MTB Cassette on a road bike

willbevan

Hi guys,

Sorry to ask another noob question.

Can i use a Mountain bike cassette on a road bike?

I'm presuming yes as long as the durellier can get over the back, i have heard read something about 29 being the top end?

So presume a 11-32 wouldnt fit pretty much any road bike

The reason i ask is becuase i want to drop the gearing on the bike i have just bought (stupid i should of checked first)

The chainring set is 130BCD according to some charts where i measured between the bolts (5 of them)

Now the lowest chainring i can find to fit that atthe front is 38... which is 42 currently...

So would need to changethe back cassette as well... to get a difference that on paper looks a lot.

Would i need to change the derallier as well on the back?

Now i wouldnt expect to be able to use say the 32 on the back with the largeston the front but any input here would be much appriciated

Unfortunetly i live in a hilly area, and presumed the bike would be 110bcd(now ive learn thats a compact crank usually) and i could put a 34T on it, well youlive and learn!

Thanks

Will

nicklouse

yes you can use a MTB cassette but you may find you need to change the mech due to clearace issues and also Range (how much of a change in teeth it can take.

and the chain length will also need correcting.

acorn_user

Changing to 38 at the front can make a surprising difference. You should be able to get a 30t cassette working without too much fuss. A 32 would probably require an mtb mech unless you are using Campagnolo (whose midcage will handle 32 according to IRD).

willbevan

just so im reading this right?

Should be able to put a cassette thats like 11-30 on the back for example (without changing the mech)

Thanks!

nicklouse

willbevan wrote:

just so im reading this right?

Should be able to put a cassette thats like 11-30 on the back for example (without changing the mech)

Thanks!

maybe.

But as yet you have not told us what you have on the back of your bike you have only told us´about the chain/crankset.

willbevan

ah sorry

Back is a sora derelier, 12-28 8 speed cassette

front sora derieler with 52/42 chainrings (130BCD)

8 speed sram chain

being a bit ignorant here, more info required?

Thanks a lot!

Will

Matchstick Man

willbevan wrote:

ah sorry

Back is a sora derelier, 12-28 8 speed cassettl

Will - that is a MTB cassette you have already. Most cyclo-cross riders run that sort of gearing on their cross bikes instead of a closer road ratio of say 12-23.
You'd be better off with getting a cheap Campag compact chainset that fits a square taper B/bkt like you have and dropping your mech down a few mm to get it to work. You should be able to pick a new one up for less than £50.

willbevan

ah right, rather randomly i was actually just looking at that and was going to be my next question as ive seen a Mirage 9 speed Compact Chain set 50/34,

now will running half shimano, half Campag?

I know i need to check if it will fit my bottom bracket (from the previous post, so willneed to go read up on that)

Thanks

Will

Matchstick Man

yes it will fit - it's a square taper b/bkt at the lower end of the range. It's what we used to do in the days of 6/7/8 speed before octalink came along and Record b/bkts with short tapers.
It'll be fine, just put it on and re-adjust your fr mech to cope with the new c/set position.

I run a campag mirage compact on square taper b/bkt on my winter bike with 9spd Ultegra shifters and front mech. No problems.

willbevan

ah thanks!

will go take a look at my bottom bracket, as i know the deralier is sorra, but i nowknow its some random chairing/crank becuase reading the spec the rear cassette isnt actually shimano its some other and looking at the chainset it gives this info:

Drivetrain: Doucle 42x52 aluminium chainset.

Putting that into google isnt getting me much....

Thanks

Will

Matchstick Man

you have a square taper bottom bracket which you can fit a Mirage B/bkt to.

willbevan

thannks!!!

sorry one last question, and this is more so i can learn,i havn't looked on sheldon's site yet, but if i read on there, will it help me know what brackets are compatible with what? if not is there somewhere that would be a good place to read, currently building up lists of sites that im trauling through around work

Thanks

Will

Garybee

You should not put a Campag chainset on a Shimano BB. The taper is the same angle but with a different starting and finishing size. A square taper Campag BB will only set you back a fiver anyway.

willbevan

hmm having a hard time finding a shimano compact, thinking since i would have to change the bottom bracket i might as well stick with what i have....

was there any reason suggesting a compag, becasue there cheaper? or soemthing else to do with the setup on compacts?

