Tri/TT bikes and gearing

bobrayner

My old road bike has a 9-speed 11-21 corncob. I've been very happy with it over the years. 39:21 is more than sufficient for the toughest hill I can find in my area.



I just bought a new bike, which is specifically a Tri/TT bike rather than just a road bike with funny handlebars bolted on. It's perfectly specced in most respects, but the cassette is 11-28. What's the point of 28 teeth? This means the gear ratios are more spread out, so it's harder to find a good ratio in more moderate conditions, but I won't get any benefit from the lower ratios except on the kind of really serious climb that this bike is emphatically not designed for. If nothing else, it has knife-like brake-levers which would probably cut through your fingers before you'd reached the bottom of a long descent.



Grr. Am I just getting grumpy over nothing? Is it a poor tradeoff, or is there some genuine need for low gearing on a tri bike? Is it worth me buying a new cassette (Wiggle sell an SRAM 11-23 for £48) or will I just get used to the slightly wider spacing of gears? Admittedly I've gone from 9 to 10 cogs so there's an extra gear ratio in there...

TTX PRO

What TT/Tri bike did you buy,sounds like a poor setup,TT bikes are designed to go very fast,i wouldnt say thats a specific tt setup,specific TT setups are normally 11-23 on the cassette and 39/54 on the chainset although TT bikes now are starting to come with 42/54.Im a time trialist myself,if i was you ide definently wanna change to a 11-23 and considering were you live wich i pressume is fairly flat its idial,not like here in devon even tho i ride with 11-23 on the back and 39/54 on the front.

graham33

I had an 11-23 on my bike and here in devon its pretty hilly, so I chose to get an 11-27, the difference between gears is hardly noticable.



unless you live in amsterdam I would tryit for a while and see if you actually prefer it, I know I much prefer it.



all you need is 11/54 anyway! [;)]