Rear cassette.

[Doug.]

I am running 10 speed Shimano road gears.
Finding hill climbing very difficult (old age)
At present I have a 11 to 30 cassette, will a change to 11 to 34 make an appreciable difference for ease of hill climbing ?

Thanks' for any replies.

 

[Salty seadog]

it will.

 

[13 rider]

Do you know if your rear derailleur will allow the bigger cassette to fit ? . Gears will be much lower so easier pedalling but the gaps between gears will be large and you my struggle to find the sweet spot between grinding and spinning .

 

[ColinJ]

You can do even better than a 34 if you change your rear derailleur too! I had the same problem on my 10 speed cyclocross bike so I changed the little ring to a 34 (it had been a 36) and put a 12-36 10-speed cassette on. To get that to work I put a 9-speed XT mountain bike mech on. NOTE - 9-speed! The cable pull of a 10-speed shifter happens to match the 9-speed MTB mech and those can cope with much larger cogs.

It IS true that the gaps between gears are significantly bigger than before but it was a price that I needed to pay when using a double chainset. Most of my other bikes have tighter cassettes but triple chainsets to get my grovelling gears.

Here it is after the changes ...

 

[Racing roadkill]

It will make a difference, as long as your drive train can cope with the extra gearing. You can always change Derailleur cage length if you need to.

 

[Vantage]

My Dawes Vantage came with an 11-32 8spd cassette which was just about getting me up hills so when it came time to change due to wear, I upgraded to an 11-34. The difference was huge. The drop down to the next lowest gear was even huger but definitely worth it.
I can't say I've had issues with gaps between gearing ratios and that's using an old 8 speed block. You shouldn't notice much with a 10 speed but that 34t cog will be worth it's weight in gold when it comes to hills.

 

[Doug.]

Thank you all for the replies........34 tooth it will be.

Yours. Doug.

 

[ozboz]

I have just put an 11-36 on my 10 speed , there is s gizmo called a Wolfs Tooth that allows you to do this , I have similar probs climbing ,
Edit , it allows you to use your normal d’lr to clear large rings

 

[Racing roadkill]

I have just put an 11-36 on my 10 speed , there is s gizmo called a Wolfs Tooth that allows you to do this , I have similar probs climbing ,
Edit , it allows you to use your normal d’lr to clear large rings

https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink

This?

 

[T4tomo]

You can do even better than a 34 if you change your rear derailleur too! I had the same problem on my 10 speed cyclocross bike so I changed the little ring to a 34 (it had been a 36) and put a 12-36 10-speed cassette on. To get that to work I put a 9-speed XT mountain bike mech on. NOTE - 9-speed! The cable pull of a 10-speed shifter happens to match the 9-speed MTB mech and those can cope with much larger cogs.

It IS true that the gaps between gears are significantly bigger than before but it was a price that I needed to pay when using a double chainset. Most of my other bikes have tighter cassettes but triple chainsets to get my grovelling gears.

Here it is after the changes ...

View attachment 413820

It works because a mech doesn't have a speed, it just sits where the shifter tells it to. Your shifter speed needs to match your cassette ( *although 8 speed shift will.work with 7 speed cassette but with a spare "click")

 

[ozboz]

https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink

This?

Yep , I’ve just got a chain today , I’ll post on here when and if all all is good , the mech in Pearsons , Sheen said it was do -able , but at its limit on a 36r ring ,

 

[Racing roadkill]

Yep , I’ve just got a chain today , I’ll post on here when and if all all is good , the mech in Pearsons , Sheen said it was do -able , but at its limit on a 36r ring ,

It will move the jockey wheel away from the sprocket, but it won’t adjust the chain whip, so if your chain rings and sprocket combo take you over your drive train capacity with your current cage length, you’ll still choke the mech. I’m sure it’ll be fine though.

 

[ColinJ]

It works because a mech doesn't have a speed, it just sits where the shifter tells it to. Your shifter speed needs to match your cassette ( *although 8 speed shift will.work with 7 speed cassette but with a spare "click")

There is more to it than that - the shifter pulls a certain amount of cable per click. The derailleur moves a certain distance for that cable pull. In the case of the 10-speed Shimano road shifter and the 9-speed Shimano mountain bike rear mech, the movement is acceptably close to the spacing between sprockets on a 10-speed Shimano cassette.

 

[ozboz]

I’m not to sure what you mean exactly , but if it’s oroblemstic I’ll be having a word with Pearsons workshop ,

 

[T4tomo]

There is more to it than that - the shifter pulls a certain amount of cable per click. The derailleur moves a certain distance for that cable pull. In the case of the 10-speed Shimano road shifter and the 9-speed Shimano mountain bike rear mech, the movement is acceptably close to the spacing between sprockets on a 10-speed Shimano cassette.

We are in violent agreement, they are both 1.7 pull ratios (as is pretty much all Shimano rear mechs from 10 speed and below group sets, road or mountain) which was my previous point, it's a misnomer talking about X speed mechs, we should really talk about pull ratios.

Front mech are a different matter!