Sram Rival Gearing Question- Advice needed.

loxster71

Hi,
I'm a complete novice when it comes to anything mechanical/technical to do with bikes so i am relying on the more knowledgeable members on here for HELP!

I currently am running SRAM Rival on my bike, compact 50-34 up front and i believe 11-25t on the rear,My problem is that i am struggling to get up some of the long steep hills around me and 1 in perticular is proving impossible for me with this gearing.
I usually end up getting off 3/4 up it and swearing lol.

My question is this...What is the biggest rear casette size i can go to without needing to replace any parts ie) rear mech or chain etc??

Will this even make much of a difference?? What make will i need to buy??

Thanks in advance for your helpful comments.

CarlosDSanchez

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... mech-9005/

According to the bikeradar review, it will take up to 27 teeth for the largest rear sprocket. The only thing you will need to change is the cassette. So long as you have plenty of slack in the chain currently when on the largest rear sprocket and the largest chain ring you won't need to do anything.

verloren

I think that review might be a little out of date - I have the Force version, which afaik is the same as the Rival just with nicer materials, and it takes anything up to 28 (e.g. SRAM's 11-28 )

gllewellyn

Not a very helpful 'technical' answer, but think about your technique and maybe tackle the hills with some friends...

Technique - experiment with attacking the hills in different ways - the usual advice seems to be to get into a low gear early and spin a high cadence, rather than blow up trying to grind up in a big gear - but try different approaches to see what gets you the furthest.

Riding buddies - I had a few hills that I struggled with on my Team Carbon, however I found that when I'm out with others, the prospect of the shame of walking forced me to MTFU and dig deeper for the strength to make it! Once you've done the hill once, you've beaten it and you'll know you can do it again...

Hope those help (and their cheaper than new cassettes!)

anto164

also, if your cadence is dropping, get out the saddle for about 15 pedal strokes to get the cadence back up, then back in the saddle and try to do full circles.

Greycyclist

I recently had the same problem having moved from a bike with a triple chainset to a compact and fitted(some did it for me)a 13?-17 rear sprocket with no problems. It made hill climbing a bit easier.
I hope this helps
Greycyclist