TomMc

I'm new to road bikes and ride hilly terrain. I encounter over 9% grades on my daily rides which slow me down to around 60 rpm. I definitely want another gear.
I have a Cannondale Synapse Shimano Ultegra w/ 50/34 front chain rings and 11-32 rear cassette.

Does anyone make an 11-34 cassette?
Would I need a new derailleur cage if I make the change?
Would I need to change any adjustments besides reducing the cable tension?
Am I just being a wuss and should just man up and ride what I have?

rgconner

Depends on the derailleur. The longer the cage, the more tooth spread you can handle. My older Campy mid sized cage could not quite handle that gearing, but a long cage or a more modern Mid cage could.


You will probably have to give up the 11, and go 13-36

Or hit the gym and do leg work until the current gearing feels fine.

Cyclist0108

The new Shimano Ultegra will include an 11-34 cassette.

That essentially buys you half of a gear step over your 11-32.

I put an 11-36 SRAM cassette on my "off-road" wheel-set for my Ultegra Di2 bike, and cranked in the B-screw. Works reasonably well.

I also put a 46/30T crank on. (There is a thread on this in the 50+ forum with a lot of options listed.)

Each of these two buys you a full lower gear; the crank shaves one off of the top.

You should ride whatever gearing you want without apology or HTFU type "advice" from people who sneer. They have no idea what your needs are, or what your terrain is like. (Having said that, a 30T in front with a 36T in the cassette is only useful to me off-road, where standing to climb a steep hill isn't an option).

Racing Dan

Shimano has a 10sp 11-34 and soon a 11sp 11-34. SRAM has a 11sp 11-36, that is compaitble with shimano. If you already have 11-32 you likely have a long cage GS shifter. Im betting it can take a 11-34, even if its only rated for 11-32, but Im not sure about a 11-36. Possibly you need a new, longer chain as well. The B screw needs to be adjusted.
Every one is different. Get the gears YOU need.

EDIT: As mentioned above :-)

An other option is a "road link" and a 11-40 cassette.

tronnyjenkins 

Mostly on topic- with the new 11-34, can the Dura Ace RD9000 handle this capacity? I know it will for sure the 32, but I have some 10s wheels I'd like to utilize and this cassette option would help (when it's fully available).

TimothyH

The CS-HG800-11 is the new Ultegra 11-speed cassette with 34 tooth sprocket.The SRAM PG-1170 11-speed cassette which goes up to 36 teeth.I'm using the SRAM 11-36 cassette. The rest of the bike is Ultegra 6870 Di2 with GS rear derailleur. The 36 tooth sprocket is not supported by Shimano but it works fine on my particular bike. The only adjustment needed was turning the rear derailleur B screw in quite a bit and sizing the chain properly. It shifts with no problem whatsoever and I cross chain the crud out of it.

Note that I said it works on my bike. I'm not claiming that it will work on any other bike but lots of guys are using it.


-Tim-

tronnyjenkins 

Awesome. Sounds like it may be worth a try with what I have! I can just run my extra 11sp cassette minus a cog until the R8000 one is readily available.

OP- isn't this place great?

shelbyfv

I don't really see anything wrong with a 60 cadence on a 9% grade.

Danny01

go 11-40 with a roadlink

Carbonfiberboy 

My preferred climbing cadence is ~83 on long grades. Yesterday I did 2600' followed immediately by 2900'. 83 was perfect for me, though sometimes it was down as low as 78 or up to 90, depending on gear. Legs didn't get really tired during though they are tired today. I know stronger climbers than I who run ~95.

FlashBazbo

Yep, those who don't see anything wrong with climbing at a 60 cadence either don't climb long climbs or haven't done it for very long. Knees aren't built for doing that very much.

wphamilton

Depends on what kind of 9% it is in my opinion. I live in a fairly hilly area, but 9% honestly might be .2 miles, usually less, and I have to agree with Shelbyfv, what's wrong with a 60 cadence on a short section of 9%.

Had I a mile of true 9% average grade no question I'd gear it way down, spin up and go slower than on these punchy grades. It's more about horses for courses though than selecting a cadence.

Carbonfiberboy 

Also depends on the ride length. On long rides, say starting ~300k, I spin up everything no matter how small. Every time you bang your legs, you lose something. Not as much fun as powering over, I'll admit.

wphamilton

That's above my pay-grade My perspective is a more normal human effort, riding around for 2-3 hours.

