Switching to compact...questions

trirebel

I keep hearing from people that a compact is the way to go.  I'm not even sure exactly what a compact crank is.  Is it just shorter than your normal crank?  Anyone know of a good place to go read for a full breakdown of the compact and the advantages/disadvantages?  

HayesSanborn

The compact crank is referring to the number of teeth on your cranks - not the length of the crank arms.

Most people @ EN have switched to 50 / 34 (big Ring/ Small ring) from the standard 53/39 that comes with most bikes.

If you switch, you'll need new cranks (duh) but also a new bottom bracket. 110.

It makes riding hills within your Wattage gears much easier.

You can probably go to the EN 3.0 forums and search compact crank and read for days....

 

 

 

trirebel

 thanks...that's what i'll do.

Jason Pretty

Actually you won't need a new BB, you use the same BB for compact or standard crankset as long as you are changing to the same crank type (ie Sram Red/Force to Sram Red/Force, Shimano to Shimano, FSA to FSA etc...) The 110 is referring to the bolt circle diameter measured in millimeters. Standard cranks (39x53) have a 130 mm bcd (bolt circle diameter) whereas compact have 110 bcd. You may need a new front derailleur though since some derailleurs won't reach the smaller big ring, my Sram Red front derailleur has two mounting holes though so you can mount it for either. You can also get 110 bcd cranksets with larger rings than 34/50. I have a Sram Red compact crank with a set of 34x50 rings and also a set of 36x52 rings if the course I am racing is flatter.