Originally Posted by dagray

I currently have the 105 50/34 cranks on my road bike, but have changed everything else out to be 11 speed Ultegra. Would there be any advantage in changing the crankset to a 52/36? I rarely use the bottom three gears on the cassette (11-28), and usually ride on the big chainring except when climbing or fighting wind.

Thank you for any input.

Originally Posted by dagray

I used to ride the 53 x smallest gear on my 26 inch Centurion Le Mans 12 speed, but that was 1986-June of 1988 (when I graduated high school and joined the USN), but I was 30 years younger, and a string bean at 175 pounds.... fast forward 30 years and a 20 year sedentary lifestyle and now I am 200 pounds heavier (369 pounds down from 406) and trying to be active.

Now I try to ride for distance and fitness. I was excited when I hit the 25 mile mark for a ride, and then doubly excited when I hit the 50 mile mark for a ride. However, some changes have happened that have caused me to have to redirect my riding time to other tasks and I wasn't on the bike for over six months this year, and barely hit 200 miles riding last year after having a 1200 mile year the year before that.

This is why I put road tread tires on my mountain bike as it has platform pedals I can sneak in a 15-30 minute ride of an evening. I also need to start using my smart trainer again so I can get rides in when I have to stay at home with my nine year old and can't ride outside (this will change as I am planning on buying him a 29er mountain bike so he can ride with me instead of riding his little BMX bike that is now too small for him).