"Gearing" up for the Mountains!

[featuretile]

I have a Specialized Ruby with compact 50-34 chainrings. It had a 12-27 rear cassette. This was not working for me in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There are places with over 10% grades. I changed the rear cassette to a 12-32 IRD (since Shimano does not make a wide range 10 speed cassette). I changed the 105 short cage derailleur to a 105 long cage derailleur and a new chain. Now the bike can do hills much better. Even with this setup, I see even more experienced riders with even lower gears than I now have. I can see how much more they spin than I do. Many of them have triples (or mountain bike triples) with 11-34 cassettes. So, if you are going to make some changes, I would recommend going even further than you are planning since the expense would probably by similar anyway. Of course, it depends how steep your hills are.

[OakLeaf]

VeloMel, where do you ride now? What mountains do you plan to ride?

It's the grade, not the elevation. You'd probably need shorter gearing for most of the Appalachians, even the foothills, than you do for the Rockies.

Terrain is something we can tell you about, as is how to change gearing. What your legs are happy with is something that only you know. Do you like to power up hills, or sit and spin? What about on the descents (I see you're thinking about an 11T top gear)? Are you using all the gears you have now?

[bcipam]

Many years ago, in prep for riding across Utah, I changed out my rear cassette and derailleur on my road bike to Shimano XTR which gave me a 11-34 (I ride a triple). Basically I have mountain bike gearing for climbing which suits me well. I'm old and need all the spin I can get on long, hard climbs.

The plan was to return the 11/27 but I just never got around to it...

I have now having a bike built and decided to add 10 speed (old bike was 9 speed) and am again putting a mtb cassette and derailleur on the rear. I choose Sram's new XX cassette - a work of art but it's only 32, not 34 tooth, Using a regular Shimano MTB derailleur. It's a beautiful road bike (custom built by John Slawta/Landshark) but is personalized with the MTB rear. I like climbing mountains but I need all the help I can get!

[VeloMel]

VeloMel, where do you ride now? What mountains do you plan to ride?

It's the grade, not the elevation. You'd probably need shorter gearing for most of the Appalachians, even the foothills, than you do for the Rockies.

Terrain is something we can tell you about, as is how to change gearing. What your legs are happy with is something that only you know. Do you like to power up hills, or sit and spin? What about on the descents (I see you're thinking about an 11T top gear)? Are you using all the gears you have now?

We are going to the White Moutain region NH. I am a decent climber, I rode in a race this year with a brutal half mile climb hitting some really steep grades 15% (3 times!) By the end I was dying for those extra gears (riding a 50-36 and 12-25) but still managed to come in 22 out of 38( I'll take that for my first race)!! Just going to the moutains for leasure fitness ride, and don't want to hang myself up by my chamois!!

[VeloMel]

I have SRAM rival, I read that the derailleur can handle 11-28....I wish I had my own personal bike mechanic...for free!

[OakLeaf]

I'd put the 34 on in front *and* the wider range cog.

You're going on the trip to have fun. You don't *have* to use the extra gears if you find you don't need them, but if you need them and don't have them, you won't have fun.

JMO.

[Cataboo]

I have SRAM rival, I read that the derailleur can handle 11-28....I wish I had my own personal bike mechanic...for free!

Actually, none of the changes we've mentioned you doing are ones that are particularly all that difficult... Changing the front chain ring to a 34 probably will just take an allen wrench. Changing the rear cassette just requires a chain whip and a rear cassette tool (basically it fits into the little ring that is on the outside of the cassette and allows you to unscrew that - the chain lets you hold the cassette in place so it won't spin when you unscrew it... but you can jury rig that with a length of chain if you have to... ) and changing the chain requires a chain tool (which is probably on your bike multi tool anyways)

There's videos on you tube on how to do all of that.

[bcipam]

....I changed the rear cassette to a 12-32 IRD (since Shimano does not make a wide range 10 speed cassette). ...

They just came out with one but I still decided to use sram...

[ultraviolet]

I have a Specialized Ruby with compact 50-34 chainrings. It had a 12-27 rear cassette. This was not working for me in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There are places with over 10% grades. I changed the rear cassette to a 12-32 IRD (since Shimano does not make a wide range 10 speed cassette). I changed the 105 short cage derailleur to a 105 long cage derailleur and a new chain. Now the bike can do hills much better. Even with this setup, I see even more experienced riders with even lower gears than I now have. I can see how much more they spin than I do. Many of them have triples (or mountain bike triples) with 11-34 cassettes. So, if you are going to make some changes, I would recommend going even further than you are planning since the expense would probably by similar anyway. Of course, it depends how steep your hills are.

Responding to the part I put in bold above:
Shimano actually does make a wide range 10-speed cassette now. I just installed an 11-34 cassette on a bike with a compact crank (50/34) over the weekend. Just an FYI.

[featuretile]

That's great that Shimano is now making a wide range cassette! I called them last year and they said 'no way'. It seemed that since compact bikes are getting more common, they should offer a way to lower the gearing. Can I ask what the 11-34 10 speed costs? My IRD is working fine so I'll keep it, but I have a friend who wants to change hers out.

[ultraviolet]

It looks like they have two different models. One that runs around $85, and the other about $115. JensonUSA carries both of them.

[smilingcat]

just one more thing about swapping cassettes and chain ring. Well actually two things.

First. Make sure your derailure can handle the teeth count.

Second. If your chain and cassette has been heavily used then you decide to swap out the old cassette with the new. The chain may end up skipping on the new cassette.this is the case then you may need to replace the chain as well.

You may also need to adjust the rear derailure's B-screw. By going to a larger teeth count on your cog, the rear deraillure's upper pully (guide) will may touch the biggest cog. If this happens you will need to adjust the B-screw.

Can't think much of anything else.