12-25 and 12-27 Cassette

Dave-M

The wife seems to struggle a bit with some hills, and I wondered if a 27-12 cassette would make much of a difference?

Sometime I wish I'd got her a triple. Bike is a Allez Elite with compact.

Clearly fitness will help, but being clipped in and going very slow going up hills she feels like she might just tumble off.

avoidingmyphd

yeah, it will make a difference. a 12-28 would make an even bigger difference.

you can quantify the answers (in mph for a given cadence with each bottom gear) here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Dave-M

Would a 12-28 or 12-27 fit with exsisting chain/deralier?

redddraggon

Dave-M wrote:

Would a 12-28 or 12-27 fit with exsisting chain/deralier?

Derailler would be fine. I don't know how you calculated the length of the chain or how worn it is, so I couldn't possibly say whether the chain is any good.

Dave-M

The bike has only done 60 miles.

Can anyone link to the item I would need from Wiggle?

I assume a Shimano 12-27 such as this:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 000000901/

redddraggon

aye

John.T

You could also fit a 33 tooth inner ring. It is outside the specs but works fine.

12-28 would make an even bigger difference.

Who makes these for a reasonable price in 9 or 10sp?

DubaiNeil

You will need to match the number of cogs on the current cassette with the new one.

As it would (probably) appear to be a relatively new bike it is most likely to have a ten speed rear cassette, and the link is to a 9 speed version....

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shimano_105_CS5700_10_Speed_Cassette/5360051612/ is probably more likely to be appropriate.

The difference between 25t and 27t is not massive, but may be enough to make a difference for your wife - it really depends how 'close' she is to making it up the hills at the moment...

Neil

avoidingmyphd

John.T wrote:

12-28 would make an even bigger difference.

Who makes these for a reasonable price in 9 or 10sp?

Good question. I was thinking of SRAM, but there's are actually 11-28 aren't they! Sorry...

TommyEss

I thought the Allez Elite was "only" 9 speed?

night_porter

TommyEs is correct Allez Elite is only 9 speed.

You could buy this 11-28 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=31059 at almost half the price.

Instead of using the small 11 toothed ring swap it for the 12 toothed ring you already have. It is the last ring which is held in place with the lockring.

But given that there is only 60 miles on the bike why not let her build up her strength and confidence by avoiding steep hills to begin with especially if she has not had clipless pedals before.

I am sure someone could do the maths but I feel that a 2 ring compact has almost as good range as a triple but with less duplication.

DubaiNeil

I stand corrected then, and was hence all of the "probablies", "likelies" etc caveats in my prior post!

I still feel that the last line of my original post may be relevant though

Neil

TommyEss

Aye - As a new rider, I loved having the 27t - and now I ride more - I still wish I had one sometimes.

As the guidance to our sportive said - you'll never not finish a ride because you had too low a gear. The opposite is sadly not true.

As a first go to fix it, 27t is a good and reasonably cheap way to go - particularly now on such a new set up, you'll have no problems like old chain new cassette etc. Keep the 25t one for when she gets stronger, or as a spare on a turbo trainer wheel! (Or sell it to me for my turbo trainer wheel!)

skyd0g

night_porter wrote:

TommyEs is correct Allez Elite is only 9 speed.

But given that there is only 60 miles on the bike why not let her build up her strength and confidence by avoiding steep hills to begin with especially if she has not had clipless pedals before.

+1

ScottieP

I agree with the posts about avoiding more difficult (steep) hills until she builds up her fitness. I'm running a 12-25 on one set of wheels and a 12-27 on another and the 27 is definitely easier on the steeper stuff - It's more noticeable than you think and is a good match for a compact. These exact ratios helped get me back into cycling, up hills and on the path to fitness. I'd go for the 12-27.

rally200

I have the old Allez 08 Sport which came with Tiagra 50/34 compact chainset , and mechs & a Sram 11-28 cassette - it;s a low enough gear to get you up a cliff.

Minor drawback though you do have to screw the B tension screw right in to stop the jockey wheel rubbing on the 28 cog so chaning in the mid to high gears isn't as crisp as it might be.

it was excellent to have a bale out gear in the first few months of riding, but when I started to go out on club rides I found the cassette a bit too gappy in the mid to low range for finding a comfortable cadence when riding with a group, .