Originally Posted by
pdlamb
It would probably be easier and cheaper to change to a mountain compact crank, perhaps in the neighborhood of 44/26, than to go whole hog and go to a triple. Even with a triple, it'll take some effort to avoid those 52-42-30 monstrosities that still won't give you a decent low gear. (FWIW, I aim for a 20 gear inch low; you're about 50% higher than that right now.).
Spent a bit of time learning the logic beyond all these chainrings vs cassette rations and options. Your advice for 44/26 now makes more sense than any other option I considered a couple of days ago.
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I'm on a heavy-ish hybrid bike carrying extra load, aerodynamics isn't great, plus I'm not a competitive racer. I guess I will reach my top speed well before I hit 100rpms with the 50t-11t combo, so 44T looks like a good compromise for me.
I will open anther thread asking for help with the custom gears setting, this is definitely out of the original subject.
Thanks a lot