JakiChan

I bought my bike in 2013, and at the time it seemed like the best way to get a really wide rear cassette was by using an XTR RD, which I've done. I have an 11-34 10-speed cassette in back and 50-34 up front. It's always been a little finicky and has never worked 100%, and with 10-speed going way out of style and the ability to run an 11-32 on a stock Ultegra drivetrain I'm wondering...how badly will I miss those two teeth on my granny gear? I do use it on climbs.

Flatbroke

I've seen a few people at the lbs adding larger rear cassettes lately. And they are in pretty good shape compared to me. Unless you can settle in and spin with the smaller gear I'd stick with the larger

TrojanHorse

I have an 11-32 and I only put it on when I know I'm going to go up a grossly steep road - most of the time I prefer a 12-28. I'd probably prefer a 36 on the 2 or 3 roads around here that really need it though so I guess it's really up to you. 2 teeth is a pretty small difference, until it's the difference between pedaling and walking.

JakiChan

Well, lore says you can do an 11-34 on the Ultegra long cage, but I want to try "stock" first.

Black wallnut 

When I change from my 11-28 to 12-26 I do not notice much difference in the bail out gear. That's me, you might be different.

Jarrett2

I thought I needed an 11-28 in my area and have been riding that for a while. Even had an 11-32 on at one point for a trip to the mountains.

Recently bought a used bike that had an 11-25 on it. I intended to swap it out, but after a few rides on it in the same area, I realized it was fine. I had to work a little harder on the big hills, but I made it my times on Strava climb segments go down. Got a couple new KOMs even.

Basically I'm saying, I thought I needed the 11-28, but I'm actually doing better on an 11-25 now.

jsigone

better question, if you do a normal ride, how often are you in that very last granny gear? Based on minutes?

IE:
My club ride has 3 different loops. One flat, one rolling and one where I'm in the small ring because it's a decent sustained climb. I only use the granny gear on one of those loops for roughly 5mins of a 3hr ride.

Beachgrad05

I have a 12-30 on my Madone and an 11-28 on my Domane. I have been riding my Domane on rides I would normally have wanted the 30 cog and have found I'm doing fine. Could be the bike is a factor too. Took the Domane on the AIDS ride and managed all the hills tho I did stop and rest on Quadbuster but think riding the two days prior played role in the fatigue up that hill. I spun up the Evil Twins on day four without stopping to rest. I am not missing those two teeth like I thought I might. Next "test" is GMR

McBTC

the difference in gear inches per tooth on the largest cogs (same as for the big vs. small rings) are a lot less significant than on the smaller cogs --e.g.,

[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable, width: 131"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: transparent"]

Rings
/
Cogs

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55, bgcolor: transparent"]

34

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56, bgcolor: transparent"]

50

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

11

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

82

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

120

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

12

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

75

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

110

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

13

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

69

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

102

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

14

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

64

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

95

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

16

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

56

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

83

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

18

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

50

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

74

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

20

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

45

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

66

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

22

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

41

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

60

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

25

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

36

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

53

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

28

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

32

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

47

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"]

32

[/TD]
[TD="width: 55"]

28

[/TD]
[TD="width: 56"]

41

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



6 gear inch change 4 teeth on the big cog vs. adding 10 gear inches dropping a single tooth at the other end when going from 12 to 11.

indyfabz

Do a bunch of rides where you usually use your 34 but don't use it. You will likely have your answer.

RR3

How often do you use the fire extinguisher in your home?

I almost never use my bailout gear.

But when you need it, YOU NEED IT.

indyfabz

That puts the bunny in the hat as a professor of mine used to say. One can use a bailout gear and not need it. To determine whether he will miss it he should try doing without it. It's quite possible that he is only using the 34 because it is there and that the 32 will turn out to be sufficient for a bailout gear.

Personally, I have a hard time understanding why people posts questions like these. Whether he will miss his 34 is based on so many personal variables.

RR3

It was unclear to me whether the OP wants to go from 10 speed 11-34 to 11 speed 11-32. If the later, an 11-32 SRAM has 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-22-25-28-32 and the benefit of the one tooth jumps outweighs the loss of 2 teeth in my opinion.

sstorkel

Personally, I'd be more worried about going from a 10-speed wheel to an 11-speed wheel than going from an 11-34 to an 11-32 cassette. With the increased dish needed by 11-speed drivetrains and the increased tension difference between the drive and non-drive spokes, I have to wonder if wheel durability suffers... Sure wish Velocity hadn't discontinued the Arrowhead OC rim!

Jarrett2

This is a great chart. Do you happen to have one that includes the 30 front typically found on a triple?

