Cassette Selection with Double Chainset

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Lets look at this in realistic terms. Are you going to spend more time going fast or climbing? You are not going to find many routes where you spend all day climbing that you find an 11 tooth sprocket of any use. Chances are speed is not something in your mind. And If you are after speed a 30 Cog is not a gear you are likely to use since you will choose your route to avoid 15% inclines

    I good choice would be get a 105 casette with 11-25 for the flat days (thats if you can even push an 11 cog with any real power for long enough to make it a valid gear) when you want to whizz about and avoid anything steeper than a curb stone and get another with 12-32 or even a 13-32 for the days you are up in them there hills.

    Sure your chain will maybe not be long enough from big to big on the 32 tooth but so long as you remember that you have to go into the little ring to get to the the lower half of the gears it wont matter. Its horses for courses.

    I have a nice fast set of carbon 50mm rims with tubs on fitted with a 11-25. Do I use them on climbs? Do I bollox! I have a set of Zondas with a 12-28 for that. I know the chain wont go 53 tooth to 28tooth as its too short but why would I even try? I shift onto the little ring before even going so low if I need to.

    If there was a one size fits all gear setup then there wouldnt be so many variations out there to begin with .
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,964
    I have a nice fast set of carbon 50mm rims with tubs on fitted with a 11-25. Do I use them on climbs? Do I bollox! I have a set of Zondas with a 12-28 for that. I know the chain wont go 53 tooth to 28tooth as its too short but why would I even try? I shift onto the little ring before even going so low if I need to.

    If there was a one size fits all gear setup then there wouldnt be so many variations out there to begin with .
    Is an 11-28 that big a stretch of the imagination?
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I have a nice fast set of carbon 50mm rims with tubs on fitted with a 11-25. Do I use them on climbs? Do I bollox! I have a set of Zondas with a 12-28 for that. I know the chain wont go 53 tooth to 28tooth as its too short but why would I even try? I shift onto the little ring before even going so low if I need to.

    If there was a one size fits all gear setup then there wouldnt be so many variations out there to begin with .
    Is an 11-28 that big a stretch of the imagination?

    No its not if you want to use it, I just feel a closer group of gears in the middle if more beneficial than a large spread of gears of which half I won't use.
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    I rarely use my 11 even when sprinting. it gets used less than 2% of the time, I'd say.. maybe I need to readjust my way of using a cassette!!!
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,964
    Merckx beat all comers with a top gear of 52 × 13. When estimating whether you have any use for an 11T sprocket, a good question to ask yourself is: am I faster than Eddy Merckx?
    Or would I prefer a compact for hitting the hills?
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Boardman did a 25 in the early '90s in 47:19, and the track chainset he put on fouled the chain when he tried to engage the 12t sprocket, so he had a top gear of 53x12.

    But it's OK to have an 11t sprocket, particularly if you're racing, and/or doing fast descending. I'd question anyone who says that they need one if the root cause is really that they're not fit enough to spin, but it's a free country... Personally I prefer to use a 12t and a bigger chainring.