UKC

Looking for folks opinions on the best chain set options for a new bike for mixed road riding, hills and flat.
Current spec is a 2 ring compact 50/34 with an 11-28 rear cassette 11 speed Ultegra.

However am thinking of a triple 52/39/30 and dropping down to 10 speed Ultegra to give a better ratio for climbing and less faffing with the rear cassette when changing between the front rings.

The suppliers have suggested a compromise of staying with the 50/34 2 ring compact but upping the rear cassette to a 12-30 which would be only two teeth short of a triple anyway.

Looking for the good folks of UKC to advise the pro's and cons of each option.
Thanks

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Personally I would go for the 12-30 option as it's less faff. Changing to triple pretty much involves changing the whole groupset.
If you change the rear derailleur to the GS rather than SS (if it's not currently) this can take up to a 32 which you can get in Ultegra as a 11-32.

I don't know where you live, but I'm currently on holiday in Cornwall going up 20% in 34:28 in an overweight state so you should be fine with the above.

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Stay with the two rings and go 12-30 or even 12-32 at the back. I have 12-32 and even though I rarely use the 32 these days, its nice to have there as an emergency back up!

Three rings is extra faff, less elegant and only worth it for touring/CX/MTB in my opinion (and even then, most of my MTBs these days only have two rings anyway).

In reply to sleavesley:

Thanks, I should add, that the build isn't complete yet so the chain set is still completely optional.
Really just trying to get folks opinion on the triple versus the compact twin with the 12/30 rear.

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

One of the few reasons to have a road triple is to avoid the big jumps between gears that you can get if using a wide range cassette at the back instead of a closer spaced rear cassette and three rings at the front.

But you're already on 11-speed, which should avoid this problem?

In my experience (3x9 on the road bike, 2x10 on the MTB) recent double chainrings are a lot nicer to use than triples. You can use the big ring for more of the cassette at the back and there's a lot less chainrub and front shifting.

If you can get close enough gears to avoid awkward jumps with the 11-speed cassette, and be close to the range of a triple then the compact and 12/30 sounds a lot better: nicer to use, latest generation so should shift better, lighter, and better looking.