I ride mostly flat roads and rarely use my small chain ring and when I do sprints the big ring limits my speed-.. I think. So I am interested in going to a standard crank size. Note I currently have a Gossamer FSA 50/34.

If I switch to a std crank I assume there is more to the process than just switching out the cranks?

So my concerns and questions are - What is the difficulty level / expense to switch cranks?, Do the standard cranks have a wide range of sizes or all fairly close? Note I think I would likely want to be on the smaller to medium size since I would be changing from a compact. Last if any opinions on a make and model that has been good for you I would like to hear about it.

I suspect his issue has come up a few times and I did try to search the site but came up with limited information. I am quite the novice with regard to this subject matter, up until this morning I thought the crank was simply the bar attached to the pedal.

Thanks for your responses in advance.

I believe you will have to swap in a new chain as well to get the added links. With your compact, FSA manufacturers 110mm replacement rings and you could easily change the size of your rings. I think the big rings are available in 48,50,52,53 and the inner is available in 34,36,38,40,42....one of these combo's should work and you wouldn't have to replace your BB, cranks etc...

As QS said, if all you want are bigger rings, you don't need to get a new crankset. Just get the rings. If they're standard 110mm bolt circle you can buy any rings made to that spec; they don't have to be the FSA brand.

You say the big ring limits your sprint. That's unlikely, unless you are very strong. You describe yourself as a novice; I suspect you just need to practice more and get better at spinning a higher cadence.

The difference between the big rings on a standard vs. compact crankset is not huge. If you went to the normal 52, that's only 4% bigger than what you've got now. In other words, if your "sprint" is at 25 mph, with the new ring you'd be going 26 mph at the same pedal cadence. Either way, your speed is being limited by your ability to put out power, not by the size of the gear.

A practiced recreational road biker can easily spin at 110 rpms and put out maximum power. Assuming your smallest cog in the back is a 12, at 110 rpms in the 50/12 combination, you'd be going about 36 mph. You probably can't produce sufficient power to go that fast on level ground (I know I can't!). So your big ring is not limiting you.

The small ring is another question. If you ride mostly in fairly flat places, you may be getting almost no use from that ring. It might make sense to switch to a 39 or 40, which would be a jump of 15 or 18 %. You'd be more able to use the small ring for moderate hills that way.

But mostly, work on learning to turn the pedals faster. Your high gear is plenty high enough. Money on a new crankset would be wasted, IMO.

Thanks to both of you, great information. While I am a novice on cranks as a rider I am a bit more experienced. On club rides for 35 miles I average typically 21miles an hour and can sprint to 32 miles an hour. Certainly not setting any records of course. I typically do about 90 to 95 on average cadence.

The suggestion about a bigger small ring is great because it currently gets zero use, even on small hills. I suspect I will increase both gears a bit and will give me a wider range of functional gears to use rather than the 5 or so top gears that get the bulk of the work.

Thanks again.

you might also consider a 36T for the inside. I did this for a while and did find it useful on some rollers.

I'm now too out of shape to get up the 10+% hills around my house in a 36x25 so I swallowed my pride and put the 34T back on. I think I got the chain ring from Airbomb.