Compact chainset - cross bike - any old roadie experiences?
Discussion
Just ordered a new cyclo-x bike for winter use (mainly rural backroads and forest trails etc... comes with a 46/36 compact chainset; I'm more used to roadie 53/39 or 52/42 combos so am wondering whether I'll hate it PDQ, so should get it swapped out before collecting?
Cube cross race by the way; seems really good value
Cube cross race by the way; seems really good value
I've got a CX bike that is used for racing & also (if the roads are dry) I use it as a winter trainer. Last couple of weekends it has been used on our local Saturday chaingang. Even at this time of year this ride is very quick & I found the CX bike great for it. I swapped out the wheels & put in my Kysrium SL's & I had no bother with it. Mine has the 46/36 chainset & with a 12t rear sprocket this gives roughly the same ratio as a 53/14...that's big enough gearing I'd say? it never felt under geared & infact was quite lively.
If you're going to do any CX type of riding I'd leave well alone, if your riding about on forest trails I would say a 53t chainring would be pretty useless. From a speed perspective the gearing the bike comes with will propel you quicker than you'll ever need when off road.
My other 2 road bikes both have standard chainsets but it's no detriment to the CX bike not to, providing you're gonna use it for what it's designed for the majority of the time.
If you're going to do any CX type of riding I'd leave well alone, if your riding about on forest trails I would say a 53t chainring would be pretty useless. From a speed perspective the gearing the bike comes with will propel you quicker than you'll ever need when off road.
My other 2 road bikes both have standard chainsets but it's no detriment to the CX bike not to, providing you're gonna use it for what it's designed for the majority of the time.
Edited by andySC on Tuesday 6th December 08:41
Pupp said:
Just ordered a new cyclo-x bike for winter use (mainly rural backroads and forest trails etc... comes with a 46/36 compact chainset; I'm more used to roadie 53/39 or 52/42 combos so am wondering whether I'll hate it PDQ, so should get it swapped out before collecting?
Cube cross race by the way; seems really good value
dont get it swopped without riding it for a few weeks. because a cx bike is slightly heavier, runs wider tyres and is designed to be used on uneven surfaces, the 46/36 chainset is pretty useful for keeping cadence up at a sensible level, i find you need to maintain a constant power through the wheel on rough stuff so coasting is less desirable than pedalling a smaller gear. Cube cross race by the way; seems really good value
i think most people will really struggle with a 53/39 on a cx bike and given many people ride over-geared as it is so there is no point making life harder for yourself.
i would investigate what cassette it comes with before making any rash changes which will affect the bike. pretty sure it will be 12-25 cassette which means that you wont be spinning out that 46/12 too easily all things considered.
can you even swop the chain set easily?, just by changing to 53/39 you may need a longer chain, you may even need a longer cage rear mech to cope too.
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