So I’m training for some big, continental uphill challenges later in the year and am pondering ways to improve my chances of seeing the tops.

I’m not talking about battery power or EPO, I’m thinking about lowering the gearing. The road bike currently has the Ultegra 11-speed 11-28 cassette. I know I can change this to 11-32 with a medium cage derailleur. But I’m wondering if I can go even bigger.

I’m thinking mostly about the XT 11-40. Obviously it’d probably want a long cage, but does anyone know if these would these play nice with the ultegra chainset at the front?

Thanks.

Pretty sure no without other fiddling

I know gearing is personal but as your already using a 28t I wouldn’t go lower than the 32t. Most Continental climbs aren’t so steep but long. With a 40t cog on the back the climbs will take forever !! You’ll be bored of your bike before your legs give out 😆

Do you have a compact chainset? If so 32 should be enough…

could go super compact up front.

30/ 46, 32/48 or similar.

11-32 and a compact will be more than low enough to winch up almost anything.

I’m far from fit and I use 11-25 and a compact, the 34-25 is really spiny.

Many thanks for the replies and advice people! I shall rely on and trust in growing a set.

Gizmos and gadgets may help… the time before last that I went to France I was with a friend who rode to his power meter up Port de bales. He knew what he could do, and made sure he didn’t overdo it, and he rode away from me up the final 2 km. The next trip I had a HR monitor and cadence sensor, and decided I try to stay in a gear that let me spin at least 70 rpm while keeping my HR below 160 (I tend to peak about 190 on big climbs). I was fresh enough to really push towards the top. Was on a compact with an 11-30 cassette

There’s a SRAM1170 11-36t cassette.I think you may need to run a wolf tooth Roadlink or fit a longer B-tension screw.

My first time on an alpine climb, I was in to 30 ring on the cassette within a 100m and still had another 20k to go that climb!

So whilst you can make do with whatever you’ve got and a lot depends in your own fitness and weight, 11-32 and a compact sounds a good choice.

Its not cheating btw, an faster cadence is easier on the muscles and may mean you get to the top soon er and last longer than grinding a small cassette.

Most of the roads aren’t really that steep though.

Ventoux is about 10% all the way up for example.

You’ll be fine on a compact with 11-28, unless you’re really unfit, or you have something especially steep in mind. Or you’re planning a trip to Devon.

Its not cheating btw, an faster cadence is easier on the muscles and may mean you get to the top soon er and last longer than grinding a small cassette.

I’m assured it’s classic mountain-biker-switches-to-road behaviour to mash bigger gears than you should, because we’re often trying to get up silly steeps on 1x.

I was told to twiddle away in the smaller gears, and to my surprise found I was actually getting up there faster and less knackered.

Lower gearing for sure. Nothing to do with fitness, just about tuning your gearing to the ride you’re doing and enabling you to pace yourself better. A 32 out back should be OK with small chainring up front. You don’t need the big gears unless you’re wanting to gun in down hill. You get to scary enough speeds just freewheeling down an Alp, so sacrifice your higher gears by going for smaller chainrings. You’ll have more than enough gearing for the flat since you’re not riding at high speed in the middle of a peloton.

Pacing if very important. I rode Mt Teide with my brother a few months ago. We’re both pretty fit but I’m a good 20kg’s lighter than him. He knows all his training zones and was pacing himself. I was amazed how slow he started out, I usually go out way too fast so could probably improve my performance just by better pacing. I get away with it on my shorter and less hilly rides in the UK, but a 50+ mile ride with over 5k ft of climbing is a different story altogether and the additional 20kg’s was taking it’s toll. In the end he was waiting for a good 45mins at the top for me.

I’m planning following the tour through the Alps with a mate in the summer and taking our bikes to tackle some of the famous climbs, so in training for that. I’ll definitely be putting a 32t cassette on, but I’ll also be making a concerted effort to lose some timber. 10kg’s will transform my climbing pace even at my current fitness levels.

use a triple front? Nowt wrong with a 22 / 32 bottom gear 😉

Unless you’re absolutely feckless, then a 28t cassette will be fine. The hills aren’t particularly steep, they’re just very long. It’s not a race afterall, just go steady away. If you feel a bit tired, stand up and pedal; 34/28 out of the saddle on a 6% slope feels like you’re pedalling fresh air. For some reason though, lots of people tend to stay seated, glowing bright red grunting away pedalling squares. Just stand up! If you can get to around 20 BMI, it’ll do you wonders though, honestly the climbs will feel like a breeze.

As everyone else says, the alpine climbs are steady and long, very long! Find a gear you can spin at around 70rpm and also have a chat in and that will be fine. Make sure you’ve got a couple of water bottles filled before you set off, the air is drier at altitude and if it’s sunny you’ll be sweating a bit.

Depends a little bit on the bike as well.

More race-tuned bikes have a geometry that encourages out of the saddle riding, bigger gears, higher speeds while if you go for a more CX/gravel style bike or an audax/touring style, you’ll find that the additional weight and geometry aimed at lower speeds tends to encourage sit-and-spin riding on lower gears.