Would also buying a cheap shimano tripple, and only using the inner two rings (granny and middle) be doable?

Just looking for a cheap alternative to start with lol

Thanks!

Will

Matchstick Man

willbevan wrote:

was there any reason suggesting a compag, becasue there cheaper? or soemthing else to do with the setup on compacts?

You originally wanted lower gears - well as you already have a large spread of gears at the back the cheapest way would be to buy a compact chainset which would give you a 34 inner ring.
If you bought a triple c/set you'd need a new bottom bracket and front mech and (I'm having a good educated guess here) a new left hand STI unit.

ut_och_cykla

No help really but I have a triple(smallest 30) front & MTB deraillier back. Got a 32 on teh back for my summer alpine jaunt. No probs. Cheap cheerful, swap back when I got home.

willbevan

well just picked up a cheap compag compact crank, i know i need to go get anew bottom bracket which from what i see are £5-10 so not a problem, but how on earth do i figure out what i need.

I know its square, but the size, and if its italian or english? :shock:

Thanks

Will

Matchstick Man

Will , have you tried using it on your non-shimano b/bkt yet? I'll bet that if you don't have a shimano chainset you won't have a shimano b/bkt and I'm guessing it may well work.
Plus, don't hold your current chainset in one hand and your new campag one in the other - you may well find that one is significantly heavier than the other.....

willbevan

ah will try that first!, presuming you think the compag will be heavier huh

Expect i will be asking more question, but just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that has answered any of my questions in this thread, its a lot to take in, and i really apriciate your patience and time replying!

Thanks

Will

Matchstick Man

willbevan wrote:

ah will try that first!, presuming you think the compag will be heavier huhl

hope you're being sarky there! No name chainsets will be made out or pressed steel, rather than the forged alloy you'll find with named brands (even cheapy ones). You may start to realise how heavy other things are on the bike, even stuff like handlebars may weigh a lot more than you think. Then you'll think "if I had a part that weighed less, my bike would weigh less and I'd go quicker for the same effort"
Before you know it you'll have a £3k superbike and Rapha kit and you still won't be going any quicker than if you'd left everything alone......

(don't ask me how I know this :oops: )

willbevan

actually i wasn't lol, was ignorant to the difference, do remember reading how no name stuff is sometimes called forged when it is only molded basically, and unlike proper forged stuff is hammered into place (or something like that) is no were near as strong.

Hmmm i have no doubt i will end up that way, as i do enjoy my sports and i make sure i get the use out of the money i spent! but am easily pulled in to, i could do with this to make me go faster, when actually i dont need it :S

lol

peanut

I cannot imagine any hill that you would need a 30+ sprocket for on a road bike let alone a compact chainset as well. You must either be seriously unfit or live in the pyrenees

I would suggest you consider a 52-38 chainset and a 12-27 cassette.
That would be ample for any hill in Britain and give a managable spread of gears.Also you will only need to buy a 38t chainring and maybe a couple of sprockets.

What you need to consider is when changing from the big ring to small and back again you don't really want a bigger jump that 23 gear inches .
Take a look on Sheldon's site and draw up a selection of various gear/sprocket solutions and check there are no big jumps. use a Excell spreadsheet is best then you can substitute various sprockets and chain rings and see the effect.

With 8 speed you could try 52-38 and 12,14,16,18,21,24,28 for really hilly stuff.
personally I would suggest 52-38 with 12,13,15,17,19,21,23,26
if you need more than 26t on a roadbike well......

