Ultegra crank/cassette advice - Ridley Orion

Kildafornia

Hi guys, my first post here even though I have been reading avidly over the last few weeks. Howarye!

I have just put a deposit on a 2010 ridley orion with ultegra. I need a little advice in choosing a crankset and cassette. It comes stock with a 34/50T compact crank and 12/25T cassette but I want to make sure this is the right combo for me.

A little about my riding habits/needs: I will use the bike 2-3 rides a week, mostly short training sessions with a half-decent (40-60km) ride on the weekend. I have every intention of making a century run in the near future. I have completed a sprint tri (slane), am doing kilkenny sprint this weekend, and plan on doing more, maybe even an olympic next year if i'm up for it. I also want the flexibility of doing wicklow gap, or some nice tough hills if I want. I'm coming from a triple crank so I'm afraid the double compact will be quite restrictive, lacking top end speed, but mostly at the bottom end I'm afraid of giving up the granny gear and the other 2 above it!

Your thoughts are most welcome! Especially any ridley owners out there (voodoo scott is it?) thanks guys

levitronix

A lot of people here have compacts, nothing wrong with a compact and no way will you be short top end speed !!

niceonetom

Definitely go for the compact. I'd get a couple of cassettes though, maybe a 12-27 for general training and Wicklow stuff and an 11-23 for Tri stuff.

Kildafornia

levitronix wrote: »

A lot of people here have compacts, nothing wrong with a compact and no way will you be short top end speed !!

sorry Levitronix I should have expanded; i'm thinking of changing the cassette to an 11-28T and wondering what kind of difference that would make. Is there an ideal combo for my needs or is the stock setup pretty spot on? thanks again

levitronix

Toms the expert on compacts ! bloody fast as well !

niceonetom

An 11-28 gives you a huge range but at the cost of snappiness of shifting and, more importantly, big jumps in ratio between the cogs. It would be ok(ish) in Wicklow, but for Tris it wouldn't be great - too much range, not enough precision.

levitronix

On any crank an 11-28 is gappy i gave one away because of this hated it, but some here like that kinda range on one cassette

Kildafornia

niceonetom wrote: »

Definitely go for the compact. I'd get a couple of cassettes though, maybe a 12-27 for general training and Wicklow stuff and an 11-23 for Tri stuff.

You beat me to it tom, nice one! Compact it is
So my understanding is the 12-27 is geared a little shorter (easier to pedal) and has more range of gears, where the 11-23 is geared taller and the difference between each gear is more subtle (giving a smoother change). How does that sound?!

niceonetom

Kildafornia wrote: »

You beat me to it tom, nice one! Compact it is
So my understanding is the 12-27 is geared a little shorter (easier to pedal) and has more range of gears, where the 11-23 is geared taller and the difference between each gear is more subtle (giving a smoother change). How does that sound?!

Precisely.

12-27 for training.

11-23 for fast and flat/races.

The 12-25 is a a halfway house that splits the difference. You might miss both the 27 for climbing and the 11 for ultimate top speed, hence my suggestion.

Changing cassettes isn't hard, but it does require special tools: a cassette lockring tool and a chainwhip. They're not expensive though.

tunney

Kildafornia wrote: »

sorry Levitronix I should have expanded; i'm thinking of changing the cassette to an 11-28T and wondering what kind of difference that would make. Is there an ideal combo for my needs or is the stock setup pretty spot on? thanks again

An 11-28T will be utterly utterly terrible to time trial on. The spacing of the teeth will be significant and its difficult to hit a rhytmn on that cassette.

A 30-28 is completely overkill, imho, for any hills Ireland has to throw at you.

As is a 30-27

DirkVoodoo

tunney wrote: »

An 11-28T will be utterly utterly terrible to time trial on. The spacing of the teeth will be significant and its difficult to hit a rhytmn on that cassette.

A 30-28 is completely overkill, imho, for any hills Ireland has to throw at you.

As is a 30-27

That's just you running the triple, don't inflict your "issue" on this poor triathlete.

blorg

He's talking about 34-27 which is entirely appropriate for Wicklow for most people IMO.

niceonetom

tunney wrote: »

An 11-28T will be utterly utterly terrible to time trial on. The spacing of the teeth will be significant and its difficult to hit a rhytmn on that cassette.

This is very true though.

blorg

niceonetom wrote: »

This is very true though.

Yes, the only cassette I have ever felt to be gappy and I generally ride 12-27.

A compact with 11-23 for racing and 12-27 otherwise would be my suggestion. The 11-28 is good for the Alps where you appreciate the extra tooth but is annoying even there.

If you ONLY wanted to race then a standard with 11-23 or even 11-21 if the courses were flat but if you want to do anything else get a compact.

If you want one cassette with the compact to do it all, personally I like the 12-27. I raced on it all last year with a compact and didn't feel like it did me any harm (note: not TTs.)

austinbyrne21

Sorry in advance for the slight hi-jacking. I've currently got a 12-25 and wouldn't mind looking into getting a 12-27, I wouldn't be the best climber to say the least;).

