DougG

I make no excuses for the fact that, approaching 70yo, I need a true road bike "granny gear" for the hills. My current aging bike has a 105 triple where I replaced the OEM 30T inner ring with a 24T to give me a 24x27 low gear, which I made extensive use of on a very hilly tour last week.

In the 10-speed era, I believe that Shimano and possibly SRAM were compatible between road and MTB groups so that you could mix components, especially cassettes and derailleurs. In fact, one of my other bikes with Shimano has a compact crank with a larger cassette and Deore rear derailleur, which works fine with the STI shifter.

I'm now looking for a new bike with the latest features, but notice that the higher-end road models have all gone to 11-speed cassettes, and it's my understanding that both Shimano and SRAM are no longer compatible between groups, so that using a MTB cassette on a road bike might not be possible. The lowest gearing on the road bikes pairs a 50-34 compact crank with an 11-32 cassette, and although that might be granny enough for most of you, I'd really like to go lower. SRAM, for example, has an 11-36 cassette that would give me a nice 34x36 lowest gear, but it only works with specific derailleurs that in turn are not compatible with the road shifters. Shimano is the same AFAIK.

So can anyone offer any suggestions on how I can accomplish this? I actually had a friend who specified this configuration (36T low gear) on a new $5K bike, and it was only when we started that trip last week that he found that they'd left the 11-32 cassette on it, probably because they discovered that it was just not feasible. He was not a happy camper when we hit those hills!

elcruxio

Why not just go with a triple up front and 32 in the back? Sram wifli and some Shimano long cage rear mechs allow for 32 rear (which is also standard road componentry)
I'm sure there are still bikes in the market with triples up front.

GlennR

You can go with a MTB cassette, you just need a MTB rear mech.

You can mix-n-match Sram Force 1 which uses a 11-36 cassette. They even have a 10-42 available. The Force 1 uses a single chain ring, but I don't see why you couldn't use a Compact crank with a Force 22 from mech.

Its would be a bit of a custom hybrid, but I bet it can be done.

DougG

I'll have to check that out, as the bike I'm considering comes with a Force 22 setup. The question is if the Force 1 rear derailleur that I'd have to use is compatible (i.e., same pull) with the Force 22 shifters.

Kindaslow

I have a MTB crankset with 26/36 sprockets. I have on order an XT MTB dérailleur, shifter and cassette. This is all for my commuter, in which I have a 1 mile 12% on the way to work and a half mile 15%+ on the way home. The cassette will be an 11-40.