# 11-32 cassette on a road bike?



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

just purchased myself one of these for my road bike that already has a compact chainset upfront, mainly because i wanted something with 11teeth at the bottom instead of the 12-25 of my old one for abit extra power, then i saw the 11-32 option and thought, i do struggle on some of the very steep climbs up north, especially when they go on for over a mile, and i am on my way back from a hard days work with a bergen full of all sorts on my back not to mention i already weigh in at 110 kilo, is this size cassette frowned upon on a road bike? or will i see some great benifits? the cassette it's sale only cost me 7 quid new in the sale, abit heavier than my old one but thats understandable due to much more material


----------



## adscrim (5 Feb 2014)

Who cares if it's frowned upon. The real problem is that you might need a longer rear mech to cope with it.


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

never thought of that one..., would i need a longer chain too?


----------



## Stu Plows (5 Feb 2014)

Possibly may need new derailleur, what year is your bike and what are the components on it?


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

and can i buy just the cage or do i need the whole deralliour

specialized 2014 latest sora


----------



## MikeW-71 (5 Feb 2014)

Latest Shimano deraileurs are accepting 32t cassettes, you would just need to check the cage length. If you have a longer cage one you'd be fine. You may need to lengthen the chain a bit though.

Even the Pros use this setup sometimes


----------



## HorTs (5 Feb 2014)

I'm thinking of getting one of these on my new bike, I'm used to a triple and they new one will be double, so this is a bit of a compromise.


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

ill go give it i test on my old wheels on the workstand see if it shifts, just waiting for the late parcelforce muppets bring my new wheels


----------



## vickster (5 Feb 2014)

My road bikes have sram 11-32 and I still can't get up some hills


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

just had it on the bike shifts FLAWLESS well impressed, for a cheapo recon cassette on ebay, way smoother and faster changes than any shimano cassette ive ever had, its fine aslogn as its in the small ring at the front, if its in the big ring i can get to the cog before the largest, but in reality it wil lalways be in the small ring when i need to use the large ones  and on the plus side my new wheelset arrived when i was out there


----------



## Cyclist33 (5 Feb 2014)

What wheels did you get, and what happened to the Ultegra plan?


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

going for that and a new frame in the summer, just got some shimano rs11's for the 16 aero spokes and good enough for the winter got them for 70 odd new for the pair


----------



## Stu Plows (5 Feb 2014)

jack smith said:


> just had it on the bike shifts FLAWLESS well impressed, for a cheapo recon cassette on ebay, way smoother and faster changes than any shimano cassette ive ever had, its fine aslogn as its in the small ring at the front, if its in the big ring i can get to the cog before the largest, but in reality it wil lalways be in the small ring when i need to use the large ones  and on the plus side my new wheelset arrived when i was out there


That’s why you need the larger cage, the capacity is too large for it to cope with the top teeth requirements on the cassette. Your cage will have a maximum capacity, this is calculated by the following…

(Big Ring - Little Ring) + (Largest Cog - Smallest Cog) = Derailleur requirement


----------



## youngoldbloke (5 Feb 2014)

Seeing 11-32 cassettes with 50/34 compacts offered as standard equipment on lots of new bikes - maybe this is the future? Perhaps seen as an alternative to a 'standard' road bike 50/39/30 triple with an 11-25 cassette, as 34+32 will give you a bottom gear of 28" against 31" from 30+25. Interesting that Shimano have not released a new triple chainset in their Ultegra 6800 series as yet.


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

to be honest i never use the majority of the middle gears anyway, i prefer to power my way through things, so having the 11t but still having 12 one up is great, then for those really long steep climbs, just swap to the inner ring and 32t and take it slowly, wish i did this earlier!! one con is the new cassette is rather heavy but for 7 quid.... come on you cant go wrong, time will only tell how it will wear though but it seems more rugged than my hg50


----------



## Albert (5 Feb 2014)

I run a compact with 11-34 rear cassette (LX rear mech) on all my bikes. 34 - 34 is almost never used, but it's good to know that it is there for the time when I am totally ****** *****d


----------



## jack smith (5 Feb 2014)

i tried it today on the flat just too see, i nearly fell off trying to pedal on it clipped in lol cant wait to try it on the steep 1.5 - 2 mile climb on my way home tommorrow! horrid windy back road, the nutter drivers done help either! ive NEVER made it up without at least 2 stops and i dont usually give up


----------



## derrick (5 Feb 2014)

Don't you find the ratio's spread to far apart, i like nice close ratio changes, 11/25 on a compact double.


----------



## jack smith (6 Feb 2014)

not for me i dont, to be honest when i change gear i change about 2-4 at a time, i'd much prefer to get out of the saddle and power through it instead of changing gears, so if i do need to change i need to change a few cause ill be buggered lol, it shifts nice and smooth so its a huge improvement over my h50's ive been putting on that would clank and stick when shifting causing allsorts of problems such as slipping,


----------



## Kbrook (6 Feb 2014)

I have an 11- 32 because I wanted something to get me up anything, in fact when i bought my new bike that it had that gearing hugely influenced the decision. In 6 months I've yet to use the 32 I have it as a absolutely last gasp gear just before I die, Its nice to know its there though, quite comforting.