NormanF

Typically, you go to an MTB rear derailleur... they will handle an alpine-range cassette. Since its marketing, you can switch over to a full MTB drivetrain on a road bike with no problems.

shelbyfv

I'd love to be able to spin up all the hills but it's not happening unless I go to a 40t pie plate or something. My hills are short and from 9 or 10% to about 20% I just ride as if I'm climbing stairs, one foot at a time. I'm not going to ride the few hills over 20% anymore, got dizzy the last time and that was kind of disturbing. I'm not really advocating this, spinning is obviously better, but it's not the end of the world. BTW, Flash- you may know the roads I ride, Williamson and Maury counties. Up and down but no really long grades.

Rider51

This.

I'm a spinner, and fairly fit. I routinely will pedal my way up gradients less than 9% using a 34x28 or even 34x32 at a high RPM.

I can, and sometimes do, stand and grind a bigger gear at a lower RPM up a short rise, but it's not a common way I climb.

There's nothing manly about trying to push a monster gear up a climb and suffering, or worse, injuring your knees, or back (wait until you're older). If I ever ride something like Mt. Washington, I'm going to swap the front ring on my bike for something like a 26. Yes, a 26x32 will be first gear. I may look like a sewing machine as I go up that thing, and I couldn't care less if other people think I'm a wuss doing it.

bluescatjm

I use the wolftooth road link on my ultegra setup. I have the ultegra long cage RD and and 11-36 cassette and it works perfectly. The road link attaches to your RD hanger and basically drops your rear mech about an inch, giving you room for a larger cassette. You need the long cage RD because it has to be able to pick up the slack of the longer chain needed for the larger cogs. Basically the whole package of new RD, chain, and road link cost me a total of about $150. I still have my 53/39 up front, which gives me the best of both worlds. I can spin up hill in a gear that is very close to a compact with a 32T, and still crank it in 53/11 if I need to.

psiphi

About 4 weeks ago I put shorter crank arms on my bike because I'm really short. Several people had mentioned that shorter crank arms are easier to spin, and this was true for me. My hip flexor pain has gone away completely and I'm able to keep a higher cadence. I picked Rotor 3d 150mm cranks because my inseam is only 27 inches from crotch to floor. A couple people who are 5'10 and up have reported good results with 165mm cranks.

Since I had the Rotor crank arms, I was able to get these 46/30 chainrings. https://www.bikerumor.com/2016/10/25...-plus-pricing/ It's low gearing for days with my 11-28 cassette, and I don't miss the 50-11 combination because it never really got used.

Lovely Bike has sub 1:1 gearing with this hybrid sram/campy setup. https://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2013/...ampagnolo.html

TomMc

Thanks so much for the replies gents. It's all really valuable to me because I don't have any perspective yet - including about RPMs. I'm vacillating now between an SRAM PG-1170 11-36T cassette and a Shimano Deore XT M8000 11-40T cassette using the road link drop down


Would a Shimano 105 5800 HG601 11 Speed 116 tooth chain likely be long enough for the 11-36 cassette or the 11-40 w/ the road link?
If not, do I need to buy two chains?

I'm wondering if the space between gears for the 11-40T would be a jump in cadence.

wphamilton

You'll need to look up the "capacity" of your rear derailleur to make sure it will work with those cassettes and your front rings. I'm pretty sure that most chains are long enough.

Yes, not having big jumps in cadence is the whole point of closer spaced cassettes. It is somewhat minimized there because most of the jump with a 36 or even 40 is between the last two or three cogs and the bailout. But you will have wider gaps.

Danny01

The jumps are bigger in the bailout gears. On the faster end of the cassette, they are spaced pretty close, much like a regular road cassette.

The chain should be long enough. Just don't cross chain. The better solution for a cassette that big is to get an SLX/XT/XTR sgs rear derailleur in combination with the Wolftooth Tanpan. Yes it costs more, but you won't have to worry about wrap capacity or snapping off the derailleur.

TomMc

Thanks a lot guys. I decided to get the 11-36 cassette because TimothyH said he's using that successfully w/ a Shimano Di2 derailleur. Got the 116 tooth chain which should be long enough. Thanks to everyone for all the help.

TimothyH

Please don't get it because I said it works. It works on my Niner RLT 9 RDO but I make no guarantees that it will work on any other bike.

Please get it because you are willing to try it, because you are willing to see for yourself whether it works or not.

You need to pay very close attention to how you size your chain. Too tight and the rear derailleur might rip right off.

By all means however, please let us know how it works.


-Tim-

f4rrest

On the other hand, since you're just starting out, you'll get stronger and lighter in a month or two if you keep riding.