Last year I purchased another road bike exclusively for climbing. The current setup is a Shimano 10 spd. Compact with a 12-27 cassette.
I am currently working on my weak area, which is climbing and this weekend will be in N. Georgia close to the climbing stage for the tour.
On previous rides there were areas where I felt just one more gear would do the trick and yet I am not sure shelling out $$ for an IRD 11-28 cassette would be worth it. At the moment it seeems enticing because I would also like to have the 11 gear available for descents.
Thoughts from anyone who are or have tried cassettes out of the normal retail Shimano range as to whether it worth the price.
Or just be patient, keep training and get stronger with the current setup?
Last year I purchased another road bike exclusively for climbing. The current setup is a Shimano 10 spd. Compact with a 12-27 cassette.
I am currently working on my weak area, which is climbing and this weekend will be in N. Georgia close to the climbing stage for the tour.
On previous rides there were areas where I felt just one more gear would do the trick and yet I am not sure shelling out $$ for an IRD 11-28 cassette would be worth it. At the moment it seeems enticing because I would also like to have the 11 gear available for descents.
Thoughts from anyone who are or have tried cassettes out of the normal retail Shimano range as to whether it worth the price.
Or just be patient, keep training and get stronger with the current setup?
I ride an 11-23 and a 12-25 in both campy and shimano. This past weekend I was riding the 12-25 for the first time this year. I left it on and was riding yesterday. The problem that I am finding now is I am missing a gear. I have not taken the time to look what the problem is but I think it is the jump between the third and forth gear down. As I am riding I cannot get a comfrotable cadence in my two choices. One is too low the other is too high. At this point I am not that concerned since I have only ridden about 90 miles and will figure this will work itself out. Particularly after I look at the ratios.
With this said, you are going to change two gears. The 27 for the 28 and the 12 for the 11. You will need to consider how this will effect the middle gears. And if you care. If it is purely to climb it probably will not matter much.
How often are you spinning out your 12? Do you want to give up a middle gear for the 11 if you are only going to use it a small percentage of time?
With the compact I am finding that I am spinning out of my 12 (I am also working on spinning a faster cadence) even on rolling terrain, but especially on larger descents. Fortunately I have been able to tuck in tightly, coast and keep up with most in the group and then catch them once we are back into flatter terrain.
The point you bring out is the ratio between the large and small that may impact the rest of the ride has been my concern. I have been studying this for several days on analytic cycling, but I am a feel guy so numbers are hard for me to relate too.
Thanks for the discussion. I needed more rational thinking before I shell out $$ for no reason. 🙂
Compact 12-27 is pretty wide. I'd just be patient and keep riding the mid range hills as you improve over time.
That is my thinking. I was telling that to one of the riders yesterday when we discussing riding the mountains for next weekend.
My desire is to grow into a climber and not just jump into slopes that are so steep that my cadence drops really low to the point of stalling. I see no point in me training in that way. Am I wrong? Or go for the experience this weekend anyway?
The output gives you gear ratio differences in %, so you can see how many 'duplicate' gears you might end up with. Changing a cassette can make huge differences in the spacing of your gear ratios, and depending on your current setup, could be either very good or very bad. I know that with some of the options I recently looked at for my wife's bike, making a 1-tooth change on the small chainring resulted in 3 'duplicate' gears with one of the cassettes we were considering.
That being said, I wouldn't bother with going from a 27 to a 28, especially if you have a compact crank. Ride a few more hilly miles, and it won't matter (much).
I did the Saul Raisin charity ride a few weeks ago with a 6 mile climb to the top of Ft. Mountain. I felt pretty good on that climb with the 12-27, but the slope was pretty mild compared to the ride planned for this weekend.
I suppose as long as my group has mercy on me and waits at the top I will be okay. (some of those guys are using triples 🙁)
Is there a rule of thumb for the percentage difference between gears?
Thanks
I think the main rule of thumb would be that for whatever your cassette spacing is, you want relatively 'even' jumps between gears. Using that gear calculator output (for example), you wouldn't want to see a 0.2% 'GIdf' and then a 10% jump, when most of the jumps were ~5%. In a perfect world, the jumps would all be the same % number, and would vary depending on your lowest and highest gears, divided by the number of gears you have (disregarding the large-large- and small-small).
I guess a <gasp> triple would be out of the question? :eek:
I already get [censored] from strong climbers in my group that could easily pass me, but one in particular sits behind me (he uses a 53/39 chain ring) as I struggle and taunts, "looks like you need a triple." (Its a sick motivational tool to inspire to me push harder on the hills) 😄
I was hoping that I could sneak on a different cassette and go unnoticed.🙂 Thats okay though because it is payback time for them in the sprints.🙂
On a serious note. I am built more like a mesomorph type of frame, but I am leaning out and that is helping me on climbing probably more than anything else that I am doing at the moment. I am down another 4 pounds, but I would like to go down another 10 by the end of summer.
I have a compact crank with a shimano ultegra 11-27. I bought a 12-27 cassette, a 11 cog with 11cog lockring as the 12 lockring will not fit. Took out the 16 instead of the 12. Left in the 12, so I go from 11, 12.....etc. I ride with younger stronger riders that don't need that low of gearing, but when I am looking at 10 to 14 mile climbs with 13-15% grades in them, I need all the gearing I can get. I absolutely love this setup.
At 58, I don't have an ego problem climbing with the 34 -27 gear.
