kovacsa

a custom or non-standard style cassette.

My current cassette is this...

Model: Shimano CS-HG50-10
Size: 11-36
Cassette Cogs: 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-36

I don't find the smaller cogs that useful, esp 11 and 13. I find the larger cogs more useful for climbing and cycling in general. Does anyone know where I can find a 10 speed cassette that has a cog starting with 14 or 15 teeth all the way up to a cog that has 38 or 40 teeth? The climbing gears would be much more of a benefit to me. Thanks!

AeroGut

It’s rare to find a cassette that starts much bigger than 11 or 12. However there are mountain bike cassettes that have a wider spacing and go from 11 up to 40 or 42. Another option you might consider is just switching to smaller chain rings in the front and keeping your current cassette.

fietsbob

You are bucking the trends.. there is Junior road racing bike cassettes , that start out with #1 cog a 14t,

but they don't go as big as the one by off road crowd is offered

they start at like a 10, so the chainring is kept small , for the big size in the low end..

squirtdad

if you do find one also find out what the max cassette teeth your derailler can handle....

HillRider

10 and 11-speed cassettes starting larger than 11T are getting rare. For some reason even ordinary road riders with 50 and 53T chainrings are convinced they need a 120 to 130 gear-inch high gear.

My favorite 10-speed cassette is the 12x27 but they are nearly impossible to find these days. The closest is a 12x28 or 12x30 but both delete the highly useful 16T cog. I use the 12x27 with a 50/39/26 triple road crank which gives me a range of 26 to 112 gear-inchs with no big gaps.

Bill Kapaun

I just went to a different crank with smaller rings.
I'm old & have medical issues, so i need lots of close spaced lower gears.
22-32-36/38 with 12-27 or 13-25 9 speeds. I used to have 28-38-48.

10 speed get's a bit wonkier to find, but you could probably make your own custom cassette.
A 12/13T 8 or 9 speed end cog should work since you don't have to worry about chain rub on 1 side.

I hate the 11-32 8 speed cassettes commonly found on hybrids.
The 18 to 15T shift is just too wide unless you're racing downhill.

MiPeGr

Being the large fella that I am, I'm switching to smaller front cranks plus a big-tooth cassette.

I can't find the link, but I think it's a thread somewhere on BF that gave me my plan.

In short, take an 11-34 cassette where the first 2 cogs are loose, order a 13t first-position cog and lock ring, I think Ultegra 6600. Take off the existing 11t and 13t cogs, and replace with the 13t first-position cog. Now you have a 13-34 with 9 cogs. Then add an e*thirteen 40t expander cog for Shimano. Now you have 13-40. 13 to 15 shift will not be optimized, but should still work OK. Not the simplest solution, but should work. I'm hoping it does. Sadly 22/40 is what I need to get up 6+% grades.

The other option similar to above I've seen is to replace the 15t and 17t on an 11-34 with a 16t, but then you have 11-13-16-19 and that might be too big of jumps, depending on your riding style.

This should also work with 9sp 11-34 cassette, as long as you get the spacing between the 34t and 40t rings correct, as it was designed for 10sp, but my understanding is the shift ramps are the same.

If I find the link to the thread I'm thinking of, I'll post it to this thread.

berner

Universalhttps://www.universalcycles.com/ Cycles, has a vast selection of most everything. They sell lots of cassettes as well as individual cogs. You might be able to concoct a custom cassette.

xroadcharlie

It would help if we new the chain ring you are using. I'm with AeroGut, I'd consider replacing the chainrings, or replace the crankset with one compatible with your BB if necessary.

I think a 46/30 chainring with your existing cassette would be almost ideal for those wanting more low end grunt and have a double chainring. That would give you a gear inch range w/26" tires of 22 - 92 without using the 11t cog with reasonable spacing. And a 109 GI with the 11T cog going downhill or coasting with a 50 mph tailwind.

HillRider

My first "good" bike was a 1985 Bridgestone 400 that came with a 6-speed 14x32 freewheel geared 14,16,20,24,28,32. Talk about BIG gaps, the 16 to 20 shift was a chasm. I replaced the original 52T chairing with a 46T giving me a 46/42 half-step that was really needed with that freewheel. High gear was pretty low (89 gear-inches) but the intermediate steps were tolerable.

kovacsa

Hi, This is my bike. https://www.bikes.com/en/bikes/whistler/2015 You may have to select Whistler 70 once on the site. All specs are there.

ThermionicScott 

I agree that a 48/11 is often too high to be useful for many of us. And on paper, a huge cassette like 14-40 would shift the whole range downward nicely.

But that would incur a weight penalty that's hard to sell. You could accomplish the same thing by switching to a 42/32/22 crankset. That would remove one gear from the top and add two to the bottom.

tastewar

Please pardon the interruption, but where is that gear calculator from?

Moe Zhoost

I feel the same way. I would much rather have a 14-36 with closer ratios than the popular 9-13 cogs, which I rarely use even with my 32t chainring. I've done some searching but not in earnest so thanks for posting. I'll be following.

djb

just type in "html gear calculator" and its the first one "bicycle gear calculator"

its a great tool, especially to be able to change/slide stuff and see the results right away, and to compare two setups

change "display" to "gear inches" and it shows the g.i above each gear

djb

my "fast" bike, not even a light bike, but my lightest and fastest, has this setup. Changed the 30 to a 26 for touring with a 11-32 9 speed, but for years have run teh bike with the 12-27 9 spd cassette and while it doesnt have the 16t that the 10 spd cassette does, its a great setup for my bike when its very lightly loaded or with nothing on it.
The 112 g.i for me is perfect, I spin out to about 70kph on downhills and thats fine for me, dont need higher gearing, and can tuck/coast to faster if conditions allow.

tastewar

Amusingly, bicycle gear calculator was what I was unfruitfully searching on. Thank you.

xroadcharlie

I find it ironic that the 11 - 36 10 speed cassette actually has bigger gear to gear gaps on one chainring, no matter what chainring we replace it with, then the 7 speed on many low end bikes like my Giant Sedona.

Bicycle Gear Calculator

So to get reasonable (max 1/8 jump) gear spacing without out jumping between chainrings, Which might need a calculator to figure out what the next step is with a tripple, Kova would need to replace not only the cassette with a much narrower range, But now must replace the chainring or crankset with one with shorter gears if he wants them. Seems like the old 7 and 8 speed triples aren't so bad after all.

That said, Kova's current set-up looks to me be OK now for most recreational riders. Its only touring with gear up long hills, and racing that more closely spaced gears become a priority IMO.

djb

for the jumps between gears in PERCENTAGE, use the sheldon brown gear calculator, it shows very clearly the percentage jump between each shift, ie 12%, 9%, 16% whatever.

Is a great way to compare cassettes to get an idea of jumps--but you do have to have some experience with a given cassette and know the jumps to relate the difference, and to know how this will feel riding.

touring or general riding can have slightly large jumps that feel ok using, but being aware of what feels ok for you is whats important, and balancing this against what you need gearing wise for a given weight of the bike and terrain.

again, from a touring perspective, we are more aware of how we need lower gear inch numbers that take priority over a closely spaced cassette, and live with the compromises.