I'm going through a 1st bike build (road bike) and looking for some advice on choosing chainring (crankset) and cassette size.
I'm pretty much decided on the Shimano Ultegra Groupset (6800), which I plan on purchasing from Chain Reaction:
I've already decided on crank length, so now it's down to chainring and cassette size.
My current cross bike is a Giant AnyRoad CoMax which has a 50/34 crank and 11x32 cassette. This is pretty much perfect for this bike, on occasion downhill I'll be in 2-11, and on occasion on a super steep climb into the wind I'll be in 1-1. This bike weighs about 22.75 lbs, and the road bike I'm building will weigh in at about 16 lbs, so I should be going at least a little bit faster. The spread between the rear gears seems about right, I don't think I would like more fine spacing between gears.
Based on this, my inclination for my road bike build would be 52/36 & 11x32. The odd thing is that I can't seem to find a single major manufacturer that uses this combination on a high-end road bike. For example:
Trek Madone (50/34 & 11x28): http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road/madone/madone-9-5/p/1472000-2017/
Trek Emonda (50/34 & 11x28): http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road/%C3%A9monda/%C3%A9monda-slr-6/p/1470000-2017/
Trek Domane SL 8 (50/34 & 11x28): http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road/domane/domane-slr-8/p/1477400-2017/
Trek Domane SL 6 (50/34 & 11x32): http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road/domane/domane-sl-6/p/1460000-2017/
Specialized S-Works (52/36 & 11x28): https://www.specialized.com/us/en/men/bikes/road/performance/sworks-tarmac-duraace/128538 https://www.specialized.com/us/en/men/bikes/road/performance/tarmac-pro-ultegra-di2/118441
Giant TCR (52/36 & 11x28): https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/tcr-advanced-sl-1
Felt FR1 (52/36 & 11x28): http://www.feltbicycles.com/Global/2016/Bikes/road/race/FR/FR1.aspx
Is there some reason 52/36 & 11x32 seems to be a taboo choice by manufacturers? The 11x32 I'm running on my cross bike currently seems to provide a fine choice between rear gears, if anything I wish the difference between gears was not quite so fine, so sticking with 11x32 at the rear and upping the front from 50/34 to 52/36 to adjust for anticipated slightly faster speed all round seems to be the natural choice. Anybody have some thoughts or advice on this?