[Bikepool]

Hi all,

I’m doing a multi day cycle event (for charity) from Monaco to Zurich over a couple of bumps but most noticeably the Stelvio (from Borneo) and am not sure whether to use 11-30 or 11-28 (alongside a 52-36). I am 85kg with an FTP of 300.

I have an 11-30 already fitted (which has got me up Sa Calobra, Puig Major, Coll D’Honor, Coll De Sóller and Ballon d’Alsace in real life).

I’m 40, have been cycling more than a decade and have had the privelege of doing Valley of The tears, pico de la nieves and mount teide in real life (not on an 11-30 as it was a hire bike) as well as alp du zwift (under an hour) and mont ventoux (under 90 mins) on zwift with a wattbike.

Why do I want to change to 11-28 you may well ask… Well……i purchased am OSPW (Ceramic) from Ribble for £35 before realising it only works with 11-28 (i.e not 11-30) and am attracted by the lower weight of 11-28 and the aesthetics of an OSPW (no idea if it works though).

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/level-ceramic-oversized-pulley-wheel-system-1/

Would appreciate any advice/guidance please??

Topic

[Cugel]

Many of us olepharts have

Many of us olepharts have ridden such climbs on the long ago standard bottom gear of 42X21 (or at best, 24). It can be done, although you do get geet big quads and glutes, as it’s weight training via pedalling.

The requirement to be able to do this was no doubt a decent FTP (although no one measured such a thing in those days) but also a big dollop of what was then called stamina. With long days out and a long series of extensive climbs, the ability to go for hours at a decent power output is more important than just a good FTP.

Now I yam old and decrepit, I enjoy the lower gears on the climbs …. and even the sporadic help of an electric motor!  But all climbs are still possible as much because I can push pedals for hours as well as quite powerfully when needed.

So ….. I’m sure you’ll have enough power to go up nicely graded Continental climbs with even 39X28. But 34X32 will be kinder to your sinews and joints, especially if you haven’t trained for years with a 42X21 lowest gear.  🙂  What you really need, though, is that stamina – the ability to do many miles, every day with most of the time spent going up. (It takes only a minute or two to go down, or feels like it).

Me, I’d forget the big jockey wheels (a useless fad) and install a 13-32 cassette with a 48/34 chainset. No silly big gears are needed as downhill and flat bits are where you need active rest in preparation for the next monster hill.

What you might also find efficacious is a close ratio cassette – as many one-tooth jumps between sprockets as possible – to enable you to find your exact cadence sweet spot as you labour for 30 minutes up a perfectly graded Continental climb.

[Simon E]

What Rendel said – forget the

What Rendel said – forget the jockey wheel, that thing will do nothing for you when you’re cross-eyed with oxygen debt at 2,750m above sea level. If an OSPW was so great Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM would fit them to their top end groupsets.

Fit a 32t cassette. If your chain is even a little worn, fit a new chain too then lube it with an efficient lube.

If you are in a position to lose some weight without compromising your training – even just a couple of kg – that will do more for your climbing than any amount of fancy kit.

You probably know all this already but you asked, so…

[PRSboy]

I’ve done similar multi day

I’ve done similar multi day mountain events and I’d want the lowest gearing I could. The few grams saved on the pulley or lighter groupset will make no difference. 
 

When I did Stelvio I had a 34/11-32 and was very grateful for it, particularly after a long day and a few days in the saddle.  The Stelvio is high and cold which saps your power. 

I’m 65kg on an FTP of around 280 at that time. I generally run an 11-25, a 28 was fine in Mallorca but I will be putting the 32 back on for an upcoming Geneva-Nice. 
 

 

[Grahamd]

pkaro wrote:

Get an 11-32 or even better 11-34 and swap your 36 chainring for 34. With your w/kg, the length of the climb and the length of your cycling journey in particular, you will be very grateful for 1:1 gearing, should you need it (newsflash: you will).

