Neurotic: road triple?

[benb]

Get the triple.. compacts are terrible.. they don't shift any better than lots of triples, the gear ratios and lack of overlap are annoying, and they never seem to have the right set of gears... literally the only good thing about them is they help people's egos.

Note I've never actually owned a Triple for the road... I have rented/borrowed them. I've spent way more time on compacts.. and they always drive me nuts. Specifically a compact without a wide ranging cassette is annoying as you can very easily end up right in the cross chain situations and the end result is more front shifts and dumping tons of cogs each time you shift the front.

So the very wide range cassette does help with avoiding having to shift the front constantly.. but then you're stuck with 10-15rpm jumps between a lot of the most used gears instead of the nice 5rpm jumps you get with setups with more overlap.

I think the compact can have a place on a bike you never really go fast on.. in that case they can be OK. But as soon as you start riding fast & hard on them I think you might as well be on the triple.

I know I'm not practicing what I preach but these days most of the bikes that should have a triple seem to come specced with a compact.. and I went and bought one of those.

Oh I guess the 34 ring is pretty decent on dirt too. But the 32-ring on dirt triples are still more useful in the dirt. I find the 50 too high in real dirt whereas the dirt triples would typically have a 42 or 46.

[mhespenheide]

Thanks everyone for chiming in so far.

Just as a data point, I'm likely to try this out on a "vintage" bike with downtube shifting -- so I'm not yet worried about issues with brifters, etc. Probably old XT mated with ultegra/dura ace. I've already got an old Specialized 180mm crank (my preferred length) with 28/40/50 and I'll try to set it up with a 12-25 cassette.

[Gummee]

As a mechanic: triples suck to set up. Compact doubles are much better.

...but... this isn't *my* bike so run whatcha wanna run.

M

[gone]

Originally Posted by Gummee

As a mechanic: triples suck to set up. Compact doubles are much better.

Not calling you out by quoting your post since a number of other people have said the same thing but I don't agree.

I'm currently running two triples: a Shimano 7803 setup (52x39x30) and a Campy 10 speed QS Comp Triple (52x42x30). I've got a bunch of other Shimano (Dura Ace and Ultegra) and Campy (Super Record, Record and Chorus) equipped doubles, both standard 52x39 and compact 50x34 and the triples shift every bit as well as the doubles. I'm super anal about shifting so if it was any worse I'd be off the triples in a heartbeat.

Properly set up the shifting is a total non-issue and the other benefits (straight block in the back, bail out gear, less cross chaining) and downsides (weight and Q) apply. The downsides don't matter that much to me, I always figure the component with the greatest opportunity for weight loss is the one pushing the pedals and I'm tall so the increased Q doesn't bother me.

[icepick_trotsky]

I recently converted my commuting/touring bike to a triple, and I really like it. Honestly, my favorite thing about it is not the granny gear, but that the jump from the large chainring to the middle is not as severe as on a modern double.

I like being able to jump down to a 40t chainring on lower grade climbs rather than all the way down to 34t, but I still have the granny to get really low.

Mine is a bar end setup, so front shifting is friction -- no problems. Indexed ones are a pain.

[benb]

Yah I don't get it.. I don't think I've ever had a setup that worked as well as the Triple XT front derailleur on my MTB. I don't remember it being hard to setup and it has just worked forever. Probably close to 10 years at this point (9-speed), and I abuse the hell out of that bike.

Heck I don't even have XT shifters, I have SRAM X.0 and it still doesn't give any trouble.

That said compacts are dead simple to setup now too.. reading the directions is all it takes.

I can see any of it sucking if you're a mechanic and the customer gives you a derailleur that is dirty/used/whatever and has the placement stickers, etc.. removed.

For me it's not about the shifting, they all shift fine, it's what gears are available in each setup. I just find the compact really annoying for "road" riding. If it's a gravel bike or something it can be OK. I just really feel like if you're riding hard in a pack the compact with it's low overlap takes longer to make a front shift where you end up changing the ring & getting the right cog in the back at the same time.

[Ken Robb]

I've had doubles, triples, compacts from 7 to 9 to 10 speed groups. My Rivendell Rambouillet still has its original Ultegra 9 spd. triple 52-42-30 X 12-27. I still shifts perfectly and most rides I am in the 42 and shifting among the middle cogs in back with a perfect chainline. When I need the 30 I also want to be in the inner cogs for a perfect chainline and 52 ring usually means in want the outer cogs for another perfect chainline.

When I ran DA 9 speed triple but with 48-38-28 TA Zephyr there was a shift to the middle (I can't remember if it was going up or down) that required a double click to get perfect trim.

When I ran those 48-38-28 cranks on early 10 speed Chorus group they worked just as well as the Campy (52-39-30?) because the front shifters were really friction without pre-set "clicks".

My Strada Bianca has Campy 9 speed 13-26 and Ritchey 50-34 ctanks. It shifts fine but there can be bigger jumps between gears than I have with a triple. I think this could be annoying in a paceline but I don't ride in them any more so I don't really mind the spacing gaps.

Heck, my Allrounder has 7 speed 11-34 with XT derailer from 9 speed era and 6503 Ultegra cranks with 52-42-30 rings shifted by Suntour Poer Ratchet bar ends and it works great too. I can shift across the whole cassette with one move of my pinky finger.

[Ken Robb]

I just thought of something else. My bikes all have longish chainstays 43-45.5 cm. and that helps shifting due to less acute chain angles than bikes with shorter chainstays.

[eddief]

they have the "normal" BCD

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/u...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Louis]

Originally Posted by Gummee

As a mechanic: triples suck to set up.

This is an interesting statement. I'm hardly a mechanic, yet somehow I manage to set up my triples without significant issues.

[Mzilliox]

Originally Posted by Louis

This is an interesting statement. I'm hardly a mechanic, yet somehow I manage to set up my triples without significant issues.

If you were maybe doing multiple bikes per day, a triple would be more time consuming, not allowing you to get as many bikes done, but otherwise i agree, not too difficult to setup, just more time.

[sg8357]

Originally Posted by Mzilliox

If you were maybe doing multiple bikes per day, a triple would be more time consuming, not allowing you to get as many bikes done, but otherwise i agree, not too difficult to setup, just more time.

Triples are for bar-cons, d/t shifters or old ratchet style Campy Ergos.

Compact+ is the new triple. Sugino 901/801

[Louis]

Originally Posted by sg8357

Triples are for bar-cons, d/t shifters or old ratchet style Campy Ergos.

I must admit that on my road bikes all the triples do have DT shifters.

[Bob Ross]

I don't currently own any triples, but the moment Shimano comes out with a Di2 triple that has 53/39/30 chainrings I'm going to run right out and buy a brand new road bike just to install that on!

In theory a triple should be the bees knees. In practice, I've never ridden a triple that shifted as crisply as a double. And based on an observation that my mechanic made a few years ago -- something to the effect of "they're harder to get working smoothly, they're harder to keep working smoothly, and even when they are working smoothly it's not all that smooth" -- I'm not alone in that experience.

[bicycletricycle]

the thing i like the most about triples is being able to have tight gaps in the cassette while still having a large overall range in the total drivetrain.

compact set ups with a wide range cassette can replicate almost any total gearing range that you can have with a triple but with much larger gaps between each ratio.