----------



## JoeyB (6 Feb 2014)

All this talk of 32t makes me jealous. I wasn't really clued up on triple / compact / standard when I bought my bike and soon found that there aren't many climbing gears on a standard double with an 11-25t on the back! I soon changed that to an 11-28t which kept me going for a while but I recently had to walk up two hills on one ride....tbh I'm not sure I would have got up one of those hills if some was pushing me and I had stabilizers!!

I am tempted to pick up a cheap Tiagra 12-32t and see what its like.


----------



## fossyant (6 Feb 2014)

When you shift some of the weight, and get fitter you can move back to smaller sprockets.

Be careful with the mech though. Check how far the Jockey wheels are sitting from the cassette teeth when in the bigger sprockets as you may need to adjust the B screw on the back of the mech (this controls how far the mech sits off the jockey). Ideally you need a new long cage mech. Sora's are available for less than £30.


----------



## jack smith (6 Feb 2014)

had it out today on my commute, 20 miles in total, first time in my life ive ever got up the hill, although when i changed to the 32t as a last gasp where there is a near vertical bit at the top i managed to shift it off the cog ( my fault forgot to set the screw thismorning) a quick flick back on and i was up, could be that or the new wheels. or a combi of both although the wheels are still rather heavy shimano rs11's


----------



## T4tomo (6 Feb 2014)

jack smith said:


> just purchased myself one of these for my road bike that already has a compact chainset upfront, mainly because i wanted something with 11teeth at the bottom instead of the 12-25 of my old one for abit extra power, then i saw the 11-32 option and thought, i do struggle on some of the very steep climbs up north, especially when they go on for over a mile, and i am on my way back from a hard days work with a bergen full of all sorts on my back not to mention i already weigh in at 110 kilo, is this size cassette frowned upon on a road bike? or will i see some great benifits? the cassette it's sale only cost me 7 quid new in the sale, abit heavier than my old one but thats understandable due to much more material


Have an 11t cog doesn't give you any more power. You provide the power. The 11t cog vs the 12t just means the bike will go faster at a given cadence - if you have the power to maintain that cadence.


----------



## jack smith (6 Feb 2014)

i meant speed, i often find myself running out of gears on a 12t tbh i still do on the 11, is 11 the smallest??


----------



## T4tomo (6 Feb 2014)

11 is smallest you get on a normal road cassette. You just need to learn to pedal faster - higher cadence. Even with a 12 cog it's pretty difficult to run out of gears. 120 rpm is good for 40mph on 50-12. How often are you going faster than 40mph and if so what wrong with free wheeling a bit?


----------



## MikeW-71 (6 Feb 2014)

TBH, if you're still going downhill when you spin the gear out, it's time to tuck right down and coast to go faster


----------



## jowwy (6 Feb 2014)

Theres no way your hitting 50mph on flat road - if you are, then its time to challenge Cancellara for the world 1hr record.


----------



## jack smith (6 Feb 2014)

i can safely say on the flat on the 11t with a very good cadence ( the point it is far too easy on the pedals to go any faster) sorry i cant measure cadence as i dont have the stuff, i hit around 25-28mph if your hitting 40mph then good luck in the next tour.


----------



## AndyRM (7 Feb 2014)

jack smith said:


> i can safely say on the flat on the 11t with a very good cadence ( the point it is far too easy on the pedals to go any faster) sorry i cant measure cadence as i dont have the stuff, i hit around 25-28mph if your hitting 40mph then good luck in the next tour.



How long can you hold that 25mph for...?


----------



## jowwy (7 Feb 2014)

AndyRM said:


> How long can you hold that 25mph for...?


i'm hoping in about 4weeks time that i can hold 25mph + for 10miles


----------



## VamP (7 Feb 2014)

jack smith said:


> i can safely say on the flat on the 11t with a very good cadence ( the point it is far too easy on the pedals to go any faster) sorry i cant measure cadence as i dont have the stuff, i hit around 25-28mph if your hitting 40mph then good luck in the next tour.



You need to work on your leg speed then. What have you up front?


----------



## SquareDaff (7 Feb 2014)

Your cadence must be quite slow. I can hit between 25-28mph with a compact front (on big ring) and an 11-32t rear but still have 3 or 4 cogs to go. I run out of power before I run out of gears (i.e. I hit the point where changing up slows me down rather than speeds me up)

EDIT: meant to add that my cadence is in the mid 90's to low 100's at that point.


----------



## jack smith (7 Feb 2014)

AndyRM said:


> How long can you hold that 25mph for...?


theres only one ride ive really done on moderately flat path and i held 27 for 9 miles and thats gps tracked so no bs


----------

