Basic newbie gear question. - Triathlon Week

10-12-2006, 07:18 AM

Hi,
I'm new to triathlons, I recently bought a frame and I'm going to start
building my 1st tri-bike.
I'll buy a Shimano Ultegra cassette and crankset and I got a little
confused.
For the cassette, what combination do you recommend? and what's the
difference between them? 11-23, 12-24, 12-25, etc.
And for the crankset, I'm 182cm (or 5'11.9" almost 6'). Which lenght
should I get? 170, 172.5, 175. My inseam is 80cm.

Thanks for your help
Maui

10-12-2006, 07:18 AM

Maui7301 wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm new to triathlons, I recently bought a frame and I'm going to start
> building my 1st tri-bike.
> I'll buy a Shimano Ultegra cassette and crankset and I got a little
> confused.
> For the cassette, what combination do you recommend? and what's the
> difference between them? 11-23, 12-24, 12-25, etc.
> And for the crankset, I'm 182cm (or 5'11.9" almost 6'). Which lenght
> should I get? 170, 172.5, 175. My inseam is 80cm.
>
> Thanks for your help
> Maui
>
Depends on your riding style, I am a big gear pusher at slow RPM so I
ride a 54/45 on the front and a 10-21 on the back but 11-23 is a pretty
typical spread for a "race" cassette if the races you do are hillier
(not typical in triathlons) you may want a 12-24 but I see no reason to
get a 12-25 unless you have a large single ring in the front (56 single
or something crazy)

I don't know a lot about crank lengths but I am 6'3" with a similar
inseam and I have a 175 that works well for me.

hope this helps

10-13-2006, 03:21 AM

"Maui7301" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:1160625692.873096.215420@e3g2000cwe.googlegro ups.com...
> Hi,
> I'm new to triathlons, I recently bought a frame and I'm going to start
> building my 1st tri-bike.
> I'll buy a Shimano Ultegra cassette and crankset and I got a little
> confused.
> For the cassette, what combination do you recommend? and what's the
> difference between them? 11-23, 12-24, 12-25, etc.
> And for the crankset, I'm 182cm (or 5'11.9" almost 6'). Which lenght
> should I get? 170, 172.5, 175. My inseam is 80cm.
>
> Thanks for your help
> Maui
>

You don't say what experience you have riding or maintaining, but from the
questions I'm guessing that you've not messed around building many bikes.
Your riding style and the terrain you ride on are the big factors here.

If you've already got a bike, use that as a template. Note the gears you
use at the moment and try and reproduce those ratios. If not, I'd suggest
getting to a nice local bike shop and trying stuff out. Once you factor in
the tools you'll likely need and the help they can provide it may well prove
best to go with a shop built machine.

I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but prescribing something
given the info above would be wrong.

Skippy
E&OE

10-13-2006, 03:21 AM

"Maui7301" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> schreef in bericht
news:1160625692.873096.215420@e3g2000cwe.googlegro ups.com...
> Hi,
> I'm new to triathlons, I recently bought a frame and I'm going to start
> building my 1st tri-bike.
> I'll buy a Shimano Ultegra cassette and crankset and I got a little
> confused.
> For the cassette, what combination do you recommend? and what's the
> difference between them? 11-23, 12-24, 12-25, etc.
> And for the crankset, I'm 182cm (or 5'11.9" almost 6'). Which lenght
> should I get? 170, 172.5, 175. My inseam is 80cm.
>
> Thanks for your help
> Maui
>

For crankset 175 is average. So if you can't compute the correct lenght
assume 175 mm.

For cassette an advice is hard to give. I live in Holland which is almost
flat. 11-23 or 12-24 will do fine. Choosing the right cassette is a question
of who you are as a rider and where your ride. In general, if you're a
beginner, you should keep options open and therefore choose 12-25 which in
general will be OK. Practise will learn you what is good for you

b,ert