Lower gears....chainrings or cassette?

heihei
heihei Posts: 61
edited June 2015 in Road buying advice
Just got a bike that came with 53/39 and 11-25 cassette which is too much for me. Any advice on which to switch first, cassette or chainrings? Running 9000 Dura-Ace so have ability to switch to compact rings.

Comments

  • sloppyschleckonds
    sloppyschleckonds Posts: 8,019
    As noone knows your riding ability or terrain you ride you have options of either:

    Change rear mech for a medium cage and either 28 or 32 cassette
    Change for 50/34 chainrings, any cassette up to 28
    Change for semi compact 52/36 etc and up to 28 cassette

    Pretty sure the 9000 you can fit any size chainrings without changing cranks.

    HTH
    I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Generally if the gears are too much I would change to a compact first.

    I know it's not the cheapest option as DA chain rings are pricey, but it means you keep the tight ratios at the back. I have an 11-28 and even with an 11sp cassette it's not ideal. 12-25 on my other wheels is pretty much perfect for rolling terrain where it's unlikely I'll be doing 40+ mph so no danger of spinning out
  • rafletcher
    rafletcher Posts: 1,235
    heihei wrote:
    Just got a bike that came with 53/39 and 11-25 cassette which is too much for me. Any advice on which to switch first, cassette or chainrings? Running 9000 Dura-Ace so have ability to switch to compact rings.

    viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12583566
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Yikes! That sounds like it might be a costly miscalculation.

    You say 'just got'. Is it too late to ask the retailer if they'd swap the neccessary drivetrain components to give you what you need?

    Failing that, remember you can always Ebay the bits you take off to defray the cost of the new parts...
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    oxoman wrote:
    Personally I would change the chainset to a compact and put a 12 /28 cassette on it.

    This is, of course, the correct answer as just putting a bigger cassette on or just going compact is only going to make a small difference, you probably need both.

    That said, the cassette is the first place to start, you could go to 28T for the price of a new cassette and probably new chain. Neither of which is cheap if you want to stick with DA.
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    39 x28 is within the realms of most mortals isn't it for most hills up to 20%, if not go with a 36 inner chainring, that you can get from places like bike 24 (just get the ultegra one and unbolt the dura ace one, it should work fine), changing down or up will take very slightly longer, but i run 53/36 for very hilly courses and it works fine.

    Also don't bother with dura ace cassettes. get ultegra or 105 11 speed. i run 12-28 105 on one of the bikes and its perfect for most terrain. who cares about a few grams.

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