First, different cranksets may have a different number of arms or direct-mount interfaces (connecting the cranks to the chainrings), and they may be positioned differently.

The wide-range gearing offered by sub-compact chainsets means triples have almost vanished from road bikes. We've seen two in the last couple of years, both on touring bikes.Works a treat with a 600% spread from 18 gear inches to 108. I spend most of my time in the large cog but when it gets steep and the load heavy, I drop down to the small chaniring and breathe a sigh of relief. But I'll bow to your experience and see if one of my 10 speed chains will work with my 11 speed set up. Makes sense as there's bugger all difference between 10 & 11.

The triple chainring, which was largely killed off when the compact arrived, still has an advantage over a standard compact with its granny ring, but Bellin suggests that with the advent of the super compact chainset the triple is definitely dead this time.With a wider spread of gearing available across 12-speed cassettes, Shimano now offers a 54/40t double crankset for the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupset in place of the traditional 53/39t.

Place the spacer (if required) on the drive side of your crank, this has the effect of pushing the crank rings out slightly and thus allowing proper adjustment on the lower limit on the FD I'm very impressed with the FSA Energy Modular BB386EVO crankset. It shifts well, provides a useful drop in gear range, looks good and is straightforward to fit. It's a bit pricey compared with similar-quality chainsets like Shimano Ultegra, but I think the lower gears it provides are worth it. If you want a chainset that provides a substantial reduction in your overall gearing, it's currently your best option. Verdict Due to very special 2.5mm offset construction of BOTH chainrings towards the frame and custom bolts: A shorter crank arm tends to enable you to keep up a higher cadence. They’re often preferred by triathletes. At the risk of some accusing me of heresy, I would dare say moving to a 46/30 subcompact crankset has very few disadvantages for many road riders. Subcompact is not all about getting a lower hill climbing gearing. Subcompact can allow stronger riders, or riders on flatter terrain, to focus on a cassette with tighter gearing jumps. For example, if a rider normally rides an 11-28 cassette, having a 46/30 chainring combination could allow them to move to an 11-25 cassette without giving up their lowest climbing gear. Additional Subcompact Crank Gearing OptionsThose looking for something sub compact double chainset, the FSA Omega Adventurer range has 48/32 46/30 also 50/34. Single-ring systems, known as 1x drivetrains, are becoming increasingly popular on gravel bikes and can be found fitted to road bikes, too. Many 1x cranksets use narrow-wide chainrings for better chain retention. The Eagle moniker represents the American company’s wide-ranging, 12-speed, single-ring only groupsets. Its top-end XX T-Type Eagle crankset is available with 32, 34, 36 or 38-tooth chainrings, while the cheaper lines tend to offer a subset of these sizes, usually 30, 32 or 34-teeth. When it comes to the low gears, the lower the gear inch number, the lower (and easier to climb) the gear. With compact gearing, Shimano’s lowest manufacturer sanctioned cassette is 11-34. When combined with the 34 tooth inner of the compact 50/34 crankset, a “1:1” (34:34) is the result, with gear inch measurement of 27.2. Keeping the cassette the same, but swapping in the 30 tooth inner ring of the 46/30 Shimano sub-compact GRX 600 crankset and the gear inches are 24 – a reduction of 3.2 gear inches. This almost 12% difference is the equivalent of adding four teeth in cassette; switching the 11-34 cassette to a 11-38 (note that Shimano does not offer such a cassette). Forget Gear Inches and Ratios. What Does this Really Mean for My Riding?

Nearly every new mountain bike now has a single-ring crankset, except at the very entry-level, making use of a cassette with a very large range to cut down on front-end complexity in the drivetrain. I've since always thought that a CX double (46/36 or 46/34) would be a better fit for most recreational riders. I now have a 50/34 compact and don't like this aspect. For anyone doing any offroad or very steep climbs then sub-compact is the way to go.

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SRAM, Shimano and Campagnolo have all launched gravel groupsets – SRAM XPLR, Shimano GRX and Campagnolo Ekar – with gravel-specific gearing, and both 1x and 2x options.