New Bike Or Upgrade?

1) Get the derailleurs properly adjusted.
2) Review your ride techniques, especially wrt gear selection and usage.

Triple should operate fine if it's looked after.

kensek said:

I am new to the forum, and I was looking for some advice. I have a Giant OCR2 which I ride, but I am wanting to start riding a lot more regularly. I am not a serious rider, but I would like to start getting into regular club rides and maybe a triathalon. I am not happy with the triple crank on my bike. Things are often rubbing and shifting isn't smooth. I don't know what would be more cost effective, sell the bike and get something with a double (and nicer components) or just upgrade the crank to something like a shimano 105 double.
I bet I could get no more than $500 for my bike and I would be willing to spend no more than $200 additional dollars. Any thoughts on which direction you would go?

I second sogood: I ride an OCR1 and the triple (front DER) needs to be adjusted fairly regularly to shift smoothly. I also learned that I can't up-shift under load. My LBS also told me to keep the DR and chain well lubricated (now i do it every 4 or 5 rides); now it is smooth.
Having said that, my second bike will be a compact double. As I get better, I think that two front chain-rings are more efficient than 3 (at least for me). What type of terrain do you ride? hilly, flat, rolling? if you do lots of steep hills and you are not in good shape, you'd wish you had a bail-out gear...
Changing from a triple to a double is not that cheap; you also have to replace the bottom bracket, FD, chain, check also if the shifter will work...

I ride on mainly flat terrain, and I am in good shape. I rarely if ever use the small chain ring. So shifters can be compatible with doubles or triples?

kensek said:

I ride on mainly flat terrain, and I am in good shape. I rarely if ever use the small chain ring. So shifters can be compatible with doubles or triples?

Go to the Shimano web site, look at technical documents/compatibility chart to confirm.
http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/cycle/sac/us/en/technical_service/compatibility_charts/road_compatibility.-MainContent-0001-DownloadFile.tmp/Front%20drive%20road%20compatibility.pdf.pdf

I'm not sure what Front DR and shifters you have.

rparedes said:

Changing from a triple to a double is not that cheap; you also have to replace the bottom bracket, FD, chain, check also if the shifter will work...

Actually, it is changing from a double to a triple which can be expensive ...

While not optimal, to change from a triple to a double, all that needs to be done is to remove the granny/smallest chainring & adjust the front derailleur, accordingly ...

OR, just re-set the inner STOP on the front derailleur to exclude the granny -- and, re-adjust the cable, too!

I agree with alf.

If you crankset is 30/39/53, then lock out the 30 with the FD adjustment. 🙂

If the bike has an older 30/42/52, then a new double crankset (your choice) and a matching FD and BB wll be the go. 😄