jcbenten

I have been a road biker for years but never made it past 10 cogs and i do a lot of riding on my trainer (Saris H3). I just purchased a cross bike that has an XD drive and an E-Thirteen 9-34 cassette, and 1x Force drivetrain.

For my trainer, can I get a standard road 11-speed cassette? I understand I cannot get smaller than an 11-tooth cog.
Or do I need to get the XD drive for the trainer and a similar cassette that is on the bike?
Essentially I am asking is the cog spacing the same?

Thanks, chris

unterhausen

So you have an 11 speed SRAM derailleur? If so, you can use SRAM/Shimano 11 speed cassettes.

jcbenten

Thanks for the reply. Bike will have an 11-speed RD...

I ordered a standard 11-speed cassette.

Badger6

May be moot since you've already ordered the new cassette...but, on XD drivers you can get down to a 9 tooth (as the eThirteen is built) and SRAM has a range of 10 tooth high gear cassettes.

What cassette did you order?

unterhausen

The trainer comes with the standard driver that only takes an 11 tooth small gear. You can get an XD driver for the trainer, but that plus a cassette costs more than just getting a cassette. I don't think it's going to hurt him much to have an 11 vs. a 9 tooth gear, but then again I'm not one of those guys that reaches 95km/hr on a flat sprint.

Badger6

Ah...I didn't pick up the implied part of it being a direct drive trainer. Just reread it.

jcbenten

I picked up the SunRace 11-28. The bike, a Reven Voltage, has 1xForce with a 40-tooth chainring and the e*thirteen 9-34. I put everything together last night and it is now mounted on the trailer and shifts with no issues. I run less than 100% on the trainer so I am not losing much on the low-end and I think the 11 will be enough for flats. I am older and a big fellow so no real high-speed work for me unless it is downhill.

This bike will be a whole new level of learning: 1x drivetrain, disc brakes, thru axles, and tubular wheels. The bike came with Cole T38's. I thought the package was good deal on ebay. Initially I though about selling the wheels and getting clinchers but chucked that idea when I saw the wheels. Very nice.

So far, though, I find the thru Axle to be a royal PITA. Perhaps it will grow on me. Initial investigation (youtube videos from GCN and others) show thru axles to be a mess. Any standardization that I have not picked up on? I get the idea and benefits but standardization from the beginning would be nice.

Badger6

What is the issue with the Thru-axle?

jcbenten

More than likely it is just me. But the videos on Youtube I watched implied different bolt lengths and, more importantly, different thread specifications (fine vs not-so-fine/almost coarse). For the Reven, front and rear wheel seemed that the threading was on different sides of the bike. I need to confirm. I want to get levered bolts so I am not beholden to allen wrenches. Also, the adapters for the trainer are not labeled...so it was a bit of trial-and-error to get the right adapters. And a bit tigher fit getting the bike on the trainer once I had the correct adapters.

So in the end...the issue is probably me and my learning curve. But I do not see a manual anywhere and the videos have their own agenda (one of the videos is by "Roberts Thru Axles" or something like that).

Badger6

Hmmm. I've never changed out the axles on any bike I've owned, but then I always carry a small multi-tool with me that can turn my axles out. As for threading, I'm pretty sure that any frame manufactured in the last 5 years (at least) used a fine pitch thread. As for the lengths, yes there have been changes over time, but most gravel bikes have settled to a 12x100mm bolt (12mm diameter, 100mm "dropout" inner dimension) for the front and 12x142 for the rear. Road bikes use this dimension also. MTBs are a little different with the "Boost" standard, and a few manufacturers are toying with a new standard called "Road Boost," but it is not widely used yet.

Elvo

For the thru axle all you need to know is thread pitch (1.0, 1.5, or 1.75 - you can measure it), thread length (you can measure this too), and axle length (you can also measure this too).

ericcox

Not to hijack the thread (ok, I'm hijacking a little), but lauf uses 15X100 on the front, inserted from the drive side (so threads onto the left side). Does make swapping wheels a little more difficult. Then again, the wheels that came on mine are pretty great so I'm not looking to upgrade. But... if I wanted a set with road tires on it, I'd have to search.

Badger6

That's why I said most...because one of my bikes also uses a 15x100 on the fork, and a 12x135 on the rear. In general, though, the dimensions I described are the most common, by a looooooong way. Also, as for wheels with axle standards, many hub manufacturers sell end caps to adapt the hub to the variety of axles, to include QR dropouts.

ericcox

Absolutely - I should have phrased it as a slight frustration with Lauf. I basically assume compatibility between my bikes. The Lauf isn't. I can swap wheels between

unterhausen

That's weird that they would insert from the drive side. I'll have to ask my friend that is an obsessive about such things if he has seen that. It might elicit an entertaining rant. I have seen a lot of variations in TA design, but not that. It would be nice if there had been a standard axle defined for TA. It's a bit silly that "12x100" will not tell you enough to order another axle. OTOH, the axles usually come with the bike and there rarely is any reason to change them. I know someone that always wants a spare of such things so he had to spend some time finding a spare TA for his fork, which was longer and had more threads than most 12x100 TA's.

Trainer manufacturers have had a little bit of trouble adapting to TA's. Wahoo had to redesign their adapters, because that's not really in the standard either. But most hub manufacturers don't seem to have much problem with it.

jcbenten

As a follow up, I rode the trainer last night with no issues. I must say a modern Force RD shifts much better than the 10-year old version on my Kestrel. Now just have to fix the Kestrel...https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...-grommets.html

msu2001la

I love my mechanical SRAM Force 1x11 drivetrain. The shifting is so crisp.

I'm surprised you're able to swap between a 9-34 and an 11-28 with no adjustments. That's a pretty big difference in range, but I guess if the RD is adjusted for the larger cassette, it should run the smaller one just fine.

On my trainer, I've found that a 42t with 11-34 works best. On longer/steeper Zwift climbs I sometimes wish I had one more gear but those situations are rare and could be resolved by changing the in-game settings to lower the resistance a bit. I rarely use the 42-11 on the downhills, and would be fine with 42-12. I'm doing over 30mph at that point anyway.

I run 11-32 outdoors, with either a 40t for off-road/CX racing, or a 44t for flat road riding.

jcbenten

I did a quick spin when I first assembled the bike from shipping and found the 40x9 was more than enough...I had been thinking of going to a 44...

msu2001la

40x9 is roughly the same as a 50-11. That should be plenty of gear for most situations. My standard Shimano freehubs are limited to 11t cogs, so I needed to go bigger on the front ring for road riding, but if I could run a 9T cassette, I'd probably just stick to 40T.