Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Switching between 52-36 & 50-34 chainsets - advice needed

I'm wondering if anyone had any experience of switching chainsets over with the latest iteration of Ultegra and whether or not a front mech adjustment will be necessary. The bike currently has 52-36 but I'm doing a ride where I want lower gearing, so might swap chainrings. I'm aready running the biggest cassette possible with the rear mech. 

 

Reason being, my weight to power ratio is better than power to weight right now!

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

5 comments

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 4 years ago
0 likes

you could lower the mech but frankly you won't notice any difference if you don't.

When you say you're running gthe biggest cassette for your rear mech, is that the biggest according to the manufacturer or actual real worl dbiggest?

i.e. the Dura Ace/6800 short cage rear mechs will handle a 32T yet were designated to only handling a 28T

Avatar
Bowks replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 4 years ago
0 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

you could lower the mech but frankly you won't notice any difference if you don't.

When you say you're running gthe biggest cassette for your rear mech, is that the biggest according to the manufacturer or actual real worl dbiggest?

i.e. the Dura Ace/6800 short cage rear mechs will handle a 32T yet were designated to only handling a 28T

 

It's an R8000 short cage mech running with an 11-30t cassette.

Avatar
Jimthebikeguy.com | 4 years ago
0 likes

Nothing to it, but you will need to lower the front mech down the frame a short way, and also then readjust it to be thorough.

Avatar
maviczap | 4 years ago
0 likes

You'll find you'll need to drop the mech to keep the shifts crisp.

Avatar
kil0ran replied to maviczap | 4 years ago
0 likes

maviczap wrote:

You'll find you'll need to drop the mech to keep the shifts crisp.

Easy enough to do, unless it's a braze-on and it's already as low as it can go. Unlikely, but some race bikes won't take a compact (Kinesis Aithein springs to mind)

Won't need much of a drop but you'll probably need to detach the cable and re-tension. You might be lucky and not have to do that as the new Ultegra front-mech has a tension adjuster built in, and you may still have a barrel adjuster inline near the shifter too. Oh and you may have to move the tiny stick-on backup plate too. 

Latest Comments