advice re crankset/powermeter
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:10 pm
Hello everyone,
(I've put that topic on a training forum, but I didn't get any response because of wrong forum probably)
Here I will be seeking for some recommendations of yours and I hope you lot will help me to make my decision easier
So, to start with: I've got 2 bikes (excluding a track bike), one best one was supplied with 53/39 - 11-25 gearing and that was my first bike I bought myself last summer. I live in hilly area, however, becoming a reasonable climber I cannot call English climbs very hilly. I didn't have a lot of problems with climbing.. only right at the beginning because I didn't cycle for 4 years.
More than 2 months ago I've bought a winter bike with compact chainset 50/34 and 11-25 cassette too. I've also invested in garmin 500 with cadence sensor etc. Although the bike is heavier I can see that I can climb equally or marginally better on the compact chainset by doing higher cadence and at the top I'm not that tired too. Overall, general riding is as good and as quick as my best bike but I can do better on the climbs. Thing worth mentioning here is that I've had a great bike fit and the positions are as close as they could be and almost identical
I also ride on the track and I consider myself good sprinter. I can quite easily top 64km/h on lowish 84'' gearing, which gives me around 12secs for 200m flying (I didn't try bigger gear but I would have to soon ) at Manchester velo and by being 190cm tall I don't think long legs help the cadence too much I also know that sprinting would be my main strength when it comes to racing and I will start racing in a month time.
So, hope I explained everything so here comes a question. I'm tempted by power2max powermeter to obviously get the most out of my training and I was thinking whether should I go compact or standard? I feel better on the compact, I think, even though I'm considering myself a sprinter (at the moment) and it's also better in hills for me and I'm sure it would be even better if I had an access to hills that are longer than 10kms. However, the dilemma could be that standard could be better for racing but I know that not necessairly. I don't think even best sprinters in the world need 53/11 and for most people, especially for amateurs 50/11 should be more than enough for sprinting. So, am I thinking in a right way and should I go for compact crankset-based power meter and sell my standard from my best bike ? also if I go this way for racing I would use 11-21 casette and for general training/riding probably 12-25 or 11-25.
Sorry for writing too much and I will appreciate every advice given
Best Regards
(I've put that topic on a training forum, but I didn't get any response because of wrong forum probably)
Here I will be seeking for some recommendations of yours and I hope you lot will help me to make my decision easier
So, to start with: I've got 2 bikes (excluding a track bike), one best one was supplied with 53/39 - 11-25 gearing and that was my first bike I bought myself last summer. I live in hilly area, however, becoming a reasonable climber I cannot call English climbs very hilly. I didn't have a lot of problems with climbing.. only right at the beginning because I didn't cycle for 4 years.
More than 2 months ago I've bought a winter bike with compact chainset 50/34 and 11-25 cassette too. I've also invested in garmin 500 with cadence sensor etc. Although the bike is heavier I can see that I can climb equally or marginally better on the compact chainset by doing higher cadence and at the top I'm not that tired too. Overall, general riding is as good and as quick as my best bike but I can do better on the climbs. Thing worth mentioning here is that I've had a great bike fit and the positions are as close as they could be and almost identical
I also ride on the track and I consider myself good sprinter. I can quite easily top 64km/h on lowish 84'' gearing, which gives me around 12secs for 200m flying (I didn't try bigger gear but I would have to soon ) at Manchester velo and by being 190cm tall I don't think long legs help the cadence too much I also know that sprinting would be my main strength when it comes to racing and I will start racing in a month time.
So, hope I explained everything so here comes a question. I'm tempted by power2max powermeter to obviously get the most out of my training and I was thinking whether should I go compact or standard? I feel better on the compact, I think, even though I'm considering myself a sprinter (at the moment) and it's also better in hills for me and I'm sure it would be even better if I had an access to hills that are longer than 10kms. However, the dilemma could be that standard could be better for racing but I know that not necessairly. I don't think even best sprinters in the world need 53/11 and for most people, especially for amateurs 50/11 should be more than enough for sprinting. So, am I thinking in a right way and should I go for compact crankset-based power meter and sell my standard from my best bike ? also if I go this way for racing I would use 11-21 casette and for general training/riding probably 12-25 or 11-25.
Sorry for writing too much and I will appreciate every advice given
Best Regards