11-34 for climbing, 11-28 for flatlands. It only takes a few min to swap cassettes.

I mostly keep the 11-34 installed. I'm not real sensitive to cadence or a missing gear size here or there. I'm also not anti cross chaining for short hills. The 50x34 setup allows me to power up the short/steep climbs in my area without having to mess with the front mech - can do entire rides in the big ring. 34x34 combo lets me climb anything I've encountered so far.

could maybe do a 12sp thread like this.

11-34T with a 16t cog in the mix for a 12 sp cassette....

cassettes which have both 16 & 18 cogs, 10 & 11 cogs, even with a 46 ring, are a joke...
do things which Shimano or SRAM aren't doing...
I have a Miche 11 spd cassette which includes 16 & 18 and is awesome !
Ride On
Yuri

Right now the closest we have for 12 speed is: 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30-34 at 134g.

If you were designing an 11-34T 12-speed cassette what would the jumps be?

If it was for me and had to start at 11 :-) 11-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27-30-34

I'd opt for
11-12-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-30-32-34
​Or
11-12-14-15-16-17-19-21-25-27-30-34

Interesting...We do: 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30-34

#1. 11-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-27-30-34: Give up the 12 for more even jumps on the climbing gears.

#2. 11-12-14-15-16-17-19-21-24-30-32-34: Give up the 13 for even better jumps on the climbing gears with a big jump just before.

#3. 11-12-14-15-16-17-19-21-25-27-30-34: Give up the 13 for more even jumps on the climbing gears with the 25-27 being pretty close. Maybe a 24 instead of a 25 (like #1) would be better?

I think we would need to know what chainrings you would pair with these and then dust off the gear inch chart. The jumps may not be what they seem.

Also, in #1 and #3, it looks like the 34T would be a total bail-out gear but less so in #2?

Would it be a possibility of doing 1-piece cassettes for just the lowest 10 gears, and an option for either a 11 or 12t lockring?

Cogs 17-19-21-24 have little critically in my use.
The cogs that shine well for my style of riding are 11-12-14-15-16-30-32-34 in a 12x50 system.

Bob Dopolina
if you update your web page with 12 speed offerings, tag me to keep me informed.

That wouldn't be until well into 2025 as we are producing 11 speed right now. We just finished the 11-34. We'll do 11-28 next but not until the new year as we are moving to a fulfillment center and my hair is constantly on fire.

Interesting.

I loved 53x19 or 53x21 for power climbs.

On the longer mountain climbs, while seated, I found myself in 39x19, 39x21, or 39x23 for the bulk of the climbs, and then I still had 39x25 or 39x27 for the steeper pitches that are a hallmark of the big mountains here.

If we were doing climbs about 2200m, when we hit a steep pitch, I sometimes wished I had a 39x29 but I never owned one then. I was either too stupid or too stubborn to give in and install one. I think it was because the 11-29 had a 26T instead of a 25T and if I was matching pace on a long climb the 26T just put me in a weird zone. Or maybe it was all in my head - who knows?

How long do aluminum cassettes last?

not long at all

I assume this is based on your extensive experience ?

It depends on how you ride, where you ride, and how well you maintain your drivetrain.
Chains and cassettes are consumables. Going through two a season is not unusual for many riders while others can easily go more than a season on a single cassette and chain.

I may have misunderstood BDop's rationale, but I got the impression you'd only have to hit it once to possibly damage the cassette.


Bob Dopolina Do you offer Campy 11spd 11-25 (or 11-28) cassettes? I searched your website but only found Campy 10spd 11-23 and 11spd 12-27. Thanks.

The question was semi-serious, at best.

Yeah...uh, no.

We're not going to make any more Campagnolo cassettes.

True, but for a given cassette cog with a specific number of teeth, aluminum will wear faster than titanium and much faster than stainless steel, based on the respective material properties (mainly hardness) of the three metals.

Not enough demand?

Yes.

How much faster?
What grade of Ti?
What blends of alloy?
What treatments are you comparing?
How are you measuring hardness? Brinell? Knoop, Rockwell A or Rockwell B? Perhaps Vickers?

See post #66 above by Bob Dopolina. Like he said, it depends, on many factors.

The grade Shimano uses for its Dura-Ace cassettes.

The blend Shimano uses for its chain rings.

The treatment Shimano uses on its Dura-Ace cassettes.

I have not measured hardness. I am going by what I have read regarding the hardness of commercially available grades of these metals, and the fact that Shimano uses (a) stainless steel on the smaller cogs of its Dura-Ace cassettes, (b) titanium only on the larger cogs of its Dura-Ace cassettes, and (c) aluminum only on chain rings and the largest cogs of its MTB cassettes. Yes, I am assuming that these metal choices are not random. Now, is it possible that a specific aluminum alloy can be made harder than most commercially available grades of titanium and stainless steel? I suppose so. Do tell if you are getting cassettes made from such an aluminum alloy. Or you can just say that your aluminum cassettes last as long as Dura-Ace cassettes (under whatever test conditions).

This is not a knock on your cassettes. Aluminum is lighter than stainless steel and costs less than titanium.