Cassette and Chainset advice

No-one's mentioned it yet so may not be a problem, but if you drop inner teeth and increase outer teeth check that your rear mech has enough capacity (effectively cage length).

Dunno offhand how road stuff pans out, mine is a road/ mtb mix - but a larger front ring may need a slightly longer chain, and smaller inner may need to take a bit more chain slack - big-big or small-small are best avoided for chain wear issues, but it's best to check it'll be handled so an inadvertent big-big selection doesn't pull the chain apart I guess you must have a mid-cage rear mech already if you're using a triple.

In the unlikely event you put on a smaller middle, if you've 110bcd cranks there shouldn't be a problem, I decided to downsize everything on my recumbent from 53/42/30 to 48/38/26 (would have been cheaper/simpler buying a touring crank from SJS !) and the smaller middle on a 130bcd crank meant filing a rebate into the spider so the chain would clear it :o Works perfectly now with an mtb front mech.

Your age and weight aren't a detriment to your ability, it is just physics. I carry lots of muscle mass and find hills are always slow going against my age group who are blessed with slender builds and capabilities of climbing well. But when I time trial against these guys on a flat course, I can compete quite well.

45mph is pretty fast, just try and remember you're riding a pushbike. It will hurt alot if you come off at those speeds, but if speed downhill is your thing, so be it.

I have the same gears (Triple as well) on my Caad 8, and it will do just over 50mph on the extended downhills, not sure why you would want to go quicker than that. There are not many hill descents where you can get up to that kind of speed though, and if you come off at that speed, you will have more to worry about than spinning the gears out.

On this occasion I don't think changing the equipment will make much of a difference. As others have pointed out, you're at the top end of the what's usable already.

Any change to the extreme top end e.g. a cassette with 32t will result in bigger jumps between the gears you already have, making shifting less reliable and harder to keep a rhythm over undulating terrain.

Besides which, spinning out on 50/11 as you do currently should put you well in excess of 40mph. Finding an aero position, not pedaling and letting gravity do it's thing is the only way you can get much of an increase to the top speed above that, (short of having the cadence of a professional track rider!!)

It's common for people to think that changing perfectly good equipment will make a significant difference. It won't. Save your money for something worthwhile and enjoy riding what you have.

Is it really worn out? My Tiagra triple has been ridden year-round for over 5 years. I may have to replace the 39t ring at some point but that's a lot less than a new chainset.

A triple with 28 or 30 teeth on the cassette is pretty low gearing, there isn't a double/compact chainset that will give you a better spread of gears.

Anyone can spin out going downhill; that's not an achievement, it's gravity. Enjoy it.

You might want to get a chain checker and replace your chain before it wears / stretches too much.

The setup you have will give you speed of 32mph at 90rpm(50×11) and as low as 7 mph on the easiest gears.

Going downhill faster just pedal at 100 rpm or if the hill is steeper let gravity do its thing. I have gone over 50 mph whilst freewheeling.

You need to give us a little clue has to your fitness, age and weight. On the face of it, it looks like more cycling is required and at a harder pace to improve fitness

A good gauge of improving fitness is your usual routes will take less time to complete, try and beat your previous best time

Yeah. Agree with much of the above. The gearing you have is not really the issue. It is capable of doing what you need. I recently out a compact ratio on my bike for the Marmotte and still had it on the bike for the Ride London 100 - I did it in 4:34, so it's plenty capable of doing up hills and flats at good speeds.

On long downhills and descents I do tend to spin out. But it's not clear from your message that this is happening. But it's probably better to have the gearing for the uphill that the downhill.

If you are going slowly I would suggest that it is either the engine (you heart/lungs/legs), or the ballast/chassis (weight of yourself and the bike) that I would look at. More hours and more training are likely to help the former and it's cheaper than the latter.

I now this will sound harsh, but, if you need/ want more assistance on the climbs than a low gear of 30/28 or 30/30 is giving you, and yet feel you want to increase on the downhill speed a high gear of 50/11 or 50/12 gear, then either you must be built like a rugby forward, or, (again, to be harsh), the primary issue is your fitness, not the drivetrain.

The lowest low gear on most road bikes is now going to be the 34 on a 50/34 compact at the front, and a 32 on the rear- so you are already doing better than that.

And with a 50/12 big gear, practice to spin at 100+ rpm if you must before thinking about changing kit.

Or you just want a motorbike.

Hi Tom,

There may well be better ways of improving your climbing that doesn't involve tinkering with your rig. Hope this doesn't come across as rude but losing some weight may well pay dividends. If you're increasing your mileage then shedding some pounds might follow. Increased mileage will also build strength which always helps. There's also some specific training you can do to help with climbing. Strengthening your glutes for example using weight machines or floor exercises.

As for spinning out a 50x11 going downhill...careful now. You must be going crazy fucking fast already. You want to go faster?!?

Personally, unless I'm in a road race, I rarely pedal at all going downhill. Freewheeling is plenty fast for me.

With a 50/11 you need to increase cadence to speed up, that's a faster gear than many pros used to ride.
If you're new try to focus on increasing your cadence and this will help your fitness.
Again with a 30/28 should be able to get you up almost anything its just a question of fitness...its difficult to go much lower without actually using MTB parts