Originally Posted by knobster
Question: My Eddy Merckx has a compact double (50/36) with a 13/26 cassette. I haven't ridden it on any long rides yet or over any large hills. Most of the centuries that I've got planned are mountain centuries this year. Does this gearing make sense? I've also got a triple (53/42/28) that I could put on, but because of the bottom bracket the granny can only be used on the large cog on the cassette. I loved the 520 gearing (48/36/22) (12/34), I could climb anything on it.
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.