Originally Posted by stapfam
Depends on you and the mountains but Can you change the rear cassette to something lower? I know of a regular century rider on hilly routes that use a double compact crankset, and he has changed his rear cassette to a 12/34. This did require a long cage rear derailler so adding to the expense but a couple of centuries a month is his norm.
My Giant has a triple and on our hills I would not contemplate any thing else but When I do road rides on the MTB I have a crankset of 44/32/22 and I can assure you that I do use the lowest gear of 22/32 at some point. So why is it that on the same hills on the road bike- I can sail up hills in 30/26? I think it is a mental thing- It starts hurting so change down- but when you run out of gears- you have to put up with the pain.
Well, just taking a guess, but maybe your MTB is 10-15 lbs heavier? Mine is.... Not as stiff either as the suspension robs your power.
Yeah, I have a short cage derailleur so the largest I can go (according to Campy) is 13/26 which is what I have. I took a ride today on the compact that has a nasty hill and it kicked my butt. So much so that 49 miles into the ride (65 mile ride), I had to call SAG support. That's the wife.
Pretty bad as that's the first time I've ever had to do that....
I switched to the triple tonight, but need a front derailleur. Hope this is what I need...