am i pushing too hard?

[Torvi]

i find myself that if i use smaller gear on front i only use about 4-5 hardest gears out of rear, only on big front cog i maybe use 8 of them, having 10sp is kind of like a waste of gears

 

[screenman]

Not for me it is not.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Let your legs be the judge. You'll be glad of those lower gears when you get to a hilly region.

 

[Torvi]

Let your legs be the judge. You'll be glad of those lower gears when you get to a hilly region.

there are hills everywhere around me :/ average 850ft climbing for 20 miles trip

 

[vickster]

850000 feet of climbing? Do you live in the Himalayas?!

850 foot on the other hand really isnt very much. I can do 400 round here and it's as flat as a pancake. My last ride was over 2000 feet in 20 miles in the Surrey hills and many would probably rightly say they are relatively flat

 

[gavroche]

By doing that, you also cross your chain which, in the long run, is not recommended as you will damage your cassette.

 

[Andrew_P]

The obvious first question would be what gears are you using? IE What is at the front? 53-39 50-34 or some thing else, then what cassette is on the back 11-28?

 

[Torvi]

850000 foot of climbing? Do you live in the Himalayas?!

i already changed it haha sorry :P

 

[Torvi]

The obvious first question would be what gears are you using? IE What is at the front? 53-39 50-34 or some thing else, then what cassette is on the back 11-28?

front is standard compact as in 50-34, rear is 11-32

 

[Andrew_P]

front is standard compact as in 50-34, rear is 11-32

That's quite a spread, would be well worth changing the rear to 11-26. I hated the 11-32 on the CX bike as I used it mostly on the road. You would probably need a new chain.

 

[Dogtrousers]

850ft is roughly 260m so that's about 800m/100k (sorry, metric brain calibration). That's not particularly hilly, so it may be good to have those lower gears in reserve.

However, if you fitted a narrower ranged cassette then you'd get the benefit of closer spaced gears

 

[Torvi]

That's quite a spread, would be well worth changing the rear to 11-26. I hated the 11-32 on the CX bike as I used it mostly on the road. You would probably need a new chain.

it's a new bike with sram apex on it, if there would be a way to kick off biggest sprocket and put another like 9t sprocket id gladly do it but otherwise i don't think i will meddle with it for now

 

[Dogtrousers]

You won't get a smaller sprocket than 11T. But you will easily find cassettes with closer ratios and a 26 or 28 largest.

I'm the opposite - I rarely get near 50/11 on my Apex equipped bike.

I guess you need to figure out whether the benefits of closer ratios are worth the faff of fitting a new cassette and the loss of a crawler gear for when you do hit a monster hill when knackered.

 

[Torvi]

You won't get a smaller sprocket than 11T. But you will easily find cassettes with closer ratios and a 26 or 28 largest.

I'm the opposite - I rarely get near 50/11 on my Apex equipped bike.

I guess you need to figure out whether the benefits of closer ratios are worth the faff of fitting a new cassette and the loss of a crawler gear for when you do hit a monster hill when knackered.

that's exactly what im debating on right now. if i should go for 11-28 or stay few months and see how it goes on 11-32

 

[gavroche]

If, like me, you struggle up hills, keep your 11-32. 32 teeth, as opposed to 28 makes a bit difference to your legs and cadence.