mcgroup53

In hilly country, as a rider carring about 10 kilos too much body weight, what rear cassette works best with a 50/34 compact crankset?

prendrefeu

Start off with SRAM's 11-26 combination (unless you're running Campagnolo) and see how that works out for you. Adjust accordingly.

rtruectoc

i use shimano 11-25. switched from sram 11-26 and the shimano with shimano chain is much smoother

mcgroup53

I Am Running Campy Veloce

RudeSiggy

I've got an 11-26 on mine for most days. I also have an 11-23 I could use, though.

KevinF

I run a 12-25 with my Campy compact setup. It's mainly rolling hills around here (eastern New England), with some steeper hills. A 34x25 is pretty low.

snoboard2

34x23 is plenty for sustained climbs up to 8% for an average rider. I've only wanted a 25 climbing 3-400m 20% sections after ~80 miles. I'd much rather give up my 11 for a 12 and closer gears on my training bike btw.

**edit** I've raced a few times in southern Indiana; saw a lot of short and steep. Go for the 25-26 big.

Jynx

50/34 with a 12-27 cassette is a very nice combo for hilly areas.

RoadToNowhere

Ultegra 50/34 with a 12-27 cassette here in rolling hills/short, steep leg burner climbs.

SRAM 11-28 cassette is in the back of my mind....

B

AEO

use a 11-25 or 12-25
It'll get you up most hills.
If you're unsure of your abilities, then there's always the 13-29

ripperj 

I agree with the 11-27 or 28 suggestions, especially if you are not in the best of shape(as OP hinted at)

Surferbruce

12-25 on the climbing wheels, 11-23 on the other ones.

FlashUNC

12-25.

halfspeed

Standard Campy cassette sizes are 11-23, 12-25, 13-26 and 13-29. Campy compatible Miche cassettes have the same combinations and also fill some of the holes like 12-27. The Miches are all loose cogs and are not finished as nicely as Campy's, but they work surprisingly well (and are MUCH cheaper). Cogs are also sold separately so that you can build cassettes with custom ratios.

telebianchi

My CX bike has 12-27 in back with the compact crank up front. I just bought a new road bike with compact crank and 12-25. There were no hills that I could not get up with the 34-25 combination but the lazy F in me missed the 27.

I have new wheels and a SRAM 11-28 on the way. If I'm going to be lazy I figured I'd go all the way.

Booger

If you have to ask, 12-27.

mr handy

I'm running a 50/34 with a 12-25. I have not had any trouble getting up the steep bumps around here.

I was worried that I was going to miss the 11 but I just hit 44.6 mph on a hill Saturday and still could have spun it up some more.

I may swap down to a 11/12-23 when I get back down to Fl. but I doubt I will be sprinting in the mid 40s on the flats any time soon, so I will be sticking with the compact, at least until I get a new bike...
If I start sprinting in the 40+ range, hopefully someone will be giving me bikes to ride...

Murrays

12-25 here. I know I'd survive with a 34-23 (I rode 39-25 for years), but the large gap between 50-34 means a tight cassette may leave some gaps between the large chainring/small cog and the small chainring/large cog unless you don't mind cross chaining.

-murray

bryceepoo

I run 12-25 on my compact right now... it seems pretty good for me.

Ritterview

Campy 13/29


Comes in handy if you ever find yourself on Big Creek, in the Climb to Kaiser.



But, I guess Indiana isn't that hilly.

Chris_W

I'm doing things the opposite way around to you - picking a cassette first based on cog spacing and range, then figuring out which chainrings I need to get the gear ratios I want. The ideal cassette seems to be the SRAM 11-26, because no jump in pedaling cadence is too great (although adding a 16 tooth cog would be nice), and the range is decent. My cadence is pretty high, and I do a LOT of riding on Swiss Alpine roads, so I was runnig a triple crankset with a 26 or 30 tooth inner ring (depending on the amount of climbing I was anticipating).

Now I've realized that I only had a triple crankset to get a sufficiently low bottom gear, the middle and big chainrings were somewhat redundant with each other. I've therefore now scrapped the big ring and replaced the middle with a 46 tooth. I now run what I call a super-compact crankset, with 28-46 or 30-46 chainrings. This setup avoids some of the problems I experienced with a CD by making double-shifts pretty rare due to not needing to shift out of the 46 unless I find a real incline (with a CD, I was having to leave the 50 tooth a lot, and the 34 never gave me a low enough gear unlees I used an unnecessarily widely-spaced cassette).

I'm in the market for a crankset that I can use for these two chainring sizes that is designed as a double, rather than using just the inner two positions on a triple crankset, and it looks like I'll be getting myself a mountain bike '2x9' crankset soon (like the Stronglight Oxale Two), once I can figure out how to get the chainline right for a road bike. If this concept interests you then head over to the thread called "Compact Doubles - Feh" in the Long Distance cycling subsection of the forum.

PS: I'm not a slow rider, I finished in the top 10% in two large cyclosportives in the Swiss Alps this summer with this setup. I just like to spin my pedals at a high cadence and climb long, steep roads - using the high cadence allows me to keep going all day.

Caveman

I had bike set up with a CX crankset (48/38) and a SRAM 11/34 MTB cassette. The bike had all road components except for the rear der and cassette. I used an XT rear der to handle the larger cassette. Do the math. The lower gear was lower than a typical triple set-up. It was great on big climbs. The gear spacing sucked though. There were some pretty big jumps between gear combos.

CastIron

I grew up not far from the OP. On visits with my Campy CT equipped road bike I don't think I met anything that couldn't easily be dealt with using a 21 cog. A 34/25 is good for everything I've ever thrown at it. Heck that 34 front is a damn low gear. Most road triple cranks bottom out at 30t. Frankly it depends on the rider more than anything else.

Rutnick

What part of Indiana because I've ridden all over the state and yes...it IS flat.

The worst climbs in indiana that I've done lately are with a 53/39 bike and 11-23.

to answer your question there is two parts:

one.....a compact is fine but don't use it as a crutch. It seems people forget that you can push just a little harder and shock yourself that you can actually still climb without hitting that shifter as often and power up it and the cadence won't drop that much. (just like when we only had five rear gears)

two: 11-23 or 12-25 for a compact and honestly....a 11-23 and a compact will work for about 99.99999% of the riding in Indiana. The 11 will give you more top gear. The 23 and the 34 will still give you the same as a 39 front and 27 rear.

Bob Ross

I've got a 50/34 up front with a 12-27 cassette. I ride in the Greater New York tri-state area where we've got a few climbs of note, but frankly, in the 2+ years I've been running that drivetrain, I've only used the 27t cog twice.

On the other hand, I can't count how many times I've been descending a long hill and just completely maxxed out that 50_12 combination...

So I've been toying with the idea of changing to either an 11-25, or maybe the SRAM 11-26.