July 4, 2009

of Compacts e di piu…

Some of us have bikes that heading into their golden years and as we retire them the tried and true gearing that has seen us up and over is now somewhat down and out…the triple chain ring on the road bike is becoming something of a rarity and is being eclipsed by the compact.

What exactly is a compact? Well on the road the compact was brought to prominence recently by the boys from Campagnolo. That’s right the firm founded by this guy:

Tullio not only gave us the quick release, but with all the crazies wanting go uphill as fast as possible in their Gran Fondo rides and races Signore Campagnolo’s descendents devised a two chain ring set up that uses a small 34 tooth inner chain ring and a 50 tooth outer chain ring. What is now called standard for chain rings used a 39 inner ring and a 53 outer ring. Go a bit further back and you’ll find standard was 42 and 53…so the standard was already shrinking before the compact made its debut…

A road triple usually has an inner (granny) ring of 30 teeth, a middle ring of 42 and an outer of 52. Granny is supposed to sound derisive, but my granny was a rather polite and tough nonna.

Ahem…so why replace your triple with a compact? Well for one thing there are less parts with a compact compared to a triple so it is a bit lighter, and even if you are not a weight weenie it’s always nice to not lug around extra stuff. I like to tell people that buying lighter parts is better…they never get heavier – if you lose a couple of grams on the Marshall Plan (Kate, that is) while training for the Golden Apple this September 9th (Go Sign Up NOW!) you are very likely to put them right back on in the celebratory moments of century ride completion euphoria. And besides who could, would, or should resist a second helping of your favorite nonna’s pasta?

For another thing a compact is easier to shift. Your front derailleur has much less distance to travel and less opportunity to become confused about where it should be or what ring it should be derailing. The compact works especially well with a full ten speeds out back on your rear wheel. With 20 speeds that’s as many as you had on your 7 x 3 triple (almost) and the range of gears is just about the same so hills don’t have to be so awful either. Of course if you do want the absolute lowest gearing, then a triple is still the best option.

I ride a compact and like it very much for all of my riding, but there are some triples that I truly admire and always make me smile.

Image credits:

http://67.228.130.208/~mike/remastered/Fiat_Compact_Car.jpg

http://www.campagnolo.com/images/company01.png

http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/3stooges.jpg