To upgrade or not to upgrade (crankset)

[Gaitero]

Bought a Specialized Tricross 3 months back - wishing I had done so years ago. Just the thing for whizzing uphill and down dale in the Scottish Borders (well whizzing down, puffing up). Love it.Except, front gear changes can be a bit iffy at times - particularly after a long downhill and coming to an abrupt uphill, when you suddenly have to change down, rapid-isimo, under high load. More than a few times this has resulted in the front change not happening when needed and happening too light under pressure.Now all may be well when I get the post sales tune up next week, but being a guy I am already thinking about the next gadget, and was wondering about the wisdom of perhaps getting a more upmarket crankset.The as-fitted, is described as FSA tempo triple with ratios: 50/39/30. It seems to be made of CroMo. I was thinking about shifting (pun intended) to SHimano Ultegra 6603 or 6604 in aluminium and perhaps increasing the top range to 52.For what its worth the cassette is 11-32 (9 speed) with a long cage Shim. Deore derailleur.  Any thoughts welcome.Anyone in Clydesdale want to get together let me know.Gaitero

[Greg Quinn]

I dont think a crankset change will make much of a difference on your gear changes. Maybe some maintenance required on your front mech. I always try to get into the right gear early when approaching hills rather than wait for the steep high load section to make the change, well at least get within one or two rear sprockets.

[Tiff]

Front gears don't like changing under pressure anyway. You should get on the ring you want early and use the rear gears to get the best ratio.