Bicycle Mechanics - Cassette for Moutain Bike on the Road.

I currently run a 11-28 on my MTB. I am mounting up a set of narrow slicks for the road. What is the best cassette to put on to give me more typical road gearing? I have a Long Cage derailleur and 42/34/24 up front. Also will my chain be ok to routinely swap between 11-28 and a "smaller" cassette. Thanks.

I currently run a 11-28 on my MTB. I am mounting up a set of narrow slicks for the road. What is the best cassette to put on to give me more typical road gearing? I have a Long Cage derailleur and 42/34/24 up front. Also will my chain be ok to routinely swap between 11-28 and a "smaller" cassette. Thanks.You can swap to a smaller cog cassette with no issue. You are not going to get road gearing with a 42 big ring. A 42x11 is 103 gear inches.Maybe you can spin that out,maybe not. A road gear of 53x12 is 119 gear nches.

You can swap to a smaller cog cassette with no issue. You are not going to get road gearing with a 42 big ring. A 42x11 is 103 gear inches.Maybe you can spin that out,maybe not. A road gear of 53x12 is 119 gear nches.

I know it won't be road gearing, but i just want to get a bit higher gearing with my current rings. So what would be a good cassette?

Maybe what you are saying is that without changing the chain wheel i would have to go to a smaller than 11 tooth cog? Which i don't think is possible.

Here are my derailleur specs...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42329&item=7150502560&rd=1

i would just get a regular road cassette. the 11-26 or 23. THe problem with running mtb cassettes on the road is the large jump in cadence you will experience

i would just get a regular road cassette. the 11-26 or 23. THe problem with running mtb cassettes on the road is the large jump in cadence you will experience

Will there be any issues with my derailleur?

will there be any issues with your derailleur using a longe cage which is what you have with a road cassette (11-23 or 26)? Nope

I know it won't be road gearing, but i just want to get a bit higher gearing with my current rings.

Maybe what you are saying is that without changing the chain wheel i would have to go to a smaller than 11 tooth cog? Which i don't think is possible.
That 11 cog is as high as it's gonna get. Sure, you can get higher in the big cog and shorten the jumps between gears by going with a cassette with an 11 and smaller big cog.

If you look at an 11-tooth cog you'll see that there's almost nothing to it and it couldn't be any smaller. So if you want higher gearing you have to go with a bigger chainring. This might be problematic for your front derailleur as they are designed for a specific chainring size.

This might be problematic for your front derailleur as they are designed for a specific chainring size.

I've got an older XT front derailleur shifting a 46-36-24. You can usually, with a bit of patience and tweaking, get a larger chainring to work. The big key is the delta between rings.

This, combined with a nice, tight 12-21 (8 speed) cluster gets the Fat Tired Rider up and moving.

Will there be any issues with my derailleur?
Nope, of course you'll probably want your chain a bit shorter as it no longer will need the extra links to get up on that 28 tooth. You'd be fine either way, but it's one of those minor detail things.

I've had a 11-23 on my commuter (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=545751#post545751) for quite a while now and have had no issues with the LX rear