MTB Gearing

junglist_matty

Is it possible to use a smaller cassette on the MTB?

For example, replace my XT 10-speed cassette with a 12-28 Shimano 105/Ultegra (10 speed)

thelonegroover

Why?

cooldad

Yes but why?
Just gives you less range and a lower high gear.

junglist_matty

Indeed, less range is good for me because right now I only ever use the bottom 3 sprockets of the XT cassette and would like more refined choice around those gears, which is what a lower range cassette gives.

On the other hand (more expensive) I could be better off getting a bigger set of chain rings instead.

njee20

But a 12-28 cassette would mean you'd lose the smallest gear on your XT, so totally pointless.

I ran a 12-27 cassette for a while, but it was a massive PITA. Just ended up shifting multiple gears all the time and shifting on the front. Much prefer a double or single chain set with a wider MTB cassette.

rockmonkeysc

Thats quite a common setup for downhill. I use 11-28 cassette with a 36t chainring

junglist_matty

njee20 wrote:

But a 12-28 cassette would mean you'd lose the smallest gear on your XT, so totally pointless.

Sorry, I meant 11-28

On the MTB, I never use the high cassette sprockets, and surprised myself when in Wales on the longer climbs I was sitting in the mid cassette on the granny front.

thelonegroover

You could get 11,12,13,14,15 instead of 11,13,15,17,19

The Rookie

If you never use the bottom 3 gears, you'd find a better benefit by loosing the granny ring than changing the cassette, maybe even go 1x...

rockmonkeysc

The Rookie wrote:

If you never use the bottom 3 gears, you'd find a better benefit by loosing the granny ring than changing the cassette, maybe even go 1x...

Sounds about right. Less to maintain and go wrong and all shifting on the cassette.

Ouija

junglist_matty wrote:

njee20 wrote:

But a 12-28 cassette would mean you'd lose the smallest gear on your XT, so totally pointless.

Sorry, I meant 11-28

On the MTB, I never use the high cassette sprockets, and surprised myself when in Wales on the longer climbs I was sitting in the mid cassette on the granny front.

Yeah, i did that on one of my mountain bikes as i don't use the last three rings no matter what gradient of hill i'm on. You get finer gradation of gears (smaller jumps) so you can always find the best gear for the gradient your on.

However, there are down sides. You do a lot more shifting and often find yourself pumping the shifters frantically to go from a stiff gear to a light gear when the terrain changes with a longer delay as you get yourself sorted out. For that reason, i use that mountain bike for more steady rolling cross country stuff with long ascents and descents (moors, cinder track from Scarborough to Whitby) rather than more hectic off roading such as the red route round Dalby.

The second thing of note is that you end up cross chaining more as the chain sits a lot closer to the wheel to get the same stiffness of gear as you used to get in the middle of your old 11-32 or 11-34 cassette. I sorted that by putting a bigger granny ring on (26, instead of the usual 22) so that i could keep the front ring reasonably big while maintaining a straight chain line with the bigger teeth on the rear (never needed to use a 22 tooth front ring to get up any hill, so it was no loss).

So, yeah. If non of those caveats bother you, go for it. It makes for a different feel and setup than usual.

Dave_P1

If you like a close ratio cassette then go for it.