Originally Posted by
Camilo
Hmm. My only DT shift bike currently has an 8 speed cassette with 50-34 in front and 11-28 in back. I'm no hero, but I can ride pretty good hills with it. I have the exact same gearing on my two other road bikes that have shift/brake levers. Nothing's flat round here.
It's definitely possible to build a DT shifter bike with wider gearing. For me, though, my DT shifter bikes are C&V, and the cranksets are all 130mm BCD, so I can't do chainrings smaller than 39 without changing to a different crankset, which doesn't fit with what I want the bikes to be (as close to original as possible). Similarly, at the back end, I could use a wider cassette, but then I'd have to use different derailleurs, which also doesn't fit with what I want. AND they've all got C&V brakes, which are not as good as dual pivots, so the fact that I can't do extended climbs also means I don't do long descents, so it all works out. I do have one with a 6sp 13-32 cassette, but I find I'm not really fond of the big jumps between cogs - I'm spoiled by 10 and 11 speeds!