It was tough for me even to mount a bike with a triple drivetrain, but we’ve got a Lapierre S-Lite 500 and that’s what it ships with. I figured, I’ve been running a 25 cassette for a while and finally put a 26 on my bike with SRAM, I’ll try it. That doesn’t mean I’m like those dudes palling around on bikes in the Flomax commercials, even though I’m a Masters Racer that’s closer to middle age than I’d like to think about.
So, of course, I spent the first 30 minutes of the ride messing with the triple: slamming it around, trying to drop the chain; small ring, middle ring, big ring. Conclusion: Fine, ok, it works and well. But it does seems overly complicated and just out of place on a road bike; especially, with the gear-ratio choices from SRAM. You could either run a bigger cassette or even compact. Be aware though, if you’re an old-school roadie, you’ll keep looking for a comfortable gear ratio that doesn’t exist. When I rode a compact, that drove me nuts. I was always looking for a gear that I’d ridden for years and it wasn’t there. Upshift, downshift, damn it!
I’ll post more on the Lapierre after some long miles. Quick review:
Performance Comfort Carbon. A responsive, carbon bike that soaks up the bumps and is comfortable, but not soft. Perfect for a tourist that wants a fast bike that won’t beat them up. It’s designed for the Grand Fondos in Europe and perfect for a century in the US.
Lapierre’s are available at select Independent Bike Dealers. More coverage.
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