Would a new cassette help much?

Lucky Douglas

I've got many 'development areas' on my cycling performance but getting better at hill climbing is the one that stands out to me. I run out of gears on the steep bits, stand on the pedals and then start to tire quickly.

I'm getting in as much practice as the ice allows and doing turbo intervals when it doesn't but spring rides are rapidly approaching, so I'm thinking about giving myself a helping hand!

I currently have 12-25 cassette with 35-50 on the front. If I went for 11-28 instead do you think I'd notice an appreciable difference?
Also, would I be likely to find the bigger steps between cogs to be a problem?

Ta.

dennisn

If you need more gears to get up hills, by alll means buy them. A 28 on the back will give you a noticable difference and I doubt whether you will really notice all that much in the way of "bigger steps".

Bobbinogs

I currently have 12-25 cassette with 30-50 on the front

I would say that, whilst you should buy a new cassette if you feel you want one, a 30/28 combination is a pretty low gear. Are you sure you don't have a 50/34 front ring? I can understand that, as a newbie like myself, you may find a 34/25 combo just lacking that extra gear when hitting a big climb, but a 30/25 should be enough and the rest is probably down to technique.

If you are tiring too quickly then you might find this thread useful:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12716007

I have found the Ultegra 6700 11-25 cassette to provide a good range for a 50/39/30 triple, but that is assuming you are Shimano based. I know I have triple and you have a double but the 30 looks to be common. As said though, go for the extra gear if you want it, you can always change back if you find you no longer need it and cassettes are relatively cheap.

Lucky Douglas

Bobbinogs wrote:

I currently have 12-25 cassette with 30-50 on the front

I would say that, whilst you should buy a new cassette if you feel you want one, a 30/28 combination is a pretty low gear. Are you sure you don't have a 50/34 front ring? I can understand that, as a newbie like myself, you may find a 34/25 combo just lacking that extra gear when hitting a big climb, but a 30/25 should be enough and the rest is probably down to technique.

If you are tiring too quickly then you might find this thread useful:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12716007

I have found the Ultegra 6700 11-25 cassette to provide a good range for a 50/39/30 triple, but that is assuming you are Shimano based. I know I have triple and you have a double but the 30 looks to be common. As said though, go for the extra gear if you want it, you can always change back if you find you no longer need it and cassettes are relatively cheap.

Whoops - wine-fuelled typo. Yes the front is 34-50.

bigpikle

if you're struggling then get the 11-28 as already said above, a 28 will give you a noticeably easier gear than the 25, but hills are always going to cause the legs to hurt more so some of it is just the need to MTFU a bit The key thing is just to ride more and get on the hills more once the weather allows and you'll soon be very pleasantly surprised how those 'once killer' hills become easy after a while!

northpole

I have a 12-25 on one rear wheel and 12-27 on another. The 27 combined with a compact crankset makes a considerable difference over the 25. Indeed, the 27 more often than not acts as a psychological comfort - I rarely use it but it is nice to have in emergencies!

I have also noticed a difference in general ratios - the 12-25 being much better spaced than the 12-27 so I would try to steer clear of 11-28 which will have even wider gaps.

Peter

niblue

My bike has SRAM Rival with 11-25 on the back and a 50:34 on the front. I'm used to having lower gears for hills (I'm mainly a mountain biker) so am considering switching to a long cage SRAM Apex mech on the back and an 11:34 cassette.

Pokerface

When my rear mech broke and couldn't get it to shift past the 25 cog on my 11-28 cassette, it was significantly harder to get up the steepest climbs. It was still doable, but could feel the difference and had to get out of the saddle and push it all the way up.

So a 28 will help a lot. But yes, learn to ride the climbs better and it won't hurt as much!