpm and take it easy up hills. I was brought up in the Lincolnshire Fens and as a youngster had 42/52 with a 5 speed 14-34 block (I did cycle beyond the Fens). In the Fens, I never left the 52T chainring. Stating the obvious but if you go for a wider range cassette, the steps between gears will be bigger.

Here's a handy tool that helps visualise and compare the different gearing options - I've set it up with 11 speed 11-28 cassette and the two chainset options that you gave. You can play around with the sliders and see the differences.
https://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR...RZ2=11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25,28&UF2=2135

 

[albal]

I don't see any reason to go for anything above 50 large chainring. 52-11. How often is that used at beginner level. My winter and commuting bike runs 48-34. 10-29 cassette. This is ample. Welcome btw.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Back in the day when I was fit and could compete at Nat Champ level the biggest gear any of us had was 52.12. That was all that was available.
How often did we use it? Not much, and we were fit lads in those days.
A newbie on his first bike doesn't need anything like that.

 

[ColinJ]

Back in the day when I was fit and could compete at Nat Champ level the biggest gear any of us had was 52.12. That was all that was available.
How often did we use it? Not much, and we were fit lads in those days.
A newbie on his first bike doesn't need anything like that.

And a newbie on his first bike somewhere without significant hills doesn't need a small ring at all, nor nearly all of the sprockets! I'd go for a 52/19 or a 52/17 singlespeed if I lived there...