OnTow

Sheldonbrown's website has a good "gear inch "calculator which will show you how the various combinations stack-up in terms of range of gears, and the distance travelled for one pedal revolution in the lowest gear.

You can play with rear sprocket/front chainring combinations to work out which would be most effective (cost wise) for you, though as mentioned above, you're pretty much there with the rear cassette, so it's just a case of either chaning to a compact, or a triple on the front.

Shimano have just uprated a lot of their compacts, so you may find a nice bargain 2006/7 one - beware that you may need a replacement bottom bracket if you buy a Shimano compact, since the R-600, R-700 and Ultegra (2007/8) compacts all use a different type of bottom bracket to one with s square-taper spindle.

Campag. Mirage/Xenon compacts use square-taper bottom brackets (assuming 2007 technology) - Anything better will require the Campag. bottom bracket.

FSA do some good cranksets, that I *think* I've read offer good value for money in terms of weight-saving against other brands.

acorn_user

If the bottom bracket does not say Campagnolo on it, it probably has a subtly different taper. Campag uses ISO (international standard), most other firms use JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). You'd be best off just paying the fiver for the Mirage BB. The Campag website will tell you what length you need (it's 111mm).

You could fit it to he JIS bracket you probably have, but you it would not fit quite right, and you would not be able to use it with a Campag bracket at a later date....

custom-freak

i have to back up what acorn user and others are saying, go for the campag bb not only do you risk damaghing your chainset with the wrong taper bb the chainline will probably be out which will mean adjusting the front mech and might cause other problems as well, the proper bb will line up much better and cause less headaches, also it will mean thet you can put the old chainset and bb aside for another project or pass them on to someone else,

Cf

willbevan

acorn_user wrote:

If the bottom bracket does not say Campagnolo on it, it probably has a subtly different taper. Campag uses ISO (international standard), most other firms use JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). You'd be best off just paying the fiver for the Mirage BB. The Campag website will tell you what length you need (it's 111mm).

You could fit it to he JIS bracket you probably have, but you it would not fit quite right, and you would not be able to use it with a Campag bracket at a later date....

Em sorry to aska stupid question, but whats the difference between italian and english thread?:S as i can see a 111mm BB but i have choice lol

Reading on wiki i can seethe specs, but how doi know which themirage is, presuming because its compag its italian i'll need?


Thanks

Will

nicklouse

but whats the difference between italian and english thread?:

thread pitch and direction.

John C.

I would have thought the best/cheapest option would have been a mountain bike rear mech , block and chain which would have cost about 40 pounds all in. Do not be afraid of having low gears on your bike, there are plenty of riders out there with top notch bikes who push up hills, The amount of satisfaction you get cycling past them is emence, Build your bike to suit you and enjoy.

willbevan

John C. wrote:

I would have thought the best/cheapest option would have been a mountain bike rear mech , block and chain which would have cost about 40 pounds all in. Do not be afraid of having low gears on your bike, there are plenty of riders out there with top notch bikes who push up hills, The amount of satisfaction you get cycling past them is emence, Build your bike to suit you and enjoy.

Ah cheers John, thanks for the words of advice. When i was on my MTB before i bought a road bike, my cadence would always be 70+ even on the mean hills round here (tried to keep it at 90 for everyhting really when gearing aloud),I will change to a compact crank and see how I do.

When you say all I would need is a rear mech, block and chain...

Pressume block is the cassette? and mind if i ask why i would need a new chain? as the one im running is only a couple of weeks old?

Thanks

Will

willbevan

nicklouse wrote:

but whats the difference between italian and english thread?:

thread pitch and direction.

is all compag stuff italian?

Thanks

Will

custom-freak

hello easy way to tell if you need italian or british spec bb is to measure the width of the bb shell on the bike will either be 68mm (british) or 73mm (italian) it is to do with the frame rather than the groupset, most likely to be british as this is the standerd thet most manufacturers use, only a few frame builders use italian at the moment.

Cf