MRT2

Here you go. You can calculate gear inches all day with this gear inch calculator.Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Gear Calculator

jsigone

VERY apples to oranges there. If I have a 10speed bike, well darn it I want to USE all 10 gears. My "bail out gear" is called stopping or walking if every needed (on dirt included). Why cap off 2-3 gears in your cassette range and use them like 1% of your ride time per week?

Jarrett2

Another way to look at it is that less bail out gears means forcing yourself to become a stronger cyclist.

McBTC

No but you might find interesting the 34/50 ring chart I put together to get a feeling for gears and MPH at various RPMs. If you think of the smallest gear of an 11/32 freewheel being Cog Number-1, Shimano's 105 compact 11-speed drive train gives you 15 fairly evenly spaced unique gears; however, going from 1st to 15th, you've got a single double-shift at Cog-5, with both rings using Cogs 5-8, as follows:


[TABLE="width: 140"]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl82, width: 186, bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 5"]Z85 TRAINER MPH CHART[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 38, bgcolor: transparent"]rpm[/TD]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 46, bgcolor: transparent"]rpm[/TD]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 46, bgcolor: transparent"]rpm[/TD]
[TD="class: xl66, width: 28, bgcolor: transparent"]Gear[/TD]
[TD="class: xl66, width: 28, bgcolor: transparent"]Cog[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 38, bgcolor: transparent"]65[/TD]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 46, bgcolor: transparent"]70[/TD]
[TD="class: xl69, width: 46, bgcolor: transparent"]75[/TD]
[TD="class: xl66, width: 28, bgcolor: transparent"]#[/TD]
[TD="class: xl66, width: 28, bgcolor: transparent"]#[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]23.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]25.0[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]26.8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]15[/TD]
[TD="class: xl77, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]21.3[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]22.9[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]24.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]14[/TD]
[TD="class: xl77, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]19.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]21.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]22.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]13[/TD]
[TD="class: xl77, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]18.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]19.8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl76, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]21.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]12[/TD]
[TD="class: xl77, bgcolor: #C5D3FF"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]16.0[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]17.3[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]18.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]11[/TD]
[TD="class: xl78, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]14.3[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]15.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]16.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]10[/TD]
[TD="class: xl78, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]12.8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]13.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]14.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]9[/TD]
[TD="class: xl78, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]11.6[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]12.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]13.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl78, bgcolor: #B7FFFF"]8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl74, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]10.8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl74, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]11.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl74, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]12.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl68, bgcolor: transparent"]7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl79, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]9.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]10.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]11.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]6[/TD]
[TD="class: xl80, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]8.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]9.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]10.0[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl80, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]7.9[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]8.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl75, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]9.1[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl80, bgcolor: #FFE4AF"]8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]7.0[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]7.5[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]8.0[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]3[/TD]
[TD="class: xl81, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]6.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]6.7[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]7.1[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl81, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]5.4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]5.8[/TD]
[TD="class: xl72, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]6.2[/TD]
[TD="class: xl67, bgcolor: transparent"]1[/TD]
[TD="class: xl81, bgcolor: #FFFF99"]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

MRT2

Back to the point, the difference between a 34 - 34 and a 34 - 32 is 27 gear inches for the former, 28 gear inches for the latter. The way you have your bike set up, the difference should be insignificant.

Jarrett2

Thanks, I was hoping someone would do the leg work for me

I ran it through the willy wonka machine, is this accuate? You only lose one gear between a 11-32 double and an 11-32 triple?

[TABLE="width: 111"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]34[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]72[/TD]
[TD]82[/TD]
[TD]120[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]66[/TD]
[TD]75[/TD]
[TD]110[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]61[/TD]
[TD]69[/TD]
[TD]102[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]57[/TD]
[TD]64[/TD]
[TD]94[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[TD]56[/TD]
[TD]82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[TD]73[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD]66[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]41[/TD]
[TD]60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]53[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]47[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]41[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

MRT2

Well, you overlook that if you are using a road triple, you are probably pairing it with a road cassette unless you are living in the mountains. The advantage of a road triple (or alternately, going with a more closely spaced 11 speed compact double) is both an extra climbing gear and lots of closely spaced gears where you actually need them.

youngbull

sounds about right

RubeRad

This. Only you can answer this question.

I have 52/39 and 11-34, I use the 39/34 every day on my commute (and in fact I pretty much never use the 52 big ring at all). So I could just throw away my big chainring and front derailleur and probably never miss them but if I lost my 34, I would miss it real quick. But that's just me.

sstorkel

Yes, it's accurate: there's little difference between a road triple and a compact double. The only reason to buy a road triple these days is if you plan to swap the 30-tooth inner chainring for something even smaller.