I run 11-34 with a 50-34 and wouldn’t go back, even if you don’t need the extra gears all the time, just knowing they are there is reassuring. I don’t think it is encouraged or feasible to have more than a 16t difference between the front chainrings though, so changing just the inner ring may not be an option.

[Miller]

The Stelvio is very long, and

The Stelvio is very long, and it goes to very high altitude. That altitude will knock a chunk off your power output which will only get more pronounced the higher you go. This is not the moment to be thinking of how your bike will look. This is instead the moment to be thinking how to get the lowest gear possible because you will absolutely use it.

[Secret_squirrel]

This.  and if the OSPW doesnt

This.  and if the OSPW doesnt work with a 30 look at the prices of a Wolftooth link (or the knockoffs on Ebay) they’ll be cheaper than a new cassette.

[pkaro]

Get an 11-32 or even better

Get an 11-32 or even better 11-34 and swap your 36 chainring for 34. With your w/kg, the length of the climb and the length of your cycling journey in particular, you will be very grateful for 1:1 gearing, should you need it (newsflash: you will).

Unless of course you love cycling at 60 rpm, switching between sitting and standing every 30 seconds for the last 45 mins of the climb!

This is coming from someone at 83 kg, 340 FTP, who rides 50/34 and 11-32, and who lives in Switzerland.

[mark1a]

I did this in 2019, aged 50,

I did this in 2019, aged 50, 85kg and FTP of 235W.

It wasn’t a cycling trip as such (long story, family holiday tour via France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and back via France – the quid pro quo for my wife insisting on going to Venice was us entering Italy via the tunnel near Livigno, a stay in Bormio and me putting my bike in the van), I was bike fit at the time as just 3 months before, I had completed the multi-day N2 Challenge, a north->south 738km traversal of Portugal in 5 days.

My bike had 52-36 and 11-32, this was not so much in preparation for this climb, more that at home in Dorset, the local climbs are fairly challenging. However the sheer length of Passo dello Stelvio from the Bormio side, if I were you I would prefer all the help I can get. Although most of it is around 6-7%, it’s over 20km distance, with a short 12%ish bit in the middle, and then the last few km are around 10%.

So my advice would be take the 30, leave the OPSW at home and enjoy the ride. Maybe even sell the OSPW and put the funds towards a 11-32 cassette. 

Anyway, that’s just my $0.02 worth, buona fortuna and all that and let us know how you get on.

Here’s a gratuititous photo op – top one is a view back from around 2/3 of the way up, and the bottom one is the descent that awaits you if you’re going over the top (I rode back to Bormio, if I do it again, I’d want to do both sides!)

 

[Terence the Tractor]

I’d try the OSPW with the 30t

I’d try the OSPW with the 30t cassette; the difference in radius between a 28 & 30t ring is minimal and guidances are always conservative (shimano being famous for being a good 4t under whats viable) you may find you get looks and gears that way.

Also; never tried OSPWs myself but supposedly they arent as good at changing under load – which maybe something to consider if youre going up a lot of mountains.

[Rendel Harris]

I’ve only ridden the Stelvio

I’ve only ridden the Stelvio on the trainer but as a man of about your weight (though quite a bit older!) I’d say take every extra tooth you can get! How much weight will the new jockey wheels save you, 30g maybe? Take an inch less in your water bottle for the same saving…if in that impressive list of climbs you’ve done you never needed your lowest gear then maybe but Stelvio is fearsomely long, I think you’ll probably be grateful for every gear you’ve got by the top. 

If you really want to use the new system, have you checked it won’t work with your 30T cog? Manufacturers usually state a maximum limit a few teeth below the real world limit, my Ultegra derailleur is only rated for 30T but it runs 32T quite happily and I’m told by the LBS that it should run 34T when necessary (sometime about the middle of next week if my knees keep deteriorating the way they are at the moment…).

Good luck on your ride, sounds awesome.

[Author]

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