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Cassette choice....

oscar_poscar_p
in General Training Discussions
Hi all

I have 2 cycling events (my bike bike week events) planned as follows:

May flyer 95 miles with 2,062 m climbing

Tour of Wessex - Day 1 - 107 miles / Day 2 - 116 miles / Day 3 112 miles, with a total of 7,672m of climbing over the 3 days

The are perfect opportunities to test my fitness, practice my pacing and nutrition!!! I have no plans to do brick runs afterwards before you ask!!!!

I currently have a Ultegra 6750 Groupset 2x10-speed Compact with 11-25 cassette. Looking at the advice from the Wiki this is the wrong cassette - out of the following which would be the most appropriate for these events (I did them last year and ran out of gears!)?



11-28

12-23

12-25

12-30



Many thanks in advance

Graham

Comments

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    If it were me, I'd go with the 11-28.

    Can you confirm that the climbing numbers you cited are in Meters and not in Feet? If they are actually in Feet, my answer for you wouldn't actually be any different since you already said that you ran out of gears last yr on these courses.

    You might have some cadence gaps (which I don't personally mind). None of those days seems to have "Monster" climbing, but they will certainly all have a lot of climbing. Mo gears is Mo better. I personally like having the "11" with a compact. Not sure if that Ultegra rear deraileur can even handle the "30" of the 12-30 (would need to go check google for that), but I can't imagine you'd need the "30" unless there are some REALLY steep sections or if your W/Kg is on the lower side.
  • wills029wills029

    Hi John,

    Question concerning the gearing on your P5. Did you stay with the 52/36 Rotor aero crankset and add the 11-28T cassette?

    Santa was really good to me and I have a new P5 in the paincave. I went with a 12-28 SRAM cassette and have the option of swapping the 52/36 to a 50/34.

    Thanks in advance.

    Bill

  • lancelsulancelsu
    11-28 no doubt......better to have extra going up than not enough going down!
  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    @Bill-- I had one of the first P5s so it came with a Standard crank. I use my SRM which is a 50/34. BUT, I then swapped out my chainrings for the Osymetric ones http://shop.osymetricusa.com/ which are more like your 52/36 (they are great if you are okay with somewhat crappy shifting). I really like the 52/36 because it kind of gives you the best of both worlds. But again, that depends on what your W/Kg in and on the type of courses you plan on riding. I raced ~3.75W/Kg last yr and with my 11-28, never really thought I needed more gears on any actual race course (that included IMLP and AmZof).
  • oscar_poscar_p

    @Bill - ascents are in Meters !! (TOW is 7000 ft per day) My Current W/Kg is 2.4

    Based on this would the 11-28 still be applicable?

  • wills029wills029

    @John. Thanks for the advice. I am going to stick with the 52/36 and 12-28 setup and see how I handle the hills, once Ontario thaws out sometime in Spring. Btw, I am just loving the look and feel of the the P5. I feel lucky!!

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow

    @Graham-- In that case I would go with the new 12-30 cassette. There are a couple of threads from my google search that say it should work with your Ultegra RD.


    You will probably need to screw the "b" screw on your deraileur all the way in to it's Max position. Coming from a 11-25, you "might" need an extra link or 2 in your chain. Might be the type of thing that is worth actually taking to your LBS mechanic to put on the first time as not to have too short of a chain and rip your RD off the first time you accidentally go into your 50-front/30-rear combination.

     

    @Bill--  Sick bike.  It really converts all of your power into forward motion.  Start a different thread in the spring if you need pointers or help on getting it all setup for training or racing.

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    With 2.4 W/kg, all doubt is removed. Go for the one with the easiest gear you can get on there. I agree with John that you'll want some professional adjustment if you go the 12-30 route.

    But you can do the math on these things (just divide the rear gear # into the front gear #). You get a bigger effect in general by going compact (e.g., 50/34) than you do changing the cassette.

  • oscar_poscar_p
    @John - thanks for this.

    @William - Apologies FTP is 3.1 W/Kg - still very low, but I'm working on improving it.

    I'll source the 12-30 and get the LBS to fit it. Thanks everyone.

    Spinning up hills is going to be a new experience for me - I normally just grind it out (killing my legs) - oh the joys of being a new cyclist, lots to learn.

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    3.1 is very respectable. No worries...we all are. That's probably where I am today, too. :-)
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