# Convert to compact



## shooey (Sep 17, 2005)

I have a 10 speed 39/53 Ultra-torque Chorus crankset I'd like to convert to compact 34/50 until I HTFU which is any decade now. 

Will any Ultra-torque 10 or 11 speed Campy crankset fit as along as I get a compact FD? Will I need new BB cups? Thanks all.


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## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

No worries.

Crankset will fit.

No new cups.

For about the last 3 years the FD's have been "universal" . Says so in small print somewhere. On the back of the cage.

Chain might need to be shortened, but it's not a big deal.


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## shooey (Sep 17, 2005)

Thanks :thumbsup: baby gears ebayed


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## oldroadie_nc (Mar 10, 2011)

When I first converted to a Campy Chorus 10-sp much like yours years ago, I found the standard Record FD worked just fine, with the exception of a dropped chain on rare occasions. A Deda dog-fang totally eliminated that issue. Still run the dog-fang with my Record 11 compact just to be on the safe side.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

Just keep in mind that many hate a regular compact of 50-34 because of the big hole in gearing in front. I ride 50-38 for example with Campy Chorus UT to avert that lack of usefulness of a 34 ring. I attain my climbing gear inches in back with wider cassette.
If you don't need the climbing inches, consider a wider cassette. Cheaper and you may prefer it to regular compact.


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## darwinosx (Oct 12, 2010)

That makes a lot of sense to me. I shift a lot between the 50 and 34 and its a big drop that can be annoying. I'm totally sold on compact especially because two knee surgeries made a bigger front too big. I ride in the "big" ring on the flats and the lower ring everywhere else. Paired with a up to 32 Ultegra 11 speed its a great gear range and I occasionally use the granny gear 32 on really steep climbs.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

darwinosx said:


> That makes a lot of sense to me. I shift a lot between the 50 and 34 and its a big drop that can be annoying. I'm totally sold on compact especially because two knee surgeries made a bigger front too big. I ride in the "big" ring on the flats and the lower ring everywhere else. Paired with a up to 32 Ultegra 11 speed its a great gear range and I occasionally use the granny gear 32 on really steep climbs.


Its also in part a matter of philosophy. One really nice thing about the 50 with a nice big wide cassette in back is...if riding the flats even through town, I can stay on the 50 even at stop lights and taking my place in traffic behind a car. I just X-chain it up to the second or so biggest cog in back...Start out, out of the saddle and am into the middle part of the cassette once I hit 20 mph or so. Smaller ring is for bail out when needing the climbing inches. I like the 38 small ring size because in 38-29 I can get up the modest hills I ride no problem. If I have bigger hills to climb I would either put the 34 small ring back on and live with the big gap in gearing in front...or if in the mountains, replace the compact with the triple so I would have a super wide diversity in gearing for climbing and descending and with tight spacing all around.


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## darwinosx (Oct 12, 2010)

Interesting..alot of food for thought there.


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## headloss (Mar 3, 2013)

I primarily ride a 52/42/30 triple. I'd rather have a 50t, as I rarely use the 52t on the flats. It almost seems a waste, while the 42t is easier to push, I don't notice a big enough of a difference in my average times to justify even having it... for me, the 52 and 42 are too close. I think that a 50/39 is about ideal for me (the granny is just the bailout and comes into play more often when I'm visiting family in Pittsburgh). I'm currently running 11-32 in the back, but I think my next cassette will tighten things up a bit and go 12-30 or thereabouts.


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## jtompilot (Mar 31, 2002)

darwinosx said:


> That makes a lot of sense to me. I shift a lot between the 50 and 34 and its a big drop that can be annoying. I'm totally sold on compact especially because two knee surgeries made a bigger front too big. I ride in the "big" ring on the flats and the lower ring everywhere else. Paired with a up to 32 Ultegra 11 speed its a great gear range and I occasionally use the granny gear 32 on really steep climbs.


Yea the jump between 50/34 can be annoying, but just think about how annoying the large cassette jump would be. So your on a long climb and the 28 tooth isn't low enough and you need to shift to the 32. Now that's an annoying jump when you only need a minor gear adjustment.


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## darwinosx (Oct 12, 2010)

Something must be different for me there because the 28 to 32 isn't that noticeable to me. Maybe because I rarely need the 32 but when I do I'm sure glad it's there.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

jtompilot said:


> Yea the jump between 50/34 can be annoying, but just think about how annoying the large cassette jump would be. So your on a long climb and the 28 tooth isn't low enough and you need to shift to the 32. *Now that's an annoying jump when you only need a minor gear adjustment*.


To me the gap between 50 and 34 for a standard compact is much more annoying than a widely spaced 30-12 or similar when you have 10-11 cogs to fill the gaps in gearing. This is my experience and I have ridden every combination front and back including triples. My current combo is 50-38 and 29-13 and love this combo.


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## darwinosx (Oct 12, 2010)

Yeah I was thinking 11 speed makes the difference. I wouldn't have cared about 10 to 11 speed before thinking what difference will it really make to me? But I find that it does. Btw I rember when Shimano came out with 7 speed and everyone said that's way more than anyone needs.


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## shooey (Sep 17, 2005)

I'm somewhat regretting the 34/50 with a 11-25 after three rides. Just too much shifting between front rings including two chain drops when dumping gears both ends. Guessing a 36/50 with a 11-28 might eliminate some front shifting.


