Attention Equipment Geeks! I have a rear cassette question

[bcipam]

Just so you aren't in suspense, it is a 12/25. I think I want a cassette with a 34 for my little gear. I think it would help my climbing immensely.

I bought my Lemond Zurich with a 12/25. I had them put on a 27 and eventually got convinced to change out the rear Ultegra derailleur and cassette for an XTR derailleur and cassette which now gives me 12/34. At times I wished I hadn't done this and just struggled with the 27 to make me a stronger climber but with all the touring I've done through Utah and other states I am soooo glad for the 34. I don't go into it as much as before but glad it's there when needed.

Just a word of caution: need to find a good mechanic to make the proper adjustments. In the beginning I could not drop into the 30,32 and 34 found a good mechanic and now the shifting is very smooth - not as smooth of course as the 25 or 27 but works OK for me. You also lose some "fine tuning" by moving the cassette up. But then, I can climb up almost anything.

[slinkedog]

Hey tprevost! I'm not sure how much of a difference it has made just because I put it on right before my son started soccer last year, at which point I essentially stopped riding my bike. So I didn't get a lot of chances to go do some of my benchmark hills for comparison. I'm sure it is helpful, though. I'm still tempted to try a mtb cassette in the back. We'll see.

We'd LOVE to ride with you. I'm very bad on hills and slow on the ones I can make it up. We'll be great riding partners!

[DebW]

As with everything, there are tradeoff. With wider gears, you give up quickness and precision in shifting, plus you have bigger jumps between cogs and more weight. A wide range cassette requires a derailleur with a long cage and with the jockey wheels positioned farther from the cogs, thus slower and less precise shifting. Though with the 9 and 10 speed cassettes these days, having a couple low gears you seldom use isn't much of a hardship (I still use a 6-speed freewheel) unless your shifting is affected.

[SadieKate]

Here is my rule of thumb. Flatland riding like I have around Davis means a road cassette with very closely spaced cogs. 26 is the largest cog on my flatland bike and typical 50/40/30 chainrings. I have a lot of minute choices to fine tune my cadence on the flats but no cliff climbing gears.

For hilly and mountainous rides, I opt for a bike with a touring style crank and an mtn cassette. The chainrings are 48/36/26 and the cassette is a typical 34T 9spd which gives you a high top end and a low bottom end, but not minute increments in the middle. The only time I notice "missing gears" is when I use this bike on the flats because of the wider spaced cogs.

If you are a good wrench and have a derailleur and chain that will handle a larger cassette, there is no reason you can't swap cassettes when necessary. I swap out the 34T cassette for a 12-25T when I really want to use that bike on the flats, thereby giving me the narrow range.

I believe in using gears to get you where you need to go, not attempting to strengthen your legs to match the gears. The latter can be very discouraging and perhaps damaging. There are so many anatomical and physiological reasons for each of us to be able to turn over a particular gear that I hate to see people told to "just get stronger." Low gears get you up a hill while you get stronger and then can use the next gear up. Plus, it never hurts to have a "bail out" gear.

[tprevost]

I actually printed this thread and took it to my mechanic yesterday! Initially, we tried to put a 32T on the back but ended up with shifting issues (clicking etc.) So, by putting the 12-27 on the back and reducing the smaller two chainrings by 3 each, I can get pretty much what I want without having to change anything on the derailer etc (I wanted it to be where I can switch it back and forth easily without having to modify any other aspects!) The chainrings are forthcoming so I hope to have it all together by next week. I do still have my touring bike that has a pretty good granny so if I do the "utah" thing (bcipam, that's all your fault! ) I can always take that bike. SadieKate, your bike has amazingly low gears! I can't wait to meet you at LRRH!!!! I find it so interesting how differently each bike has to be modified; in my simple mind I would think they should all be similar! If I tried to put what bcipam has on my bike, I'd need to do quite a few additional modifications just to make it work!

Slinkedog, I will be up there in the next month or two and I will definately bring my bike! My kids love the drop-in day care near Valley Fair so that makes it easy! When I was young and in better shape I did that ride out of South San Jose (I Care Classic, I think?) that went up Bailey and then up by the lakes south of Almaden; I love that ride; definately a goal to do that route again (couldn't make it up Bailey without stopping to save my life now though!)

Before I forget, do any of you NorCal ladies do the Healdsburg Harvest Century (my very favorite) or Foxy's Fall Century in Davis? Also, bcipam, if you are going to do the LAGBRAU in 2007, I'm gonna follow you!

I really appreciate everyone's input and info on all of your various modifications; I'd forgotten all about the ability to make those changes and had no idea what types of changes to look into!

Tracy

[SadieKate]

SadieKate, your bike has amazingly low gears! I can't wait to meet you at LRRH!!!! I find it so interesting how differently each bike has to be modified; in my simple mind I would think they should all be similar!

Jobob and Veronica run similar gears. It's what gets us up the Bay Area mountains. I didn't need those low gears until I started riding Diablo and Hamilton with them.

LRRH doesn't need these low gears. Pretty durn flat. I don't think I ever used the granny, but I accidentally left a 13-28 cassette on my Litespeed for that ride when I normally use a 13-26 for the flats. Funny how that little tiny change made a difference. I kept finding "holes" in the spacing. I'm such a princess.

[SadieKate]

Oh no, it's posted here for God and everybody to see just how stupid I truly am.

I actually printed this thread and took it to my mechanic yesterday!

Cool! Did you make sure that they saw slinke's original question? Hee-hee. It did start a good conversation.

[slinkedog]

Yeah, sure, yuk it up at my expense. I can take it.

[SadieKate]

Before I forget, do any of you NorCal ladies do the Healdsburg Harvest Century (my very favorite) or Foxy's Fall Century in Davis?

Do a search on these because some of us have ridden them so I'm sure there are threads with some info.

BTW, Bubba has a cross bike set up for road using a mtn crankset. He runs 42/32/22 with a very narrow cassette in back, maybe a 25 which he swaps to a 30T hilly rides. It's all in the gear ratios.

[slinkedog]

We're thinking of doing the Healdsburg Harvest Century, actually.

[tprevost]

actually, I think he skipped right over Slinkedog's original question because he probably assumed I had asked it!

Slinkedog, definately do healdsburg! It is very beautiful; of course the trick is to get a massage afterwards then have a nice dinner! I am driving up for it! I talked my friend in OR into meeting me there - she's 68 so we're doing the 37 mile route (even though she can probably still leave me in the dust on the metric!). Now that I am back 'in the saddle', I will try to do that one every year. If my friend doesn't go, I'll bump up to the metric. If you go (this goes for everyone) we'd love to meet for dinner the night before or after the ride!

SadieKate, have you done Foxy's Fall Century? I was thinking of comin' up for that one too because my sister and nephew both live in Davis and my usual childcare issues would be covered! If you have done it; I'd love your opinion as I haven't found much about that one yet on the forums! (my sister goes back and forth between this house and one up at lake wildwood so I have to let her know quite a while in advance if I need her to be at a specific house for a visit! - must be nice )

Anyway, no worries Slinkedog - nobody even noticed

Trac'