Chainset question?

Question

My bike has two front chainrings a 53t large ring and a 39t smaller one. I have a high cadence after reading a book on training when I was younger and have got into the habit of doing this (around 100rpm). My problem is I am nearly always in the lower/lowest gear(s) and don't have anything lower to go down into when I reach a particularly steep hill. I also use the larger chain about 2-5% on a ride and can't see the point in having such a large ring. I had a quick look to see what top end bikes (as used by pros) tended to have and they have around 52t/39t so is it my bike that's the problem or me having an unusual style?

Answer 1

I changed my cassette to a 12-17 Ultegra

This made my lowest gears a little bit lower and that was all I needed to do for the hills in my area ( and was a lot cheaper than changing the front rings )

Answer 2

you have run into exactly what many others have.  this is where the compact cranksets have come from.  compact cranks use smaller chainrings, usually either 50/36 or 50/34 and some even use 48 large rings.  i actually used a mountain bike crank set years ago for this very reason.  i was running a deore crank that allowed me to use a 48/34.  i found it gave me a lot more usuable gears especially for hilly tours like the fall challenge here in ohio.

Answer 3

I'm sure there are a range of opinions, but to me if you find you yourself in mainly gears at one end of the range on your bike, you should consider changing the gears to something that would put you more in the middle.

Certainly a 90-100 rpm cadence is a good place to be. But if you can't maintain that cadence in the big ring you should consider a) a smaller big ring, and b) a freewheel/cassette more weighted toward larger cogs (e.g. a 13 -- 30 rather than a 11-- 25).

What pros or even club racers use is not really relevant to YOU. You need the gears you are comfortable in.