Road Cycling - cassette gearing 12-23 or 12-25?

just wanted to know what is standard fare on most shimano 9spd bikes?

You need to look at where you are planning on riding the most, if it is mostly flat or rolling hills go for 12-23.

To answer your question, I belive that a 12-23 is usually stock on factory bikes. It should be easy enough to switch out with your LBS, though. I put a 12-25 on my bike for the spring. Those extra teeth on the cogs make a big difference on a climb.

12-23 is standard for most road bikes. My cyclocross bike came with a 12-25, which will be fine climbing steep grades with 80lbs of weight, but not for riding.

I put a 12-21 corncob on my bike and it is fine in the foothills (prolonged 5-12% climbs). I do not push hard enough to use an 11, so a 12 is great.

How much time do you plan on climbing and how good of a climber are you is the question.

12-25 was stock on my lemond. I switched it out though, for a 12-27, but then again, the area of MD that I live in is really hilly.

Would a triple make the gear selection better?

William, it all depends. If you want to spin up every climb, no matter how steep, then it will make your gearing better. Depends on your terrain, your riding style, etc. A triple definately gives you more options, given that you have another ring under your usual small roadie ring.

I've read a bit about how important cadence is.

On my last ride home, I road with someone who swore by cadence training.

I don't really follow it (mainly because of lack of training education) and I pulled away from him on the hills in no short order.

Now, I could suck and he could suck more, or cadence training isn't that important.

But I was wondering, because there's the occasional time I find I wish I had more of a gear.

Well, cadence training isn't necessarily the best for everyone, but nothing really is best for every last person. If you're looking for something that will give you numbers, get a heart rate monitor and start using that to guide your training. there are a ton of other methods out there that all depend on what you're trying to do. But, with regards to spin cadence, it is widely accepted that a cadence of around 90 rpm is a good goal for most. I started out as a spinner, running over 100 rpm except on steep climbs. I became a masher for a couple of years and went back to refining my spin this year. I'm much more comfortable onthe bike, recover quicker during and after rides and feel better all around as a result. However, I don't train using my spin as a metric of how hard I'm going.

I agree. It highly depends on what type of rider you are and what type of terrain you will be riding.

I'm not a speed demon, so I use 12-25, although I live in the flatlands of the Midwest (St. Louis area).

I use 11-21. Some people think I am crazy but I am just crazy when I am in a race.

I use the 12-25 because of the steep hilss here in tennessee.

Originally posted by WorldIRC
I use 11-21. Some people think I am crazy but I am just crazy when I am in a race.

how often do you use the 11? Also, I haven't ever seen that combo before...seems odd. Did you custom select the cogs for your cassette?

Campagnolo offers that combination.

I have a pretty high cadence.

On the flat I do about 100-120, uphills if I've got a gear low enough I do 120-140, and Downhill I can sometimes end up doin 150 or more. I am the fastest pedaller in my team, and one of the fastest in my club I think.

Does anyone else think it's weird how I pedal faster uphill than I do on the flat? I find I get more power this way

I find that I get a lot more power once I get to 100 rpm or higher. Once I get to 120rpm the bike just takes off and leaves people in its dust.

I am also thinking of changing the 2 highest gear cogs on my Raceline, as they are change-able. Whats the smallest cog I can fit on, and what would this make my riding like? (I go extremely fast on the downhills if I know the road well)

Maybe I lost count, but I think the inside cog on my cluster is 19 teeth..Campag Veloce. Either way it's very small, and hard yakka up the hills for a non climber like me!
I intend to purchase a new frame later this year, and the group I am going to use has 27 teeth on the inside cog..so I (hopefully) will fly up those hills!?