LA_Rider

On climbs you and your 53/39 were familiar with; Did your compact increased your climbing speed, or does it just help you climb longer at your former speed?

domestique

It definitely gave me the ability to climb longer, and I guess faster. It is hard to tell by just riding because you are spinning faster but going around the same speed. The benefit is the ability to stay seated and just spin to the top. I find I don't have to get out of the saddle much anymore.... unless I want to drop the hammer!

roadfix

not necessarily faster, just more efficient....

msparks

Neither,

The benefit of the compact for me is that I can stay in the big chain ring on most of the climbs around here, the other benefit on the climbs that do have to shift down do is that I have a few percentage easier gears when it gets really steep. I think I calculated 10% easier for my easiest gear from the 53/39 compared to the 50/36.

SlowSpinner

Made me faster up hills. Hills that were a pain are now just bumps in the road.

SteveE

Neither for me, as well. I went from a triple (52/42/30 x 12/23) to a compact (50/34 x 11/23) crank. For me it was more a matter of losing my lowest gear and gaining a higher top-end gear, having a lighter crankset, and making the move to 10-speed. I am able to spin it up high enough to stay on someone's wheel at 48-mph on a downhill but it's easier doing that with a somewhat lower cadence.

urbanknight

I'll be doing a familiar route tomorrow ot Thurs (hopefully) so I'll let you know then. I only ex[ect it to save my knees though. Instead of pushing 50 rpm up the hill, my calculations say I should get 70 instead.

fogrider

faster on long climbs, in going with a compact, I got lower gearing...so after a long climb, I felt fresher. another benifit is I can stay in the large chainring longer.

cyclezen

really, neither. I still use roughly the same gearing depending on the situation. The compact does do a few things that a std double can't. On a 7 spd (my old iron) there's never enough range for every riding situation in this area - for that I now have triples installed on all except the garage-queens/poseur ride bikes.
But triples add one other issue I hadn't experienced much until using them, and that is 'Q'. Being slightly knockkneed, the wider 'Q' of triples did adversely affect me considerably at 1st - I've since adapted, but ideally a double still feels better to me, especially on long climbs or hard riding on flat or rolling terrain.
On my 8 spd setups, the compact is almost ideal for covering most conceivable riding except under a heavy touring load.
Whats really nice is retaining a close gear spread in the most used gear range of 94 to 68 with most requiring only a shift at the rear. Dropping to the inside ring on my compacts happen only when the climbing becomes long, steady or above 10%.
I'm now riding a 50/34 and 12/21 (12-17 straight) on race/training riding and competition and am having no problems finding the right gear; and have had no 'over spinning' issues. And on my training/general riding wheels I keep 13-23 cassettes, again with a single tooth jump from 13 to 17.
It is easy enough to swap cassettes to get the needed gear spread, but the compact makes even that mostly unneccesary.
But as with most things, one man's nectar is another man's bath water...

miyata610

What is "Q"?

ovoleg

Compact is not for me...It is very evil

platypus

It never gets easier, you just get faster.

ggg300

climb longer at about the same speed but RPM are up....I am only really faster b/c I don't bonk as soon...

it takes about a year of higer rpm work to really see something in terms of speed...IMHO

there is a plus also....as you sit more and spin your form will get better....better form....go longer before you bonk...


so in a nutshell.....what The Fixer siad....

ggg300

how wide the crank is....too wide or too narrow = lose power

Dubbayoo

My speed may have gone up 0.5-1.0mph or so. I'm very heavy so the thing for me is I can now climb up hills I used to have to walk up. I now do hill repeats up a climb that I could barely go fast enough to stay upright on before. My HR is still at 98% while I do it but I manage to grin because I can.

GuitarWizard

A compact crank isn't going to make you faster, as others have pointed out....that's up to the engine. I went from a 53/39 12x25 setup to a 50/34 12-25 setup, and while there's not a HUGE difference between a 39x25 and 34x25, it does help a little on the really steep stuff, or when you're worn out and want to just relax on a climb and make your way up. I have a 12-27 cassette floating around that, if I ever get another job, I'll get another set of wheels, I'll use it for long and hilly rides.

The big benefit I've noticed has been the 50T chainring. I love that thing.

merlinextraligh

Actually lower gearing from a compact could make you faster, if you're not able to pedal at your optimum cadence for climbing. You can figure out your most efficient cadence for climbing either by timed hill repeats using different gears and cadence, or better yet by different gears and cadences measuring power output with a power meter. Once you've figured out your most efficient cadence (i.e. the one you put out the highest sustained wattage) then you can figure out what gearing you need to maintain that cadence for the topography you're riding. If the gearing with a 53/39 isn't low enough to allow your optimum cadence you may be faster with lower gearing from a compact.

GuitarWizard

Well, theoretically yeah......mashing up a hill versus sorta spinning up it will conserve energy, so you may post a higher average speed for the ride, as you're most likely not spending as much time riding on the flats after the climb at 11.5 mph panting your ass off for 5 minutes.

I removed my cadence feature from my computer, a Ciclosport CM434.....decided to go back to wireless after I changed to my FSA crank, and you have to use the wired adapter for cadence, so I'm not sure what 'exact' rpms I'm climbing at right now. Typically in the past, I would climb anywhere between 70-90 rpms while seated....now I will tend to slow the cadence a small bit from time to time to "relax" more and not blow up aerobically.

banerjek

I've found that alternating standing and spinning is the fastest way up long climbs. The compact is nice because it lets you spin in places you may have otherwise had to stand in. Also, it can leave your legs in better shape if you've been out all day.

bbattle

Double vs. Compact with 11-21 cassette

bbattle

Double vs. Compact with 12-25 cassette

jrennie

As others have said, I felt fresher at the top of a climb, so I could go faster for the rest of the ride. Also it is a comfort issue, I like to spin 85-95 going up a hill. If I try to pull a Kaiser and chug a big gear at 60-70 it feels like i'm going to fall over.

ovoleg

I heard compacts give you cancer...

I dont know, someone smart told me that---I stay away.

kevinmcdade

I love my compact crankset! Like others have stated, I feel fresher when I finish climbing which results in me putting more energy into the flats. I rode the same route two days in a row. Day one I rode a 53/39 double; day two I rode a compact crank 50/36. I felt fresher on day two and rode significantly faster. Compact cranks are not for everyone. It's a love/hate relationship.

Dubbayoo

If you live in a hilly area compact is a no brainer. If I moved back to Atlanta I'd probably go standard....on the other hand there's always the Six Gap Century, Brasstown Bald and Assault on Mt Mitchell................yeah, compact for me.