My road bike has a 12-27 cassette on a compact chainset which has been fine so far but i’m at the point i can spin out the top ratio on the flat and would like an extra gear at that end….also an extra gear at the low end for hills would be a bonus.

I’ve seen some cassettes from SRAM and Shimano with 11-28 cogs but they are MTB cassettes, i’m not that fussed by large gaps between ratios, will this item fit my road bike with the appropriate rear mech changes/set-up?

I ran mine for ages with one on the turbo trainer and have used it for hilly lakes rides without issue – to be fair their is no gap between mech and cassette on the largest two sized cassette cogs which is not ideal but it has not stopped it working

I am assuming you have a Shimano type cassette on the road bike and you are doing same number for same number ie 9 to 9 10 to 10 etc

Yep, Shimano running gear and it would be 9 speed for 9 speed….i cant see why it should be a problem but i’m fairly new to road bikes and wondered if there is an obstacle staring me in the face that i havent thought of?

I’ve got a nine speed 11-28 SLX cassette that’s almost new for £15 delivered if you want?

Are you sure you’re spinning out?

90rpm in 50:12 is 29.3mph & 120rpm is just over 39mph

Even at 50:11 at 90rpm it’s 32mph.

If you’re that fast on the flat surely a full size chainset would be much more beneficial

I have just upgraded my road bike from 10spd to 18spd using an SLX rear mech and shifter combo and a 11-30 tiagra cassette[/URL] this should make riding the bike much more fun.

Steve-b77…my cadence isnt as high as those stats you posted, 26-27 mph seems to be about as fast as i can get, it feels smooth and effortless, moving my legs any faster feels ungainly and seems to unbalance me and unsettle the bike, going to higher gearing would seem to be more appropriate until i can increase my cadence to 100rpm+ with decent technique and stability.

…you must have read my mind though as I’m looking at using the cycle to work scheme to get a second road bike with a proper 53/39 chainset.

Schmiken, there dont seem to be any problems highlighted in this thread with what i want to do so what are your contact details?

WARNING: I have just tried to convert my 10 speed road bike to a 11-36 cassette and shimano is a **** pig to do. Their mountain mechs have different pull ratios (definitely on the 10’s, not sure about the new 9’s) and because they are complete cretins this means that everything is completely useless with all previous systems. Also you need to make sure that the cassette isn’t dyna sys is a different spacing.

I went with sram in the end so that I could get enough gears and better compatibility. Which is a pig as I had to buy new shifters.

I run an 10-speed 11-32 cassette on my CX bike using the SRAM Force WiFLi deral.

Not MTB, just very wide road. Works very well with a compact 50/34 up front, can hit every gear, but obviously some of the jumps are larger than normal.

http://www.sram.com/sram/road/technologies/wifli_tm

WARNING: I have just tried to convert my 10 speed road bike to a 11-36 cassette and shimano is a **** pig to do. Their mountain mechs have different pull ratios (definitely on the 10’s, not sure about the new 9’s) and because they are complete cretins this means that everything is completely useless with all previous systems. Also you need to make sure that the cassette isn’t dyna sys is a different spacing.

Not really, Dynasys cassettes are 1mm wider, but in reality it makes no difference. On a road bike you just use a 9 speed mech. That’s it. Not complicated.

OP – yep, as said, what you want to do will be fine!

Agreed, use a 9s road or MTB shimano mech with 10 speed cassette and all is fine once again. I have 10s Roadie STIs and triple front mech with XT 9speed rear mech. 48/36/26 chainrings and 11-36 cassette and it’s ready for anything.

swap the 14T for an 11T if you are not bothered about gaps and like the 27T. I find the 25 gives a decent low gear on a compact, and often use an 11-23T which is a bit like traditional gearing.

Email is Michael.ri.Moore AT gmail.com ifg you want the cassette OP 🙂

Bradley Wiggins was using MTB cassettes when he won the Tour de France. Apparently he prefers to sit and spin rather than stand and pump up the mountains. ITV4 were saying that Sky used the jockey wheel plates from an XTR mech to accommodate the larger cogs. Essentially custom making a long dura ace rear mech.

Bradley Wiggins was using MTB cassettes when he won the Tour de France. Apparently he prefers to sit and spin rather than stand and pump up the mountains. ITV4 were saying that Sky used the jockey wheel plates from an XTR mech to accommodate the larger cogs. Essentially custom making a long dura ace rear mech.

I wonder if Froome and Wiggins will finally bring and end to road bike gearing madness

to the OP in theory you could run need a longer rear mech, other than that swap awat

Just get a proper chainset! I love it when people claim that they spin out a 50-12 gearing!

Wiggins probably did use a 32 cassette in order to keep using the osymetric rings in 39 53 for consistency between TT and road bike

Nothing wrong with compact.

50-11 is a bigger gear than 53-12 so changing cassette will more difference than changing the chainset.

I’m not going to pedal at over 40 mph very often so I can’t see myself needing anything bigger.

I wonder if Froome and Wiggins will finally bring and end to road bike gearing madness

What madness 😕

What madness

I guess you live the wrong side of the Tees Exe line,

What?!

The madness where people are advised that low gears are not needed on a road bikes.

A good example would be when David waliams fell off going up Kirkstone pass as he could no longer turn the cranks.

there seems to be that logic that as its possible to get up hill just turning a huge gear then that’s the best way of doing it.

Is that the case?

As said, Wiggins used a 39-32 bottom gear, much the same as 34-28, which is a) really pretty low and b) becoming the standard anyway.

I’m by no means a roadie but during the road events I’ve done it has amazed me how many people end up walking on climbs because their lowest gear is still far too big for them!

I thought Froome’s technique when climbing was to spin rather than grind it out in a huge gear.

OP before the usual STW bitch slapping takes over it appears as long as you stick to 9 speed then MTB cassettes should be fine and schmiken is rather keen to sell you his one 😀