PAP Wonders...: Best of Both Worlds?

Here is the simple logic of bike gearing:
1. Fast on the flats = BIG chainrings
2. Fast on the climbs = BIG cogs/cassettes

If these are true, then:
BIG chainrings + BIG cogs = fast on the flats + fast on the climbs
The BIG-BIG combination gives the best of both of world.

By having both, can we really set-up a do-all bike? For a bike to handle anything the race course throws at it? Answer: Yes.

55/44t chainrings paired with a 12-27t cassette. Fast on the flats, can be painful for the climbs.

As a duathlete (duathlon: run-bike-run), most course I have raced have involved uphills or rolling terrain: Clark, Nuvali, Eagle Ridge, SCTEX and Balanga to name a few. I can only think of one "flat" course: Pradera. Short anecdote: my first Balanga experience at the 2015 Pilipinas Duathlon Final Leg was a huge surprise. We had to climb up to Letran three times. With fatigued legs, my 12-27t cassette was too heavy for the first time. The same thing happened again for the SCTEX Duathlon (2016). "Parang kailangan ko ng mas malaking sprocket" (I think I need a bigger sprocket/cassette), I thought to myself. Another season is ahead and I'm considering my options. Since getting myself a Roadlink last February, I've been using a 12-30t cassette. This is very similar to my 12-27t cassette but it trades the 16t for the 30t. I've raced the cassette three times so far and no complaints except for the rare times when at speeds that the 15t is too hard and the 17t is too easy. (For an introduction on chainrings, cassettes and the drivetrain, click here)

PAP Wonders...To Buy or To Build?

When it comes to getting a new bike, there are two options you buy a built bike or spec & build one yourself. Almost all cyclists start with a built bike because it is always available. Why not? Go to the bike shop, look for one you like and go home with your new bike.

A "Spec & Build" Bike.

Built bikes. Built bikes are normally built up in such a way to accommodate majority of riders. For road bikes, this would mean compact cranks and an 11-28 cassette. For mountain bikes, cranks would either be triple or double, and paired with a wide range 11-34 cassette. Although, nowadays, mountain bikes spec'ed with single chainrings (or 1x - "one-by") are becoming more popular.

• Drivetrain. These rarely have "straight" groupsets (except for the higher end models). There are always parts from another groupset of the same manufacturer or from a different brand. For example, when manufacturers quoted a bike as having a "Shimano 105", what I got were Shimano 105 shifters, front derailleur and rear derailleur. The crankset is a non-series model from Shimano and the cassette is Shimano Tiagra (one level lower than 105). Because these are not as complex as the shifting mechanisms, these substitutions have hardly any recognizable effect (see our article about mixed groupsets). The brakes are unbranded.
• Wheels and Cockpit. These components are usually supplied in-house - by the frame brand itself. Another possible supplier would be a subsidiary or sister company of the frame manufacturer. For example, when I got my Giant Defy, the wheels and tires are from Giant. The whole cockpit - stem, handlebar, bar tape, seatpost and sadde - are also wholly provided by Giant. Essentially, the whole bike except the drivetrain are produced by Giant.

Riding a Triple for the Road

In this article, I will talk about my experience in using a triple crankset on a road bike. First of all, what is a triple crankset? A triple crankset has - of course - three chainrings. This offers another small chainring (a "granny" ring as others would call it) in addition to the usual two of typical road cranksets. By doing so, the range your road bike has increased and it is now easier to tackle steep climbs. The downside is having more weight (additional chainring, triple-specific derailleurs) and having a slighty more complicated system (a triple front shifter). However, the rise of the compact chainrings in recent years has made the triple seem "obsolete" - easy gear for climbing using the "normal" double front shifter and derailleurs. The triple has then faded into obscurity and nowadays, people are surprised to see road-specific triple setups.

Nonetheless, this article is about triple setups.

Gearing. The gearing of a triple is  typically a standard (53/39, 52/39, 52/42, 50/39) plus a little 30t small ring. 50/39/30t is the most common ratio available today. On the other hand, the rarest is a 53/39/30t - this combination is what I consider the best of all. It has a "true" standard 53t instead of an "almost-there" 52t. In the middle, one might still be able to find 52/39/30t and 52/42/30t ratios around.

This is my steel road bike set up as a triple. The comfort of a steel frame and the wide range of a triple crankset makes a wonderful combination for long rides.

PAP Wonders... Chainrings for You and Me

Here is our next PAP Wonders... topic: Chainrings. Chainrings are what engage the chain on the crankset. You can review from our Parts of the Bicycle series. In this article, we will be talking about the different types of chainrings and their pros & cons. If your building up a new bike (your first one or your next one) or maybe planning to change your chainrings, we hope that this article can be useful for you in your decisions.

One-Two-Three. There are different numbers for different uses. Mountain bikes typically have three and road bikes usually have only two. These past few years there has been a trend in mountain bikes to have less chainrings. Mountain bikes and mountain bike groupsets now come with two chainrings or just one. For road bikes, the triple (three chainrings) is available but rather rare. Also, single chainring options are offered by SRAM. This first appeared in their Force CX1 groupset (mainly geared toward cyclocross/CX riders). Now, they have the Force 1, Rival 1 and Apex 1 groupsets.

A Double Crankset - 2 Chainrings.

Parts of a Bicycle: Part 4 - Drivetrain

From Part 3, we learned about the wheels of a bicycle. The wheels transfer the movement to the road. In this article, we will be talking about the Drivetrain of the bike. The Drivetrain is the main mechanism of the bike. It transforms the pedaling motion to the rotation of the wheels.

The Drivetrain is the main mechanism of the bike.

The Drivetrain is composed of the shifters, crankset, cassette/cogs, chain, front derailleur, rear derailleur and brakes. The big names of drivetrain manufacturers are Shimano, Sram and Campagnolo. These companies have different series for their components. Having all components from the same series is called having a "Groupset" or a "Gruppo". Although one can mix and match different components from different groupsets or different brands, there may be occasions where these would not be compatible.