Old setup was 50./34. was not a fan. back to a standard. 11-28 on the rear.
I switch out my 53/39 to a 53/36 on my TT bike that is a Shimano Ultegra 6800 crankset.
Zero difference in shifting.
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I do. I run 52/34 on road bike, and 53/36 on my TT bike, mostly with an 11-28 cassette, but will go to an 11-32 for alpine or extremely hilly (10,000+ft climbing) routes. I’ve run what I call ‘hybrid front’ setups for a few years now, and run both bikes with a short-cage rear mech (SRAM E-TAP on TT, Di2 on road).
I’m 3.6 w/kg at FTP, but a bigger rider (83kg). I like having the bigger gear for keeping some resistance when descending and for pushing on the flats, but appreciate the ability to spin on the hills.
The only thing you need to be careful of is not to cross-chain (can get away with it on the 11-28, but definitely not on the 11-32), and to be mechanically sympathetic when front shifting. This means no front shifts under power, and I try not to shift both front and rear at the same time. This is good practice anyway and comes naturally in a very short time.
IMO, Shimano front crank-sets are brilliant and very tolerant, I think they are stiffer than SRAM so seem to work marginally better. I have Rotor cranks on my TT bike and now use aero chainrings as they are a bit stiffer by virtue of being solid. I don’t have issues with dropping chains on either of my bikes, but I have chain-catchers on both just in case.
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With my Di2 53/36 setup, I have no issues shifting front and back. I actually have semi-synchro shifting setup, so I always shift both at the same time. Using an Ultegra crankset, Shimano 53 ring and an Absolute Black inner ring.
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I previously ran a 52/34 hybrid chainring with a 30T cassette on my Giant TCR with Ultegra 6800 Di2. I tried the same thing on my Spec Venge with Ultegra 8100 Di2 and my derailleur cage doesn’t have enough capacity to deal with the extra chain length without removing a couple of links which then makes it almost too short if I end up fully cross chained in the 52F / 30R position. I try to avoid that anyway but every now and then in the middle of the race I’m just shifting gears as needed and not watching so I didn’t want to push the limits.
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Just treated myself to a TCR with a Di2 Ultegra that runs 52/36 and 11/30 which I’m thinking won’t work too well in long Alpine climbs. I think it’s a short cage too (need to check) so 11/32 or 11/34 won’t work. It seems like a 34 in the front would be a good option and it seems it would work based on the comments here. Would the Di2 accept that programming though ? Thanks !
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