Increasing the chainring size

Tony EH

I have a Giant Contend 2 mostly for commuting purposes. I used to have a Defy 2, but that went belly up. The gearing is 32-11 and 34-50. I mostly push using the 50 chainring and 11 cassette cog and find that I get close to spinning out on flats sometimes. So, I'm looking into maybe getting a 42-55 chainring or something like that.

Would there be much point? Would it make a difference speedwise on the flats?

What are the upsides/downsides?

Raam

What is your cadence when you are spinning out in the 50/11?

Weepsie

I hope youre racing!

go for a standard 53/39 or mid compact 52/39.

You'll probably quickly ruin your knees trying to push that all the time. Unless you're a pro?

Tony EH

Raam wrote: »

What is your cadence when you are spinning out in the 50/11?

No idea. Not reading it. I'm not really "spinning out", but I feel like it's getting close and I feel like getting more push out of bike if you know what I mean. Just wondering if an increase in teeth on the chainring will be any real benefit on flats, or if I should just keep the ratio I have.

Sorry, this isn't based on science. Just how I feel riding the bike.

Raam

50x12 at 100rpm is 53kph.
100rpm is not spinning out. Maybe you are just not used to high cadence?
http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

Tony EH

Weepsie wrote: »

I hope youre racing!

go for a standard 53/39 or mid compact 52/39.

You'll probably quickly ruin your knees trying to push that all the time. Unless you're a pro?

LOL. No, not racing or a pro. But, find myself doing a lot of runs lately, after a period of relative inactivity.

Just find that when cycling I spend most of my time in 50-11 and on occasion feeling like I could get more speed out of a different ratio?

I'm probably barking up the wrong tree and there's nothing wrong with what I have.

I'll look into your recommendation. Cheers.

Tony EH

Raam wrote: »

50x12 at 100rpm is 53kph.
100rpm is not spinning out. Maybe you are just not used to high cadence?
http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

Maybe. I might just need to work on a higher RPM.

magicbastarder

do you know what speed you're hitting? for someone recently fit again, finding 50x11 is not enough is incredibly impressive. as mentioned above, you must ping along at about 50km/h, which is incredibly fast, especially solo.

Tony EH

I'm not hitting that. But, still on flats I don't feel I'm getting enough umph for my push, if that makes sense?

Honestly, it's probably just me losing the run of myself. :pac:

TBH, I might be better off gertting a cyclometer and I can out some numbers on all this. It's probably just the adjustment period between the old Defy and the Contend, even though they're practically the same bike.

I might leave it as is for a bit and carry on. See what I think in while.

Raam

Higher cadence is better than pushing a monster gear. Pedal faster, not harder. Once you master that, pedal harder AND faster!

I seem to recall an online calculator where you could put the cassette and chain ring size in and it would return your max speed but I think you'd have to know cadence too. (I'll edit if I find it, it escapes me at the moment)

50-11 at 100 rpm was I think about 55kmph. I go that fast regularly .... down hill :pac:

Kaisr Sose

All good advise from posters. Without knowing speed and cadence it’s impossible to know if you are spinning out, but my gut would be that you are nowhere near spinning out if you are commuting.

You would be barking up the wrong tree totally with a 55. That’s just monster gearing and many pros would not even use one. And if they were, it would be for individual time trials only.

dahat

I'd put a tighter block on and use a gear above the 11, very unlikely you are truly spinning out 50/11.

eeeee

You're not spinning out a 50 x 11. I have a friend that races A1 on a compact. I also race on one.
You need to learn to spin more. It'll help your speed massively overall. You recover quicker, and you can push harder when you need to.
Try some cadence drills, and then once you learn how to spin, work up to spinning a big one. That's when you get to the big money :pac:

Harrybelafonte

Deleted User wrote: »

I seem to recall an online calculator where you could put the cassette and chain ring size in and it would return your max speed but I think you'd have to know cadence too. (I'll edit if I find it, it escapes me at the moment)

50-11 at 100 rpm was I think about 55kmph. I go that fast regularly .... down hill :pac:

RAAM posted it above: http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

Harrybelafonte

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

RAAM posted it above: http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

I best take myself off to specsavers

Raam

Deleted User wrote: »

I best take myself off to specsavers

Just give me money.

Harrybelafonte

Tony EH wrote: »

I'm not hitting that. But, still on flats I don't feel I'm getting enough umph for my push, if that makes sense?

Honestly, it's probably just me losing the run of myself. :pac:

TBH, I might be better off gertting a cyclometer and I can out some numbers on all this. It's probably just the adjustment period between the old Defy and the Contend, even though they're practically the same bike.

I might leave it as is for a bit and carry on. See what I think in while.

You sound like you know yourself tbh. Cadence will come with time too. Do you feel like you're bouncing around in the saddle? For track (everyone probably tired of hearing this) guys doing well mid season could easily push 140rpm at 50x11 which is well over 70km/h. It just takes training to get cadence that high

Cookie_Monster

sounds like you need to find more hills rather than change the gearing :P

Tony EH

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

You sound like you know yourself tbh. Cadence will come with time too. Do you feel like you're bouncing around in the saddle? For track (everyone probably tired of hearing this) guys doing well mid season could easily push 140rpm at 50x11 which is well over 70km/h. It just takes training to get cadence that high

Seating is fine, no bouncing. It's probably down to me wanting more speed without putting in the effort. The story of my life. :pac:

Maas is probably correct. Just get into pedding faster and pushing myself harder.

As I said. It's probably just me. I'm riding the Defy for about 6 years now and never felt this way about it, so I'm probably still getting used to the new bike feel.

Weather permitting, I'm going try the N81 out to Hollywood and see what I feel like after that run.

Tony EH

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

sounds like you need to find more hills rather than change the gearing :P

Jesus...Greenhills is hard enough.