what cassetes for hills?

danny30

Hi, I am buying a new bike but want to make sure that it won't be too difficult for me to go up hills, I am a bit confused about what I should be looking for, I thought 11-32 would be better than 11-28 but when i look online it seems people are suggesting 11-28 is better?.

Can someone please tell me what I'm looking for in terms of a decent cassete for hills?

Thanks. Danny.

70\ʹspenguin

Climbing lots - 11-34
Descending lots 11-28

Chunkers1980

Sorry Penguin. Don't agree with that. You need one that matches your setup 1x 2x 3x would mean different cassettes. Decending is always maxed by 11 toothed rear.

danny30

i'm even more confused now :-)

Chunkers1980

Let us start by asking what number of cogs you have on the front and what number of teeth each of them have.

lostboysaint

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Let us start by asking what number of cogs you have on the front and what number of teeth each of them have.

That's the best idea yet.

70\ʹspenguin

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Sorry Penguin. Don't agree with that. You need one that matches your setup 1x 2x 3x would mean different cassettes. Decending is always maxed by 11 toothed rear.

Agreed 100%. However, I was giving a very basic and simplified reply based on it being a new bike/new rider and the question asked. Im assuming the Op is new to this and that chainrings will be pretty standard 22/32/42 etc.

supersonic

The larger the rear cog, the easier the gear. So for the original question, the 11-32 has the easiest gear.

danny30

Sorry, I have no idea about cogs and teeth, I am just selling my car and looking to get a bike instead, and I need to buy second hand as I don't have enough for a decent new bike? I am looking at different bikes but have seen an opportunity to get a boardman 2010 which has an SRAM PG950 11-32T cassette. Is that any good?

supersonic

32 is bigger than 28. So the gear will be easier. The gaps between the gears will be a bit higher.

danny30

so would it be good for hills?

supersonic

Better than the 28, if you struggle for a low gear. You can get up to 36 on 10 speed bikes, or different gearing at the front. Until you try them out, you won't know what suits. 11-32 is about average on an MTB.

felix.london

I'm using a 11-32t (with a 22/36 crankset) in the Alps. The hills here are pretty big but I manage to get up all but the steepest trails with that combo.

Saying that, my next build I'm going for 11-34 or 11-36 but the bike will be a fair bit heavier and more suited for going down so will probably work out the same effort going up...I hope

paul.skibum

danny30 wrote:

Sorry, I have no idea about cogs and teeth, I am just selling my car and looking to get a bike instead, and I need to buy second hand as I don't have enough for a decent new bike? I am looking at different bikes but have seen an opportunity to get a boardman 2010 which has an SRAM PG950 11-32T cassette. Is that any good?

Danny, basically he gearing is defined by the combination of the front chainring and the rear cassette. On the front you will have either 2 or 3 gears on the Boardman you mention. Actually I am going to assume it is a 9 speed so you will have 3 gears the cogs will be something like 22/34/44 (give or take) - the smaller the front cog the easier you will be able to pedal up a hill.

Conversely the 9 cogs at the back will go from 11 to 32 and the bigger the number of teeth at th eback the easier it is to pedal up hills.

So a combo of 22 front and 32 rear means gentle spinning of the cranks will winch you slowly up the hill. Alternately if you are heading downhill or on road, the 44 front and 11 rear will propel you at a good lick along. Generally speaking you want to try and use the 22 tooth with the 3-4 largest cogs at the rear, the middle 34 tooth with the middle 5 or 6 cogs on the cassette and the 44 tooth with the smallest 3-4 on the cassette to avoid too much variation in the chainline causing wear on all components.

If you are looking at a mountain bike I'd be suprised if you found an 11-28 cassette in any case, not that common on stock bikes. road bike and more hybrid oriented bikes may have 11-24 to 11-28 as road riding doesnt generally need such low ratios.

The Rookie

Old 7 speed will often have a 28T largest sprocket!

Chunkers1980

Who said anything about 7 speed...

paul.skibum

Since the fella is looking at a 2010 Boardman I am going to go ahead and assume he is not looking at a 7spd bike - in fact I think I say in my post "I am going to assume its 9 spd with a triple crank). But in any case my old 7spd had what seemed at the time to be a big ole dinner plate bail out gear, quite a bit bigger than the next largest. I seem to think it was 34?