Bicycle Mechanics - 9-speed Road Cassettes with 19T Middle Cog?

Pretty much all 12-25 road cassettes I've seen have had 17t middle cogs. Is there a cassette, beside the Harris Cyclery Century Special cassette (http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=702) that has a 19t middle cog?

I'm looking for close-ratio spacing in the smaller cogs though I don't mind wider spacing in the bigger cogs.

I'm just looking for an alternative to a $112 + shipping cassette.

Did you consider this one: http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2369. If you are wanting something with 12-13-14-16-19... gears you could buy a couple cassettes off ebay and rearrange the cogs to make your own custom cassette.

but, why do you need the 19T in the middle?
9sp chains are plenty flexible to allow lots of cross chaining.

Shimano makes a 13x25 9-speed cassettes that is a straight block from 13 through 17, then 19, 21,23,25. So you get as close as possible spacing for the smaller cogs.

I also want to know why it matters if the 19T is exactly in the middle.

You could also get a Junior racing cassette which has 14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23,25 cogs, which gets you pretty close to your desired "19 in the middle" configuration. These are available as Ultegra (expensive) or Tiagra labeled sets.

Regards,
Bob P.

My excuse for wanting a 19T middle cog is laziness.

On my cross bike, I run a low-pressure 700x32 tire which means more friction than a high-pressure road 700x23-28 tire and if I use a road 50/39/30 triple with a 12-25 cassette which will have a 17T middle cog, I'll get a 61" gear when I"m in my middle ring/middle cog. That's too big for when I want to go for an easier, slower ride and try to stay in my middle ring/middle cog.

The 19T middle cog would let me have a 55" gear in my middle ring/middle cog. Perfect for cruising.

I place so much emphasis on the middle/middle combination because if the middle/middle is my cruising gear, I will have access to more of my lower gears/bigger cogs than if I was cruising in my second to middle cog. With most 12-25 cassettes, the 19T would be my second to middle cog.

This can be useful as when I'm tired and in a headwind and I want to access more lower gears from my middle ring, I'll have about four lower gears to drop into rather than three if my 19T was my second to middle. This also means that I won't as easily find myself in my biggest or second to biggest cog.

So it's laziness and idiosyncracy.

Given that I already have a $30 12-25 cassette and I want to avoid paying $100+ for a Harris Cyclery cassette with a 19T middle cog, though, I may just try to live with a 17T middle cog for now.

The 14-25 Tiagra cassette is interesting, thanks for the reference and I found some IRD cassettes (http://www.interlocracing.com/cassbreakdown.html) as well. Hmm..

My excuse for wanting a 19T middle cog is laziness.

On my cross bike, I run a low-pressure 700x32 tire which means more friction than a high-pressure road 700x23-28 tire and if I use a road 50/39/30 triple with a 12-25 cassette which will have a 17T middle cog, I'll get a 61" gear when I"m in my middle ring/middle cog. That's too big for when I want to go for an easier, slower ride and try to stay in my middle ring/middle cog.

The 19T middle cog would let me have a 55" gear in my middle ring/middle cog. Perfect for cruising.

I place so much emphasis on the middle/middle combination because if the middle/middle is my cruising gear, I will have access to more of my lower gears/bigger cogs than if I was cruising in my second to middle cog. With most 12-25 cassettes, the 19T would be my second to middle cog.

This can be useful as when I'm tired and in a headwind and I want to access more lower gears from my middle ring, I'll have about four lower gears to drop into rather than three if my 19T was my second to middle. This also means that I won't as easily find myself in my biggest or second to biggest cog.

So it's laziness and idiosyncracy.
I've heard some convoluted explanations for gearing selection but this is about as odd and I've ever seen. :rolleyes:

IMHO you should look at a 1x9 setup with a 11-32t or 11-34t rear cassette. That is what I do.

In my opinion you should do what HillRider said. Get a Shimano 13-25 or you could put together a 13-27 using some extra parts. 14-25 or 14-27 are also good possibilities.

.....you could put together a 13-27 using some extra parts...
This is rather easy, if slightly expensive.

You buy both a 13x25 and a 12x27 9-speed cassettes. What these have in common is the 21,23, 25 cogs on the 13x25 and the 21,24,27 cogs on the 12x27 are grouped together on a spider.

You use the 13,14,15,16,17 and 19T cogs from the 13x25 and swap out its 21,23.25 three-cog group for the 21,24,27 three cog group from the 12x27.

[deleted] never mind, all the points I made are moot because I didn't read OP's explanation close enough.