Enlighten me....lately the combination of 52/36 is being bandied as the best range of gears you can have. Is it just another gear to flog for sales or will this stick? Campy will be releasing specific combos....

All my bikes have standard and I play with the cassette. Thinking this might be a good way of standardising to an 11-25.

Any thoughts with this trend?

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"Light bike? Its still about the engine!".

might be for some people like myself; some others will hate it. with a 36 in the front and a 28 in the back i have been able to climb anything even when the road tilts to more than 15%. i am kind of a masher, so my cadence is low in the high 70's to mid 80's, however i can spin up to 160-180 in short burst or surges. what we have to learn is that every gearing has its compromises. my theory is that with the rise of compact (110bcd) there were a lot of folks that felt under geared or there are some that missed their 53/39 so the 52/36 became the solution to people that have compact to experience almost standard (130bcd) gearing.

I find it odd that the industry is so slow to do this ...

I've had it on my bike since compacts became commonly available maybe 4~5 years now...

I love my 52/36 in every situation except the final sprint at my local circuit race... if only I had that 53!

I have the 52/36 Rotor combo fitted to one of my bikes which I use for the very steep climbs (>25%) for everything else I still prefer 53/40 (Rotor) as I don't really like the 16 tooth drop from the big to little ring.

Depends on where you are I would say. Here in my corner of the Alps the most common is 50/34 with an 11-27 cassette. While missing out on a bit of top speed the "big drop" issue on the front is less pronounced, because you only need to shift down for a longer climb.

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

I've been thinking about changing to a 52/36 for ages now. I have no problem with a 53 but find the 39 just a bit too difficult to keep a high cadence when climbing. 52/36 seems like the best compromise.

I've been using 52/36 for a few years now. For me it's the perfect combination.

I don't notice the difference between a 52 and a 53, but having the 36 makes a big difference on the climbs. I find I bog down and grind on a 39.

I run 53x38 on my Shimano 130mm BCD cranks and love it. Have this across 3 different bikes.
Granted I slap on a Marchisio 30T cog to the end of my cassette when I have to climb a lot of things above 15% b/c otherwise my knees would pop.

Are there any FD issues with the huge tooth difference? I thought that this was the issue with 52-53x36...

Its just gearing. Use what you need.
52/36 has the same 16t difference as a 50/34 so the shifting will be the same- not as good as with a 14t difference but with modern front derailleurs it'll be fine.

I find it hard to believe that the <2% difference between a 52t and a 53t makes a difference in placing.

52/36 with 7900- front shifting is not an issue. Never felt my gearing was too low in the big ring and I like being able to just swap to a 50/34 in the off-season when I care a lot more about running a tight ratio rear cassette. I use an 11/25 with my setup right now and the 36/25 has been low enough for everything I've done but the steepest of the steep. Switching to the 34 lets me climb almost anything and if I pair that with an 11-23 I have a really tight ratio setup.

I know a lot of people that race very successfully on a 50/38 or 50/36 with an 11-21, 23, or 25 at the elite level. I'd say for them and myself its here to stay.

It appears your sarcasm detector may be faulty.

wish Shimano made 52/36 rings for 7900 compact crank.

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2012 Scott Foil Premium

I agree with this.

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Exp001

Apparently Rodriguez was running 52-36 on DA compact today, mixed with an 11-27 cassette.

Sounds like he wants to HTFU

Seriously i reckon 52-36 sounds a good combo and cant believe we've had to wait so long before someone's decided its a good thing to make....

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Official cafe stop tester