Evening folks, I have recently bought a 2016 orange 5 and I’m loving it, it has a 10spd setup with a 30 up front and a 11-36 cassette rear. Basically I want to go to 11-40 or 42 to make all day peak rides a touch easier, I know I should MTFU but I’m fed up with feeling like I’m going to puke at the top of each long climb!!

For some reason the other half of my post got deleted when I posted it, so… Can I just buy a sunrace cassette and swop it over or will I need a longer chain and other bits? I have a slx shadow + mech. Are the sunrace cassettes ok setup/in use etc? Cheers for any advice.

No shame in that, 30 / 36 is hard going on long steep climbs! I have 40 and 42 tooth sunrace cassettes on two bikes. The quality, weight and shifting are good on both.

IME the 42 tooth was a bit of struggle with the standard 10 speed mech. It needed so much B-tension screw tightening that it just sounded rough in the biggest ring. It works better with an 11speed mech as it is deisgned to have better clearance (but 10sp shifter, the pull ratio is the same). The 40 was a bit smoother in the big sprocket.

I think there is a product called a goat link that is meant to get round the problem I had with the 42t but I couldn’t bothered and the mech was old / knackered anyway so just swapped it.

Cheers Tomd, think I’ll just get one bought then, maybe the 40t and give it a whirl.

Yeah give it a bash, you?l need a new chain too but they?e not really that expensive.

Don’t blame you for wanting a bigger sprocket!

My new bike has 32-36 lowest gear it destroyed me lol I’ve just ordered a sunrace 42 a goat link and a 32 oval hopefully that will help somewhat. I’ll post back when I get it fitted

It’s post like this that realise I still don’t get why people don’t run a double. Maybe I’m just stuck in the past but a 22/36 up front and a 11/36 cassette and you’re sorted.

It’s post like this that realise I still don’t get why people don’t run a double. Maybe I’m just stuck in the past but a 22/36 up front and a 11/36 cassette and you’re sorted.

I just had a very long debate about this (with myself) and decided to stay on 2×10. It’s fine. I haven’t seen any dead kittens at all on my ride today.

I would have had a double but my new bike is a plus bike single ring only

With 11-42 I’d recommend a fix for the mech too- a radcage or goatlink or similiar. You can get perfect shifting with the standard mech, though it is fiddlier than usual, but there’s no real margin for error so once it’s full of crap or gets a wee bump on the trail or whatever things go wrong fast. Whereas with the radcage it basically all works exactly like stock- easy to set up and tolerant of the real world. it does add expense but it’s totally worth it IMO

I’ve got a Sunrace 11-42 and had a few issues. Tried a Goatlink and it’s helped a lot. The issues I’m having are due to dropout design, but the Goatlink is a nice and simple improvement.

See my thread here.

I just had a very long debate about this (with myself) and decided to stay on 2×10. It’s fine. I haven’t seen any dead kittens at all on my ride today.

Same here, loads of gears, flawless shifting and no upgrade costs associated with the usual ‘latest and greatest’ ideas in MTBing….can you imagine the marketing meeting?

Boss: We need to do something about 2×10
Everybody else: eh? It works well and gives a good spread of gears
Boss: I don’t care, get rid of the front mech
Everybody else: won’t people struggle up hills?
Boss: yeah but stick dinner sized plates cogs on the cassette, shifting will be hit and miss but we’ll term it Enduro and make all our sponsored riders use it too.

Boss: right, what else can we bugger about with that will make people part with their hard earned?
Everybody else: we could invent a load of new tyre sizes, I don’t just mean 29ers….we could label them ‘plus’ sized and they could be 2.7 – 3.0 width….only we don’t have the tech yet to make these monsters light and puncture proof.
Boss: I love it!….get it out there ASAP, fixing flats is part of the joy of MTBing, nobody will mind!

I’ve just put a sunrace 11-42 cassette on and it seems to work just as well as the old XT cassette + expander. That’s with an SLX mech and a goatlink.

^^^Funny how folk can be arsed to write stuff like that. Looking at you deviant 😆

Nice one deviant made me smile still sat here on 3×9 with no problems getting up hills keeping a good speed on the road etc.

My bike came as a single ring set up and i do miss 3x but i am going to stick with single. OP if you go down the sunrace cassette route can you update this thread as i am thinking about doing this. I have tried to MTFU but with grassy hills of well over 30% gradient i am too weak,fat and feeble to manage on a 28 – 11/36.

“My bike came with 1×11…” isn’t an excuse, really, as you didn’t have to buy the bike (unless somebody was holding a gun to your head)

This whole 1x business is a classic case of a trend that is foisted on the general population because it suits some people.

Just been through a similar process with a new road bike purchase – pretty much every new bike/frame which met my criteria (flat mount disc brake support) had a press-fit bottom bracket. Opinions about the creakiness of press-fit are split, and I didn’t really feel comfortable about the whole situation, so held out for a frame which avoided the situation.

Anyway, now that you’ve gone down that route, most of the above advice seems sound.
Hope your knees enjoy the results.

Well I did have to buy it, it met every criteria other than I wanted a gear lower and it cost 603 in the sale so bought it knowing I wanted to fit a 42 cassette

Oh and press fit are absolutely fine 😉

11-40 works fine with an SLX mech, it’s what I use with a saint shifter and 32t oval ring. All works well together.

Got my oval ring, cassette and radr cage fitted. Feels lovely and round. Defo feels easier on climbs and I’m using a higher gear most of the time. Shifting is fast and precise. Only thing it does is drops a cog from the 42t ring when back pedalling In the workstand, but I don’t back pedal so I’m not fussed. Seems to be chain line rather than equipment and a common thing
Glamour shot 🙂

Looking good!

Defo feels easier on climbs and I’m using a higher gear most of the time

That’s what I’ve found. I think I used to change into my mega low granny gear because I had it, not because it was the right gear choice. With 1x I find myself in the right gear more often.