Originally Posted by
Dougbloch
Modern bikes seem to be moving toward compact cranksets with smaller chain rings and larger cassettes. Why is this? I was told it had something to do with pedaling efficiency and maintaining a steady cadence.
I (finally) moved away from big 52 and 53 rings a few years ago and am quite happy with the compact set ups I have on many of my bikes. Yeah, I still have big rings on my Paramount and Freschi, but those bikes would be weird with little chainrings. My ability to spin now outweighs my (passing) ability to mash. I think there's likely a similar train of thinking with the growing popularity of compacts...that granny sure is fine when you want to keep spinning smoothly!
Maybe related, maybe not - but I was on a group ride this weekend and noticed a HUGE number of riders with REALLY tiny chainrings. Maybe I've had my head in the sand, but I was only just at this moment paying attention to how many were riding singles up front with - oh, I dunno - maybe a thirty tooth or smaller chainring? I mean, just nutty small stuff.