Thread: 52x36 vs 50x34
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Old 08-27-19, 03:42 PM
  #6  
xroadcharlie
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Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Windsor Ontario, Canada
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Bikes: 2018 Giant Sedona

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I would make a note of the cassette gears used most with either chainring. In your case the 50T. If most of your riding is in the middle 7 of the 11 gears, Your good to go. limited use of the 9 middle is probably fine two. Only if you are frequently using the two smallest or largest cogs on the cassette would it be worth changing the chainring.

IMO with a gear inch range of 35 - 128 you pretty much have all the bases covered for a road bike. But some hills may not be easy. If anything I would consider switching to a 46/30 chainring like many others have done to provide a more usable 29 - 113 gear inches. You could stay on the 46T ring for more of your ride and get 12% lower with the 30T ring for steeper hills.

I use the 48T chainring with my 48/38/28 triple mostly with a 7 speed 14 - 34T MegaRange cassette. The problem is the jump from 24 - 34T is to big for normal use, So the most usable range is 14 - 24. The resulting 52 - 89 Gear inches is still enough for 90% of my riding on mostly flat terrain. The 46/30 double chainring would be almost perfect for me as I only use the 21 gear inch bailout gear (28 x 34) for climbing 1 steep hill with soft gravel.

Last edited by xroadcharlie; 08-27-19 at 04:02 PM.
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