Originally Posted by
HTupolev
SRAM pulled off the 12-speed MTB cassette partly by making the big cog so huge that it could sit out over the spokes, rather than just on the freehub body. On a "road"-sized cassette, you'll have to squish the extra cog on the freehub somehow. There's not much room to increase wheel dish at this point, so probably either the bicycle frames will need to get wider or the chain/cogs/whatever will need to be made considerably more narrow.
1. Campagnolo big cogs have overhung the freehub body since we got 10 speed in 2000.
2. The majority of disc brake road bikes use a 135mm OLD which adds another 2.5mm of room to the drive side without changing dish.