Hi Tim,

I have done plenty pf gearing calculations (more than I care to admit) and while a triple crankset was a good option back in the day when rear derailleurs barely cleared a 28 cog, nowadays, with the availability of 46/31 or similar sub-compact cranks and road/gravel derailleurs that happily clear 32/34 cogs in the rear, triple cranksets really are not needed. What I would like to see getting more traction is cassettes with “junior” gearing (ie 14-28) becoming more standard as well. Even so, making a custom cassette yourself is (at least with 9-11 speed Shimano) not too difficult since for 99% of the riding most people do, even professionals 11-13 tooth cogs are rarely needed. Sadly though, the 1x ‘joke’ is being actually seriously taken and we se freehubs change to accommodate 9-10 tooth cogs.

All in all i am still curious how your experiment turns out.

All the best,
-Nikola

The solution for me is a road triple with 53/42/30t. Anything less isn’t worth the cost to upgrade. Oh, must mention I’m using the shifters in “friction” mode. Fine tuning won’t be an issue. I just purchased “pre-owned”, a Shimano FC-6703, 53/39/30t B ring crankset, FC-5504 with 53t (aftermarket)/42/30t A rings & a FD-6703 derailleur. You can guess where I’m going with this. I’m thinking the bar end shifters will solve the “chainsuck” issue because it’s not an index system.

I’ll post an update in about a month, when i finish & test the systems performance.

Hi there,
7900 was my first ‘nice’ groupset and in my experience (except the occasional mix and match scenarios I mentioned in the article) it worked just fine until i crashed it years later and rendered one of the hoods completely useless. For some reason people ‘in the know’ like to trash 7900 as a Shimano failure, though I never really had any issues and as you mentioned PROs rode it just fine; the original SRAM front shifting was something that is universally acknowledged as bad and no technique could get around the flexy titanium FD cage. 38t on 130mm BCD is bit of a band aid (as you mention on some cranksets the chain actually wears the spider!), especially nowadays with 32/34 rear cassettes. Overall besides stock shortages due to the Covid pandemic, it is a great time to ride a bike when it comes to quality and component choice!

I’ve worked on 38s on 130 mm crank spiders. They work well for a while, but as the ring and chain wear, the chain will skate over the nuts that fasten the rings. One tooth out of 39 is not worth the mechanical issues.

Hi there,
I totally agree that some finesse goes a very long way though with electronic shifting, particularly Di2 you can power through a front derailleur shift (Di2 also overshifts slightly and later corrects back to the ‘normal position,’ besides simply having a lot more power/leverage). Even then there are optimal parts of the crank revilution to do it. Obviously ramps and pins help significantly. Should you be shifting under full power at all, hey it’s your ride, experiment and see what works. None of this is new, friction shifters forced you to do that, though I have ridden them only a couple of times and the rest is what old-timers mention time and time again.

Also you mention you replaced Ultegra 6700 with Dura-ace 7800. The upgrade for the same generation was Dura Ace 7900, so if it is not a typo, 7900 had a particularity that the front derailleur had no trim positions (at least in the big ring if i am not mistaken) so that means some motion/geometry sacrifices might have been made, though only Shimano knows the full story.

Best,
-Nikola