Joined
·
11,692 Posts
I have lots of chainrings and just about every cassette for Campy 10 speed possible, so I thought I would experiment, especially since we have big, steep climbs (and descents) around here, and a very wide gear range is useful.
The SRM/FSA crankset came with 2 sets of rings, 50/34 and 53/38. So, on a whim, I threw on the 53 and the 34, and combined this with my custom 11-29 cogs, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29. This is with a newer Record short cage rear derailleur and a Record front derailleur designed for compact crankset, shifted with Record Ergopower.
You get the following gear inches, but I would avoid the * ones:
53 34
11 128.2 82.2*
12 117.5 75.4*
13 108.4 69.6
15 94.0 60.3
17 82.9 53.2
19 74.2 47.6
21 67.1 43.1
23 61.3 39.3
26 54.2* 34.8
29 48.6* 31.2
That gives the following meaningful gear inches, rounded:
31, 35, 39, 43, 48, 53, 60, 61, 67, 70, 74, 83, 94, 108, 118, 128.
It works amazing well. The front shifts as well as any set up I've ever had. The only limitation is that in the 34x11 combo, which you would not want to do anyway, the chain rubs the big ring and can catch on the shifting pins. The low gear is also lower than a 30x25 triple low gear.
The rear works perfectly fine, too, with the one serious limitation that you cannot shift to the big/big, 53x29 combo. It is not foolproof, because if you do that, you could do some serious derailleur damage. But, as long as you avoid that, the whole thing works as well as any system I've used.
Many might question giving up the 14 and 16. Doing so creates about a 10 rpm jump between gears, which to me is about right for everything except a flatter, short time trial. Sure, in a time trial I'd like to have 5 rpms or less between gears, and I do have that on my TT bike, but that's not what this is for. This is for going up and down mountains, typically the kind of ride where you are climbing or descending for 5 miles or more at a time.
Anyway, for those looking for an option for a very large range, but not a triple, this may work for you. It shouldn't work, but I can say from experience that it does. Rode 75 miles with 8,000 feet climbing, with 18% grades, on it yesterday.
The SRM/FSA crankset came with 2 sets of rings, 50/34 and 53/38. So, on a whim, I threw on the 53 and the 34, and combined this with my custom 11-29 cogs, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29. This is with a newer Record short cage rear derailleur and a Record front derailleur designed for compact crankset, shifted with Record Ergopower.
You get the following gear inches, but I would avoid the * ones:
53 34
11 128.2 82.2*
12 117.5 75.4*
13 108.4 69.6
15 94.0 60.3
17 82.9 53.2
19 74.2 47.6
21 67.1 43.1
23 61.3 39.3
26 54.2* 34.8
29 48.6* 31.2
That gives the following meaningful gear inches, rounded:
31, 35, 39, 43, 48, 53, 60, 61, 67, 70, 74, 83, 94, 108, 118, 128.
It works amazing well. The front shifts as well as any set up I've ever had. The only limitation is that in the 34x11 combo, which you would not want to do anyway, the chain rubs the big ring and can catch on the shifting pins. The low gear is also lower than a 30x25 triple low gear.
The rear works perfectly fine, too, with the one serious limitation that you cannot shift to the big/big, 53x29 combo. It is not foolproof, because if you do that, you could do some serious derailleur damage. But, as long as you avoid that, the whole thing works as well as any system I've used.
Many might question giving up the 14 and 16. Doing so creates about a 10 rpm jump between gears, which to me is about right for everything except a flatter, short time trial. Sure, in a time trial I'd like to have 5 rpms or less between gears, and I do have that on my TT bike, but that's not what this is for. This is for going up and down mountains, typically the kind of ride where you are climbing or descending for 5 miles or more at a time.
Anyway, for those looking for an option for a very large range, but not a triple, this may work for you. It shouldn't work, but I can say from experience that it does. Rode 75 miles with 8,000 feet climbing, with 18% grades, on it yesterday.
