rear cassette help

Fuji-John
Fuji-John Posts: 98
edited July 2011 in Road beginners
i have a compact chainset but im unsure what sram red rear cassette to get i have these options
11-28
12-25

Comments

  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Do you live somewhere hilly? Do you climb like Contador? Do you race?

    Need to know what kind of rider you are and what kind of riding you do.
  • Fuji-John
    Fuji-John Posts: 98
    Well I don't race. It's fairly flat where I live but I do ride some hilly places such as Wales etc but only 5 times a year. I climb pretty in my opinion I seem to pull a bit out of my friends up the hill but this is for a new frame a Tarmac sl3.
  • EarlyGo
    EarlyGo Posts: 281
    If you are doing regular rides in Wales then 11-28 unless you've got legs like a pro! If you live somewhere flat then 12-25. Ideally get both and you can then swap them out as you need to. If you want to cover all bases then have you considered a Triple with the 12-25?

    Regards, EarlyGo
  • ollyridesfirst
    ollyridesfirst Posts: 486
    depends how far apart you want your gears to be. Obviously 11-28 will be more expanded than 12-25 and you might end up changing gear and thinking it's a bit hard (thus missing the intermediate gear) - that said, the 11-28 will give you a greater top end speed and an easier climbing gear!

    So the choice is - if you want more speed and easier climbing at the cost of gear ratios that are further apart, get the 11-28. If you can comfortably climb on a 25 tooth and aren't that bothered about a slightly faster top end speed, and/or don't want to sacrifice the closer gear ratios, then go for the 12-25.....

    If it was me....(I'm awful at climbing, but getting there), i'd go for the 11-28. That would keep my top end speed up that i like and give me extra to climb with. Just in my opinion though...
  • TurboMonkey
    TurboMonkey Posts: 116
    A 53x12 gear is shorter than a 50x11, there really isn't much of a need for the top gear anyway (unless you can ride 35mph+ on the flat)

    A 34x25 gear is still comfortably low for climing anything less than about 1 in 5, and even then you'll still get up.

    With a tighly spaced cassette you can tune your pedalling speed to a much finer extent and lets you keep a better speed and level of effort on your rides.

    It wouldn't be too bad to look at getting a 12/23 cassette, this still gives you a good set of climbing gears and an extra gear in the middle. You can get them from the sram red range, any other brand or type will do fine.

    You could even trade down to a standard cassette and get one for really hilly riding and one for flat fast riding for little or no difference in performance.
  • John.T
    John.T Posts: 3,698
    Get a Shimano 12/27. You get the closer ratios of the 12/25 at the small end but swap the 23/25 for 24/27. As you don't use these on the big ring anyway you have just gained closer mid ratios and lower low gears at the expense of the mainly useless 11. Best of both worlds. :wink:
    My Fleet.
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Compromise and go for an 11-25.

    50x11 is big enough a gear to go fast and 34x25 is low enough to get up most mountains far less hills.

    11-28 is too big a range IMHO. 11-25 for most rides or 12-27 for a mountain tour would be my personal choices.

    Of the two you have listed, 12-25 every day.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • niblue
    niblue Posts: 1,387
    I've had 11:25 and 11:28 on my bike and definitely prefer the latter as I'm not the best climber and live in a hilly area (Scotland). I did ride with the 11:25 for a while though, and never had to walk a hill, so it's also a decent option.

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