Shimano HG-50 11-34T

[petmcgratt]

Looking for some advice. I currently have a shimano sora 34-50T double chain ring with a shimano 12-25T 9 speed cassette. I am looking at a shimano HG-50 11-34T cassette but was wondering would this be compatable with my current bike set up or is it purely for mountain bikes. Reason for looking at this 11-34T is that I have a spare wheel set and was looking for a cassette to help me get over some hilly climbs rather than buying a triple chainset.

thanks
peter

 

[Cubist]

You'll need to check that the rear mech cage is long enough to handle that number of teeth. You may end up having to buy a new one, but at a cost of 28 quid for Deore, 35 for slx or 45 for XT. All will do very nicely, shop around. You may even find a SRAM equivalent a bit cheaper.

In answer to your question, I have a 50 36 compact on an 11-32 on my hybrid, and indeed you can climb steepishh hills on it. My only concern with 50-34 over 11-34 would be a bit of a lumpy set of gears. As it is I can swap between large and small chainrings for a single shift, but had to double shift when I swapped the small chainring for a 34. Eventually I got fed up with it and put the 36 back on.

If pressed, my advice would be to go for an 11-32

 

[Garz]

Isn't 34-50 a compact?

You may be able to reduce your inner ring to a 32T for little price!

 

[Cubist]

Isn't 34-50 a compact?

You may be able to reduce your inner ring to a 32T for little price!

Yes it's a compact.

You could change down to a 32, but you'd want to change the big ring to a 48 or even a 46, otherwise you'll have holes in your gears the size of the grand canyon. Reckon you'd need to triple shift to keep it smooth.

Oh, and by the way, both Shimano and SRAM do a 9 spd 11-28, which may mean not having to change your rear mech.