Running 53/36 rings with Shimano?

[joepac]

Anybody have any experience running a 53/36 combo up front on the new Shimano cranksets? Officially Shimano says it won't shift as well, but I've read a few posts saying people have ran this combo successfully. Anybody have any experience running this combo? I've read that Belkin was doing 53/34 with Di2, but I'm on mechanical so I'd be interested to hear about anybody's experience with it.

I have 53/39 up front with 11-28 in back but on the steep hills I'm still over-geared (i.e. weak ). I like to sit and spin. A wider cassette will irritate me with bigger jumps and a set of new chainrings costs as much as a new crank. Just the little ring is ~$20, hence the appeal.

[grover]

The ramps and pins on the 53 ring are placed to provide a smooth transition from the 39 ring.
With a 36 the transition won't be as smooth, but it will work.
What I say to people is you're best to use the 52 ring with the 36. But using the 53 will be functional, you just have to try it and decide if you can live with the decreased shift quality. Some people can't tell a difference, some people can't stand it and soon open their wallet for the 52.

[tnc1970]

I used 52/34 (di2) for climb riding without any issue at all. This said, I admit that the combo I'm using now (53/39) works better: smother up shifts.
But it is difficult to tell of it's because it's the recommended combo or because the jump between the chainrings is smaller.

[WMW]

A wider cassette will irritate me with bigger jumps

I think that big jumps in the chainring are very irritating as well.

[Delorre]

On some races, my lbs races with 53/36 instead of 53/39 without issues on his 9070 crankset. Only needs a very small adjustment of the front mech to make it work to 95% of the original combo according to him.

[Alumen]

My bike came with a 52/36 and shifts great, I can't imagine why a 53/36 would not on the new crank sets...