Final 'buy' recommendation for cassette
Rich, others,
Running a compact, 3.x w/kg, mediocre climber. 11-27 or 11-28?
considerations
-price diff between DA 11-27 and 105/ult 11-28 is about $130, which is conincidentally the amount I'll need to pay off my "Rich Strauss Low VI" beer bet debt.
-highest I've ever used is a 25. worried the 28 will be too significant a change. silly, i know.
0
Comments
27-11 and get a SRAM Force or Shimano Ultegra (or lower). I "think" SRAM has more/better choices in their mid-lower end cassettes. Don't get Red or DA, both are wayyyy over priced and the Red cassette (the 26-11 I'm running) is noisy compared to the Shimano 25-12 I ran at the camp.
I can already taste my Low VI Championship beer -- Crop Circle Wheat at the Great Dane...hmmm....
Are you very particular in your cadence or can you adapt to being in a 10-15rpm range pretty easily? - If you like a certain cadence I would go 11-26, if you are flexible the 11-28 will give you more than enough.
Are you closer to the 3.0 or 4.0 w/kg? - Under 3.5 I would lean towards 11-28, Over I would go 11-26.
If you are right in the middle of either of those, then 11-27 seems right.
Also, the cadence gap is largely a non-issue at WI because you're never in the same gear for more than a couple minutes. That said, I'm swapping out the 26-11 and 25-12 depending on the rides I'm doing out here. The 26-11 on a flat ride drives me nuts, great for the climbs I have around here though.
Thanks, guys. I'm cashing out my stocks and putting all my $$ in 11-27's until the turmoil is over.
I'll probably be 3-and-small-change on race day, but definitely not 3.5. I see that number in terms of years. My cadence can be anywhere without it feeling too unnatural.
I'm at 4.0 w/kg and will be using an 11/26. There was only one climb that I couldn't keep my watts down. That was Timber Lane and I didn't exceed FTP. It's a short climb too.
In 2009, I had an FSA standard crank that came stock with my bike and this 11-26 SRAM cassette, and i could never get them to work that great together. As soon as I switched back to my ultegra 12-25 cassette, life was a lot better.
However, in 2010, I switched to an R700 (Shimano pseudo-ultegra) compact, which the LBS assured me would result in better shifting (as well as the gear changes), and they were right. Better up front by a mile. But moreover, the SRAM cassette now works just fine.
So now I no longer swear at Mancona under my breath when he says the SRAM and Shimano are interchangeable. Sorry about that, MA. :-)
I have many shimano and sram casettes and I promise they really are interchangable, just make sure you install them correctly as Shimano uses a spacer and sram does not.
In general I find the shift quality of shimano and sram powerglide (PG) the exact same. However, the sram open glide (OG) on the older 1050 and 1070 models and current 1090 Red model seems a little sloppy to me.
The sram cassettes seem to stay and come clean better and they are also generally available in more and better gearng combos in my opinion (however Shimano finally started making more options last year).
The shimano cassettes are definitely quieter then the sram though, so if gear noise bothers you go with Shimano.
All that said, I ride whatever I can get for cheap, as cassettes just wear out and have to be replaced anyway :-)
FWIW - For chains, i like KMC the most, then shimano. I will run SRAM chains when I get them free but will never pay for one. Also I always run a KMC masterlink as my chains have been lasting longer then my frames and components recently ;-)
Want a couple used ones cheap?