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## Drew Eckhardt (Nov 11, 2009)

shooey said:


> I'm somewhat regretting the 34/50 with a 11-25 after three rides. Just too much shifting between front rings including two chain drops when dumping gears both ends. Guessing a 36/50 with a 11-28 might eliminate some front shifting.


How about 30-39-53 with a 12-23? Same low gear as 36x28, effectively the same high gear as 50x11, plus one gear bigger maintaining the same chain line on the 39 as the 36 (it sits between where the small and large rings are on a double)?

That will also make your cruising cogs closer together running 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 not 
11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-28.

Or run a smaller granny ring - a 74mm BCD allows rings down to 24T. 26x23 is like 34x30 or 39x35.

If you can spin 39x21 (10 cog 11 starting), 39x23 (10 cog 12 first position, 11 cog 11), or 39x25/26 (10 cog 13 small cog, 11 cog beginning at 12) up the majority of your hills and manage the rest a full-sized double crank works great. Otherwise a road triple is a better option than a compact due to how much front shifting you do and how close the cogs are spaced.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

shooey said:


> I'm somewhat regretting the 34/50 with a 11-25 after three rides. Just too much shifting between front rings including two chain drops when dumping gears both ends. Guessing a 36/50 with a 11-28 might eliminate some front shifting.


Quite easy to change. Put a 38t inner ring on and go with a 29-12 or 29-13 cassette in back. This is what I ride and love it. I too hate the hole in front of 50/34. Most don't need more than 50-12 total gear inches unless racing. Btw, for those interested, there is a simple mod for adapting a std 110 BCD inner ring to Campy cranks to avert the pricey cost of a Campy specific chain ring. Inner rings don't have pins or ramps of course.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

Drew Eckhardt said:


> How about 30-39-53 with a 12-23? Same low gear as 36x28, effectively the same high gear as 50x11, plus one gear bigger maintaining the same chain line on the 39 as the 36 (it sits between where the small and large rings are on a double)?
> 
> That will also make your cruising cogs closer together running 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 not
> 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-28.
> ...


Agree with Drew. Triples are the way to go if you need the diversity in gear inches for steep ascents and high speed descents....like living in the mountains...what I would ride. There is a paradigm or change in paradigm that needs to be adopted if riding a 50/34. You have to learn to live on one ring or the other because there is so little overlap in front. A 50/34 can be ridden of course on hilly terrain, it just needs a different technique to ride. If you don't need uber climbing gear inches, ride a 50/36 or better 50/38 with wider cassette in back. If you don't need big gear inches for descending over 40 mph, opt for a 12 or 13 tooth small cog to keep cassette spacing as close as possible.


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## darwinosx (Oct 12, 2010)

Seems like the chain drops should not happen though.


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## jtompilot (Mar 31, 2002)

I'm in the market for a new bike so I've been thinking about gearing a lot. I have three bikes with 34/50 compact 10 sp and two 39/53.

My next group will be Sram so my choices are 11-26, 11-28, 11-32. Where I ride I have very few rollers where I have to keep shifting the rings. On my compact group my change over speed is 19-20 mph. In the fast group rides I'm rarely below 22 mph. Warming up or in the slower groups I'm rarely above 20. The only big climbs I do is when traveling around.

After reading this thread I started leaning back towards a 14 tooth ring change. I have been on a few rides where it did have a bunch of ring changes and the 34/50 is a pain.
However most of my riding is in one cog or the other and I like closer cog spacing so I can fine tune my cadence better. The 16 tooth ring change gives me more options when I'm traveling. I've done sustained 7% grades with 34-26. When it gets over 10% I can sure use that 28 in the back. 

The more I think about the more I think 34/50 is the best all round crank for me.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

jtompilot said:


> I'm in the market for a new bike so I've been thinking about gearing a lot. I have three bikes with 34/50 compact 10 sp and two 39/53.
> 
> My next group will be Sram so my choices are 11-26, 11-28, 11-32. Where I ride I have very few rollers where I have to keep shifting the rings. On my compact group my change over speed is 19-20 mph. In the fast group rides I'm rarely below 22 mph. Warming up or in the slower groups I'm rarely above 20. The only big climbs I do is when traveling around.
> 
> ...


Well yes. If you climb a lot of steep stuff no question 50/34 is best...even with a 29t cog in back. But if you don't then the 50/34 is more a nuisance although if one can train themselves to ride a bit differently and for example stay on the 50 on the flats and use the 34 for climbing exclusively, it can be made to work. For me if big climbing is required like in the mountains, I want a triple. Granny ring for bail out and big ring for high speed descending....with a not too big cassette in back which gives nice tight gear spacing.


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

shooey said:


> I'm somewhat regretting the 34/50 with a 11-25 after three rides. Just too much shifting between front rings including two chain drops when dumping gears both ends. Guessing a 36/50 with a 11-28 might eliminate some front shifting.


Get a "chain catcher", those are great accessory. No inside chain drops for me for the last 3+ years.

"too much" front shifting is highly dependent on riding style and terrain. I know some very high level racers who do just fine on compact, on all types of terrain.

Among groupsets, IMNSHO, standard "non-yaw" SRAM 10sp is the worse shifting front, ie slow. Mainly a function of too-few pins & ramps on big ring.

Campy 11sp front shifting is generally excellent, very fast.


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