Your latest bike purchase?

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 110174 wrote:

What do you mean? I wasn’t aware of any compact (110 BCD) cranksets that do not allow running mid compact. Is this a clearance issue, or?

I have run mid compact on my Rival and Force (10sp) cranksets. And now my new-to-me (but quite not new) S975 Quarq. So my only data point is SRAM.

It’s more a question of getting matched/paired chainrings, i.e., where all the shift ramps are designed to work together. the drop from 52 to 36 is a chain-drop waiting to happen if the rings aren’t designed to work together. Sure, you could add a chain keeper, but I wouldn’t want to rely on a chainkeeper just to keep a properly shifting drivetrain. As far as I’ve seen, the best available mid-compact setup is on the odd BCD shimano 4-arm road cranks. That means you’re always going to be trying to track down some goofy standard BCD when it comes time to replace chainrings, rather than a simple 110 or 130 5-arm BCD. Just a minor gripe, tho.

[hozn]

@Harry Meatmotor 110230 wrote:

It’s more a question of getting matched/paired chainrings, i.e., where all the shift ramps are designed to work together. the drop from 52 to 36 is a chain-drop waiting to happen if the rings aren’t designed to work together. Sure, you could add a chain keeper, but I wouldn’t want to rely on a chainkeeper just to keep a properly shifting drivetrain. As far as I’ve seen, the best available mid-compact setup is on the odd BCD shimano 4-arm road cranks. That means you’re always going to be trying to track down some goofy standard BCD when it comes time to replace chainrings, rather than a simple 110 or 130 5-arm BCD. Just a minor gripe, tho.

Oh, well you can definitely get SRAM 36/52 sets — and a 36/50 combination. And Specialized apparently (that’s what’s on my Quarq), not sure if those are just something else rebranded. Praxis also has 36/52 (and 36/50) ring combinations. Granted, I haven’t looked at the Shimano offerings.

I’m running a 50t designed for use with a 34t but am running a 36t. It works fine in practice (no chain drops), though I’m sure there would be some small advantage to using the 50t designed for use w/ 36t.

[kwarkentien]

My Specialized Shiv came stock with an FSA SL-K mid-compact so I think it may be more readily available than you might expect. I put compact Q-Rings on the FSA crank but I’m considering going back to mid-compact rings to get a little more giddy-up on the flats.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I’ll probably continue with sram.

So, is 11 speed really worth the extra expense?

[mstone]

Shimano just keeps doubling down on arbitrary market segmentation. “If your bike is this shape, here are the gears we’ll let you use”. I wish they had less of a stranglehold on the industry.

[dkel]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8019[/ATTACH]

Now that I have this and a new chain, I can really clean up the drivetrain…but I may wait until this latest snow is gone. That’ll happen, right?

[Jason B]

Now go pick up that chain whip that being sold here for $10 and you’re set.

[dkel]

@Jason B 110274 wrote:

Now go pick up that chain whip that being sold here for $10 and you’re set.

Already got one!

[DismalScientist]

@dkel 110265 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8019[/ATTACH]

Now that I have this and a new chain, I can really clean up the drivetrain…but I may wait until this latest snow is gone. That’ll happen, right?

Back in the day, we’d just used our teeth to remove freewheels.

[dkel]

@DismalScientist 110278 wrote:

Back in the day, we’d just used our teeth to remove freewheels.

So you were unbelievably cheap even back then, eh? :rolleyes:

[Jason B]

@ShawnoftheDread 110239 wrote:

I’ll probably continue with sram.

So, is 11 speed really worth the extra expense?

It will make you way faster, just like those new Adidas Super Stars did when you were twelve. :rolleyes:
Honestly, I would put the money towards wheels if upgrading. A ton of weight can be saved on wheels, although a ton of weight can be saved by me putting down this sticky bun, damn you Best Buns!!! You feel the difference in a good wheel upgrade in a second.
I went with the 11 upgrade after a wheel upgrade. I needed the upgrade and the bike equipment coming from England has become so cheap (never thought I would ever write that). A 105 group can be had for under $400 with free shipping, and ultegra for under $600. Btw, from what I have extensively read, the 105 is where it is at. Finally the 105 is really at the ultegra level, minus a few minor carbon wiz bangs here and there, but the mechanics are the same, and the weight difference is less than 1/10 this seductive, sultry sticky bun.
I really like the extra gear for that decrease in jumps when shifting. I can’t remember exactly, but the ten would be like 21, 23, 28, which is miles apart when fighting off an impending heart attack on a climb. speaking of fighting off another heart attack, let me take another bite of the sticky bun. The 11 is something like 21, 23, 25, 28, a ridiculously manageable gearing. Granted I could easily swap cogs on the ten, but I still want that extra gear somewhere else. Also granted, I still ride a nine pretty regularly, and no doubt get crushed by guys riding 6’s, but I don’t care because the 11 is new and shiny and the guy I ride with just bought the 11, and well, I can’t have that, can I?
Also, it seems like when shimano does an upgrade, I’m sure it is the same with sram, everything moves up. The 105 becomes the old ultegra,the ultegra becomes the old dura ace. Spend a little extra on the new dura ace cables for 105 or ultegra for a cheap but significant upgrade. I have ridden the new 11 ultegra and it is budder. I had to have a smoke after using it.
Bottom-line: wheels first, and put down the sticky bun,,,,,,UGH, too late.

[vvill]

@ShawnoftheDread 110239 wrote:

I’ll probably continue with sram.

So, is 11 speed really worth the extra expense?

The only reason I’d go with 11 speed is the compatibility going forward. Given that I have a number of 8/9/10 speed compatible rear wheels (including a PowerTap) and I keep 10 speed chains as spares, I can’t go to 11 without making a lot of my stuff obsolete. So I’m staying with 10 speed for now. Eventually I’ll have to go to 11 I think, but I’ll wait for disc brakes/thru axle standards to settle down first. I will probably move to 11/disc brakes/electronic all at the same time… maybe. I can’t see myself needing a new geared road or cross bike anytime soon.

[mstone]

screw 11, I’m going straight to 12. it’ll be much better.

[DismalScientist]

@vvill 110312 wrote:

The only reason I’d go with 11 speed is the compatibility going forward.

Friction shifting is looking really good now.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Jason B, which English sources do you use?

[Author]

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