which 10 speed cassette

silver2789

how do folks, time for another cassette showdown and would appreciate some advice/ comments

I currently run a ultegra 6700 11-28 cassette which come standard on the bike and I have the usual 50/34 compact up front. I can get a sweet deal on dura ace 7900 cassettes and have the choice of several different ones. I was looking at the 11-27 as I don't use the 28t, but I have also been looking at the 12-27 which has the miracle 16t cog from what I read on other sites.

what i'd like to know really, is if anyone has switched from an 11-28 to a 12-27 and is there really a great deal of difference between the two. is there much of a drop in speed going down to the 12cog. from what I read a lot of people seem put off by 11-28's due to the large gap between gears. is it easy to spin out on flats in the 12cog

themekon

50-12 is a 112 inch gear plus.I wouldnt of thought there would be many on here capable of spinning out on the flat.Crikey spin a 100 inch gear at 100 rpm and you are doing 30 mph.
Better with a closer set of gears .

ivanoile

Big change of gears can make you slower on flat,because your cadence will fall a lot and if you don't have much power it will kill you fast.

nawty

12-27 would be my preference as the differences in the big cogs are too much for me on the 11-28 and no one really needs an 11 toother.

I'm currently running an 11-28 which I fitted to do some hilly stuff and on my undulating ride today I ended up using the small chain ring for most of the time as that allowed me the small changes I like by using the small cogs at the back. I'm a high cadence monkey (i.e. weak legged ) so this is important to me and once I'd figured it out I was quicker too.

edit: so actually, I could see me using this setup more than I'd intended as previously I was getting royally pissed off with the large changes but now I don't need the big chain ring until over 23mph which is generally downhill so I'm happy to change for that.

silver2789

i never go into the 28 cog as i find it too low for me even on the steep climbs, which is why i wasn't too fussed about loosing that 28. Ive never used anything other than a 11-28 so i'm used to the large gaps in gears but i do sometimes find i constantly shift up and down between gears before i settle down on an incline so the i might give the 12-27 a try

nawty

Well,if you have strong legs then you'd probably be better with a 12-25.

The 2nd lowest on your 11-28 will be a 24 tooth so already the 12-25 will be lower geared than what you're using.

cycleclinic

I would find 50-12 to low as a top gear as I hit 40 mph on a sprint I use a 12-23 on 39/53T rings. It all depends on your terrain and how fast you ride.

With ultegra 6600 there are 14-25T cassettes and they suit some but not others. I do think the range of cassette in 6700 is a bit limiting but the 6600 range fill the gaps mostly. Miche cassettes are cheap but custom cassette are doable.
a 16T cog is essential for most people.

12-13-14-15-16 is how cassettes should start or drop the 12 and 13T if they are not needed. for a 12-27T it should be 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27T

DavidJB

thecycleclinic wrote:

I would find 50-12 to low as a top gear as I hit 40 mph on a sprint

:roll:

kajjal

silver2789 wrote:

i never go into the 28 cog as i find it too low for me even on the steep climbs, which is why i wasn't too fussed about loosing that 28. Ive never used anything other than a 11-28 so i'm used to the large gaps in gears but i do sometimes find i constantly shift up and down between gears before i settle down on an incline so the i might give the 12-27 a try

I use a 12-30 which gives me a low gear on my compact just in case of very steep hills.

springtide9

silver2789 wrote:

how do folks, time for another cassette showdown and would appreciate some advice/ comments

I currently run a ultegra 6700 11-28 cassette which come standard on the bike and I have the usual 50/34 compact up front. I can get a sweet deal on dura ace 7900 cassettes and have the choice of several different ones. I was looking at the 11-27 as I don't use the 28t, but I have also been looking at the 12-27 which has the miracle 16t cog from what I read on other sites.

what i'd like to know really, is if anyone has switched from an 11-28 to a 12-27 and is there really a great deal of difference between the two. is there much of a drop in speed going down to the 12cog. from what I read a lot of people seem put off by 11-28's due to the large gap between gears. is it easy to spin out on flats in the 12cog

There is no ideal cassette.... it's a compromise and is dependant on rider and terrain. Having smaller gaps between gears offers close gearing but at the expense of limiting the gear ratios.
If you want to know if you'll be happy with say a 12-25 cassette - ride your bike and don't use the gears above 25 or below 12.

silver2789

I live in the lake district so its a very mixed terrain with lots of ups and downs where ever you go, I commute to work each day around 14mile there and 14 mile back, I usually average around 20-22mph on most days. like the post above says, il try going the next few days staying out of the 11 cog and see if I miss not using it

ivanoile

12t doesn't have to be low for a sprint.

I had a sprint with combination of 14t and 50t Q Ring,going about 39mph with a lot of rpm(I think about 130).
Some guys love big rpm and a lot of pros love getting a big rpm before sprint,you can beat easily in sprint guys with 11t if you have legs for high rpm.

And hills,I mean if you have compact than behind should be no more than 26t if you ride every day.

nochekmate

silver2789 wrote:

I live in the lake district so its a very mixed terrain with lots of ups and downs where ever you go, I commute to work each day around 14mile there and 14 mile back, I usually average around 20-22mph on most days. like the post above says, il try going the next few days staying out of the 11 cog and see if I miss not using it

Chapeau for that average on a commute in the Lake District!

silver2789

over the last few days I've done around 60miles total staying out of the 11cog and be honest according to strava my average speed hasn't altered and I feel less tired (must be due to better spinning rather than grinding out that 11 cog at every opportunity lol). so I think its safe to say I wouldn't really miss the 11cog unless on a steep decent. that being said I think i'l go for a 12-27 and see how I do

just been looking again at prices between the ultegra 6700 and DA7900, is there really any design difference between the two apart from weight and what they are made from that justifies the price difference

philbar72

11/25 is my go to solution for where i live. i can get up 22% hills on the 23/25, and use my sprint in the 12 or 11 teeth in the big ring. if however you were climbing big gradients for long periods, i'd probably go 12/27.