Explanation of gearing

[fee]

Hi

I wonder if someone can shine some light on this for me. I need to change the cassette on my bike I have shimano 105, looking at the cassete they are 11 - 28 etc etc what do the figures at the end mean and what effect do they have to the bike. Also at the moment I have a triple front set and was thinking of removing the smallest cog as I never use it anymore, can I do this or would I have to change anything else, I know I would have to adjust the high low screws. Please help with this as I am fairly new to it all.

 

[accountantpete]

The 11 - 28 cassette refers to the number of teeth on the smallest and biggest sprocket.

You could go for an 11 - 23 cassette which has a smaller big sprocket - so you may need the small chainring at the front - but the gaps in the gearing will be less and so provide a better ride.

 

[marinyork]

Gearing is all teeth and ratios. The bigger the gear ratio the further the wheel will turn on one revolution and the harder it is for you. This means that not all the gears in the middle cog are bigger than the granny ring. E.g. 38/28 = 1.357, 28/18 = 1.555. This means there is a lot of duplication of similar gears on a triple in certain ranges.

I wouldn't have thought you'd need a triple and a reasonably wide range cassette like a 11-28 in Hull. I have a 11-28 in Sheffield and I never use the 28.

For selecting what you need you could really do with telling us which gears you currently use and then we can go from there.