I have a Campy Record Carbon Crank and want to put on a compact crank. What type should I use. What goes with my bottom bracket. I don't know much about this any help is welcome. What is the best for climbing, I weigh about 200lbs(6'3").
Thanks.

If you want to keep your BB, you have to use the Campy Compact crank. But it'd end up cheaper (and lighter) to get a FSA compact and one of their BB's. Or the FSA Mega Exo crank/ BB combo.
I have a FSA Team Compact with an Isis BB paired with Campy Record gruppo (including a Record CT front der.) Works brilliantly. I would recommend the CT front der. as it makes shifting cripser, but it isn't 100% necessary. Just nice.

The common 50/34 compact with a 12-25 cassette produces about the same gearing as a 53/39 with a 13-29 cassette. The standard crank avoids the extra cog shifting created by the compact.

Ideally, a medium cage RD should be used with a 13-29. Although the short cage will shift to the 29, it does not have the wrap capacity to handle all combinations. If the chain is long enough to wrap the 53/29, then it will not have enough tension in the little ring and cogs smaller than a 15T. A 1 inch shorter chain could cause damage if you accidentally shift to the 53/29.

An 11-23 cassette is the way to go with a 50-34 compact for me. Tight cluster with no big jumps, a nice, small climbing gear, and the 50x11 lets me spin up to close to 40mph before running out of gear. Seems like a 53x13 might be kinda limiting if you need to chase on a downhill - or have a better sprint than I. :p
Maybe the point is to look at why you want a compact crank and how you use/ don't use the gears you currently have. Then make you call.

I agree that anyone considering the change to a compact needs to figure out the range they need.

I assumed that someone wanting lower gears for climbing has already found a 39/25 inadequate. A 34/23 is nearly identical to a 39/26 and not much of an improvement. Likewise, a 50/11 is not much higher than a 53/12 (3%). The 50/34 11-23 setup has a small increase in top gear, a slightly lower gear for climbing at the expense of one extra cog to be shifted after every chainring shift. Seems like a poor tradeoff to me.

I have a Campy Record Carbon Crank and want to put on a compact crank. What type should I use. What goes with my bottom bracket. I don't know much about this any help is welcome. What is the best for climbing, I weigh about 200lbs(6'3").
Thanks.


I'm using an FSA Carbon Pro compact in the front (48-34) and a Campy 12-29 in the back (I modified it) on a Chorus bike. For the cost, you can do the FSA and the appropriate BB for far less than the Campy compact alone. Spend some time understanding what gears you use now, and where those ratios shake out in a compact environment. In my experience, compact is not for everyone.

I agree that anyone considering the change to a compact needs to figure out the range they need...

...nearly identical...small increase...

Seems like a poor tradeoff to me.

Many of those making the switch to compact cranks never bother looking at the gears they actually use, those they don't use and what they really need. So many of the true issues/reasons raised could be resolved by simply changing the cassette to pick up a couple of bigger cogs.

I think the reason is like many things in cycling, if I just spent this much more money on something lighter, newer or faster I could climb and of course look cool. Buying a wider range cassette is simply not as cool as getting the look of a cool new compact crankset even though with 10 cogs huge jumps in the cassette are not too likely. Using the ugly triple they currently have does not look as cool as a new compact crankset.

Now if I could just get my mom to stop dressing me funny I would look cool too.