As said already, don’t even consider going lower than a 1:1 ratio on a road bike, you’ll be sitting there with your legs doing 100rpm but you’ll be moving at 3mph and the climb will take all week.

More race-tuned bikes have a geometry that encourages out of the saddle riding, bigger gears, higher speeds while if you go for a more CX/gravel style bike or an audax/touring style, you’ll find that the additional weight and geometry aimed at lower speeds tends to encourage sit-and-spin riding on lower gears.

TBH that’s a good point. THe slacker more upright bikes often have handling issues when stood up.

A long low stem always feels good stood up.

Also, slide your saddle forward a bit as that can help you get “on top” of the gear going up hill. And dare I say it, tip your saddle so it’s slightly nose down.

There is an 11-34 ultegra cassette available

Thank you everybody for the replies!

Ive got a 44/30 chainset on my disc’d drop bar bike and it’s good with a 11/28 block otherwise I find the gaps on a 32 or 36 block too big for general road riding.

As said already, don’t even consider going lower than a 1:1 ratio on a road bike, you’ll be sitting there with your legs doing 100rpm but you’ll be moving at 3mph and the climb will take all week.

I often see bollocks like this posted. 34/40 at 100rpm would be almost 7mph (tyre size dependent). There is barely a hill on the planet that I can ride up as fast as 7mph. Low gears are ace 🙂

My road bike has 34 front / 36 rear and it’s bloody brilliant!

That is all

I’m fairly fit and like climbing, I went to the Alps with a compact and 11-32 and spent a lot of time in my bottom gear. Admittedly I rode myself into it, and by the 3rd day I was more comfortable, but I’m bloody glad I took a 32.

Fair play to the “pfft, you don’t ever need more than 34-28” crew, but that’s not for me. For the record I’m happy on a standard double in the UK, hills just don’t take as long!

As fast as 7mph? How do you not fall over?

As fast as 7mph? How do you not fall over?

See 99% of people riding uphill at trail centres.

I’m in Benahavís, Spain. Not much flat around at all. Had a semi-compact (52/36) with a 32/11, but found I was wearing the lower gears in the cassette too quickly. Changed to a 50/34 with the same size cassette and use much more of the gears. Many of the local climbs are between 10-20Km, and average between 6-10%, sometimes kicking up to 14-20%. This setup works reasonably well, we do have some shorter steep climbs, but nothing like North Yorkshire where I was before.

Depends on the person , the bike, the temperature and the place you intend to ride.

I ride the mountains pretty much every day and still can’t get used to the bigger stuff.
I’m fit, climbing has never been my thing but I’ll push myself to get better.

For the sake of £40 get an 11/32 try it and no harm done.

Local to me I have some hefty 17% – 20z climbs but before you get to them you have miles of gradually increasing climbs.
You’ll use as many gears as you have to get up these sort of situations.

As fast as 7mph? How do you not fall over?

I’m fine down to about 2.5mph loaded up on my tourer 🙂

Riding at a higher cadence puts less stress on your muscles and relies more on your aerobic fitness. Which means you can cycle up hills for longer without getting fatigued.

Just gone from 11-28 to 11-32 cassette on my nice road bike. Very pleased with it so far. Nice to be able twiddle my way up the steeper bits a little more comfortably – and makes my knees feel less vulnerable.

Zwift, used with a turbo that can emulate gradients close to 17%, could help you with gearing choices and help you train for prolonged climbs. It’s ~10 miles and 1900 feet to the radio tower. It’s a cat2 climb, which is still some way off the common cat1 and even HC climbs on the continent.

Using the 34t chainring and 11-32 cassette, it takes me ~50mins, albeit I’m still very new to how much effort you need to put in on a turbo. I need the easiest gear for the steepest 17% sections.

But it had to do that sort of climbing for hours, I would be using that easiest gear more often and probably wishing I had an emergency granny chainring of ~28t or so as my energy reserves lowered.

On an 11 speed cassette you can use any one you bloody well like, sooo get a wolftooth roadlink from ‘eighteen bikes’in Hope Valley, then get a Sunrace 11-40 cassette and a Deore 9 speed (yes 9 speed MTB) derailleur from CRC, and your Ultegra chainset will work like magic as you choose any gear you like to cruise to the top, play safe and put a new chain on as well if you like. Don’t bust your knees, your lungs or your heart trying to be a tough guy.Trust me it works if you’re half capable with a spanner.

Or you’re planning a trip to Devon.

Waves. Triple and 11-34 cassette on my road bike…

Lots of folk saying ‘continental climbs aren’t steep’. Loads of them are, but most of the famous French ones aren’t. Get a good look at the climbs you’ll be doing on veloviewer and if there are no huge steep sections you can probably save yourself some money/hassle. You can probably fit a 30t cassette with an ultegra short cage derailleur too – this with a 34t chainring would be a good combo.