Which cassette?

leswill
leswill Posts: 11
edited February 2012 in Road beginners
My current bike has a 12-25 9 speed tiagra cassette on tiagra wheels. I think i need a lower gear for the hills around here.
CRC have 12-27 tiagra at £25 and 12-27 ultegra at £44.
Question 1 - will i be able to see any difference between the 25 and 27 gears?
Question 2 - what is the difference, only one i can see is ultegra is about 150g less. is this worth £19?

Comments

  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    #1- You will see very little difference between a 25t and 27t. Not worth it if you need much lower gears.
    #2- Tiagra and Ultegra cassette will perform and wear about the same and as you've pointed out the Ultegra and your wallet will be a little lighter.
  • Kerguelen
    Kerguelen Posts: 248
    Well, the 27 will be bit lower. You'll definitely feel it on the climbs.

    And apart from the weight... I think the Ultegra cassette has a nice alloy spider thing that the bigger sprockets mount on to. The Tiagra cassette (I have the 10-speed one) just has the 5 biggest sprockets riveted together without any fancy metalwork.

    Unless you're actually racing, for money, I wouldn't bother spending money you don't need to.
  • robbo2011
    robbo2011 Posts: 1,017
    Why not try an 11-28 MTB 9 speed cassette? I did that on my CX bike with a 105 rear mech and 9 speed tiagra shifters and it works fine. the 28 will be noticeably lower.
  • hodge68
    hodge68 Posts: 162
    I have 105(10 speed) and have just gone from 12-25 to a tiagra 12-28 cassette and it does make a bit of a difference, but mostly its a comfort knowing when im on the 25, i have a cog left, just in case. Its recomended a max of 27 on my 105, but no problems so far with the 28. Still changes nice and slick.
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  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,471
    You will notice the difference. You will basically get an extra gear, going from the 25 to the 27 sprocket will feel very roughly about the same again as going from your current second lowest gear (23?) to the 25. That can make all the difference if you are just managing to turn your lowest gear on a steep climb.
  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,471
    P.S. £20 for 150g is actually extremely good value compared to other ways of knocking weight off the bike... I'd go for the Ultegra.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    Q1 - Yes.
    Q2 - No. Spend the difference on better tyres, where you really will notice the difference.

    Weights quoted at CRC are not for the same cassette. There is not 150g difference between two of the same set of ratios. http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listi ... =cassettes
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • avoidingmyphd
    avoidingmyphd Posts: 1,154
    1. get tiagra. it's not worth the difference for the ultegra, and you can't even use it as the start of a gradual upgrade because 9 speed is too old school now for that. you'd just end up with one pointlessly expensive component on your bike.
    2. you will definitely notice the difference (hence the common phenomenon of cyclists changing down one gear). assuming you're on a 34 small ring and are grinding up the hill at a cadence of 60, you'll be able to ride about 1kph slower on a 27. you'd notice a 28 even more though. play with the calculator at http://sheldonbrown.com/gears to see for yourself.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    I weighed my Tiagra 9 speed 12-25T cassette: 234 grammes.

    Even if Ultegra was under 200g the difference is insignificant. It's like taping an inner tube to your frame and saying the inner tube slows you down when climbing.

    :roll:

    It's the big lump on top of the saddle that makes the most difference. However, taking weight off the rider requires work, you can't just wave a credit card around.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    "It's the big lump on top of the saddle that makes the most difference. However, taking weight off the rider requires work, you can't just wave a credit card around."

    Unless you're talking about liposuction of course :wink:
  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,471
    Simon E wrote:
    I weighed my Tiagra 9 speed 12-25T cassette: 234 grammes.

    Even if Ultegra was under 200g the difference is insignificant.
    The weight of nearly all components is insignificant individually, but they all add up. That said, weight weenies variously gives around 220 grams for the Ultegra 9 speed 12-25, so indeed it's probably not worth it. I still say 150g for £20 would have been well worth it though!
  • mattshrops
    mattshrops Posts: 1,134
    surely you have 9 speed shifters therefore cannot properly run a 10 speed ultegra cassette?which leaves you with the choice of tiagra or mtb if you want a big gear -BUT then you need to check your rear derailleur cage is long enough to cope with the size of your largest sprocket.(I'd stick to tiagra personally)

    edit -Can you still get 9 sp ultegra??
    Death or Glory- Just another Story
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    mattshrops wrote:
    Can you still get 9 sp ultegra??
    Yes, that's what he was referring to, the 6500 Ultegra series e.g.

    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-ultegra ... -cassette/

    Too many people kid themselves that spending a packet to save a few grammes here and there will make a significant difference to performance, particularly when climbing. Unfortunately it won't - you're still dragging 60~90kg of rider up that hill too.

    http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/3945/cycl ... s-on-bike/
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.

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