Switching from a 52/36 to 53/39 front chainring

Amprodude

I am after purchasing a 53/39 chainring and what I have on previously is a 52/36. I am good at climbing but thinking should I leave this off until racing season is over? I think I'm going well on the bike at the moment from my own standards and I'm afraid if i change over the ring, I may not be used of it and struggle with it in the races?

Advice and suggestions welcome.

granda

i did the same this year and even though i only race the club league i dont really find much difference between the two except on really steep hills but i still mange to get over them

Beasty

The difference is marginal - your lowest gear moves from 36 to 39 - that's just over 8%. You can get pretty much the same impact by moving from a 25 to 23 on the cassette. Put it another way, if you are currently on a 12-25 on the back and you find the new gearing a struggle, you could switch to a 12-27 and get pretty much back to the same lowest gear

RobFowl

If you're going to shoot, shoot, don't talk

Amprodude

RobFowl wrote: »

If you're going to shoot, shoot, don't talk

Dont eat me....I was only looking for advice. I want to change it out but just asking for advice first before doing so. I'm sure I'm not the first or last person to do so.

Amprodude

Beasty wrote: »

The difference is marginal - your lowest gear moves from 36 to 39 -

I know it's not the right thing to do but I rarely switch down to lower chainring. I find my cadence shoots up high by dropping down to the 36 ring. 39 might be different though???? Life of chain is probably affected by my gear selections but I have 7000 Kms done on my bike to date and chain is still fine and doesn't need replacing yet.

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

I know it's not the right thing to do but I rarely switch down to lower chainring. I find my cadence shoots up high by dropping down to the 36 ring.

Sounds like you're shifting wrong. Before switching to the small front ring, shift up a couple at the back.

spoke2cun

Amprodude wrote: »

Dont eat me....I was only looking for advice. I want to change it out but just asking for advice first before doing so. I'm sure I'm not the first or last person to do so.

Asking for advice on here can sometimes turn nasty alright.

Lumen

spoke2cun wrote: »

Asking for advice on here can sometimes turn nasty alright.

I hardly think classic movie quotes count as "nasty".

Amprodude

Lumen wrote: »

Sounds like you're shifting wrong. Before switching to the small front ring, shift up a couple at the back.

I normaly dont switch to small ring but go through everyyhing on the cassette. Bad for chain I guess in the long run.

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

I normaly dont switch to small ring but go through everyyhing on the cassette. Bad for chain I guess in the long run.

Also, small sprockets are less efficient than big ones so you're better off using the small chainring and bigger sprockets if you can avoid cross-chaining whilst doing so.

mirv

The jump in cadence when you switch to the inner ring isn't going to change much unless you change your shifting technique - for a 16t gap (52-36) between rings I'd shift maybe two or three in the rear when changing rings. With a 14t gap (53-39), maybe two in the rear for a front ring change. I'd usually switch to the inner ring when the front derailleur starts letting you know it wants to be trimmed.

You'll probably need to change chainset not just the rings if you're planning on going to a full double (53-39). If you aren't spinning out your 52t ring, then you can either change it for a 50t (maybe about 30-40e), or if you never use your inner ring and the largest cog in your cassette you could get a 39t or a 42t inner ring (maybe about 15e) for *really* smooth shifting as the difference in teeth between rings is smaller. 52/42 would be classic hard man gearing anyway - think Merckx, Hinault and Lemond etc!