My question is this... Is it worth while getting a branded one, say a Shimano? Or would a cheaper, say BBB, one do the trick? And just from having a quick gander on websites, it seems 10speeds are the more common. Is this the case, yea?

Kildafornia

Hi Austin, I'm a total newbie but from research the cassette (and rear dérailleur) are the 2 parts you want to invest in.

Thanks for all the advice lads. I think I'll go for 12-27 to start with and add the 11-25 down the line when I feel more competitive

tunney

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

That's just you running the triple, don't inflict your "issue" on this poor triathlete.

Apologies - I of course meant a 34

blorg wrote: »

He's talking about 34-27 which is entirely appropriate for Wicklow for most people IMO.

Suppose if you are talking about people who go for just the odd spin then I completely agree. But if you are talking about racing, particularly anyone doing TTs or tris, or anyone halfway serious then no its not an appropriate gearing.

blorg wrote: »

Yes, the only cassette I have ever felt to be gappy and I generally ride 12-27.

A compact with 11-23 for racing and 12-27 otherwise would be my suggestion. The 11-28 is good for the Alps where you appreciate the extra tooth but is annoying even there.

If you ONLY wanted to race then a standard with 11-23 or even 11-21 if the courses were flat but if you want to do anything else get a compact.

If you want one cassette with the compact to do it all, personally I like the 12-27. I raced on it all last year with a compact and didn't feel like it did me any harm (note: not TTs.)

You can race on a 12-27 compact? Does that not feel horrible to ride? What courses have sustained serious gradient climbs that would require a 27-34 for *racing* in Ireland? I'd love to find these climbs.

niceonetom

I race on a compact too. Never been dropped.

tunney

niceonetom wrote: »

I race on a compact too. Never been dropped.

What cassette?

niceonetom

tunney wrote: »

What cassette?

11-25

tunney

Chainset|Cassette|Min gear inches|Max gear inches
53.39|12.25|41.0|116.1
53.39|11.25|44.6|116.1
53.39|11.23|44.6|126.6
50.34|11.23|38.8|119.5
50.34|11.25|35.7|119.5
50.34|12.27|33.1|109.5

(Can't get the table to work).

I can see the benefits of an 11-13 or 11-25 compact but 12-25 or 12-27 no - don't get it for racing. And I'm assuming that the compact riders are S4? Maybe S3?

niceonetom

tunney wrote: »

I can see the benefits of an 11-13 or 11-25 compact but 12-25 or 12-27 no - don't get it for racing. And I'm assuming that the compact riders are S4? Maybe S3?

I'm not saying it's ideal for racing - I'm just trying to squash the myth racing on a compact puts a rider at any significant disadvantage. Very few races in Ireland require the use of the small ring at all, and with an 11t cog 50 is enough up front for top speed. Yes, I'm only a lowly A4 in my first year of racing, but I've beaten a lot of higher ranked riders in club races so the compact can't be putting me at too much of a disadvantage.

If a newish rider (like the OP) is only going to have one chainset set then a compact is the way to go. Swapping cassettes will give him all the range he'll ever need. He's coming from a triple and is worried about losing too much at that end of the range. For him 40 to 60km is the long spin of the week and a century ride is still an ambition - now is not the time in his development for gear machismo.

I've TT'd on my compact too and placed every time btw.

tunney

niceonetom wrote: »

I'm not saying it's ideal for racing - I'm just trying to squash the myth racing on a compact puts a rider at any significant disadvantage. Very few races in Ireland require the use of the small ring at all, and with an 11t cog 50 is enough up front for top speed. Yes, I'm only a lowly A4 in my first year of racing, but I've beaten a lot of higher ranked riders in club races so the compact can't be putting me at too much of a disadvantage.

If a newish rider (like the OP) is only going to have one chainset set then a compact is the way to go. Swapping cassettes will give him all the range he'll ever need. He's coming from a triple and is worried about losing too much at that end of the range. For him 40 to 60km is the long spin of the week and a century ride is still an ambition - now is not the time in his development for gear machismo.

I've TT'd on my compact too and placed every time btw.

No disagreeing with the compact at all. its the 27 with a compact I'm talking about!

niceonetom

tunney wrote: »

No disagreeing with the compact at all. its the 27 with a compact I'm talking about!

Oh, ok.

That's blorg. He's, eh, unusual.

I couldn't do without my 11t, and can't do the cadence he uses with the 27t while climbing (though I doubt he was ever near that end of the cassette while racing).

That said, 50/34 + 12/27 is a perfectly reasonable setup for a newish rider training in the hills and trying to learn good habits by keeping cadence up while climbing. Personally, I wouldn't fancy racing on it though.

austinbyrne21

niceonetom wrote: »

....That said, 50/34 + 12/27 is a perfectly reasonable setup for a newish rider training in the hills and trying to learn good habits by keeping cadence up while climbing. Personally, I wouldn't fancy racing on it though.

That's great stuff, saves me having to ask that exact question.;)