IRD 10 speed cassette
 

Have to admit that it is not for the Tandem- But I need lower gearing on my road bike for Mountains. Currently running Ultegra compact 50/34 and 12/27. This just does not quite give me the gearing for the severe hills I want to climb and my only other choice is to go triple- which would cost more.

Have any of you tried the IRD 10 spd 11/34 cassette? and what are your views on it? Does it change crisply enough and what about wear?
I do have an MTB XT rear derailler to cope with the extra gears.

One came on my Santana. Shifting was fine but I like closer gearing and replaced it with a 12/27 after the first 2 rides.
We still have the 30t inner as bail out but don't go looking for grades above 8% and can spin the 12 up to 40MPH so 12/ 27 is just perfect for us.
If you were local I'd let you try it or buy it.

IRD 10 Speed Cassette
 

I have had the IRD on both my Santana and Calfee Tetra tandems. They don't shift as crisply as the Shimano, and according to my LBS mechanic, are not as machined to the same tolerances and specs as Shimano and Campy.

That being said, alot of them have been sold and they may work more effectively on a single.
Counselguy

The 11t will be completely useless, unless you are upto road riding above 28-32mph.
The IRD are 'heavy' compared with Shimano, expensive IME compared with Shimano
and SRAM, but come in sizes and/or spline combos that are otherwise not readily
available.

It appears that Giang makes the IRD 11-32 and 11-34 cassette. Giang does definitely make the 11-34 for Santana and Santana does not rebrand it - it says Giang on the lockring and I have spoken to McCready on the phone about the cassettes. We put 4,000 miles last year on the original Giang that came on our Santana Niobium. When shifting deteriorated because of a derailleur cable that was fraying inside the lever (but before I figured that out), I bought a new cassette from Santana. The newer one had the larger cogs on a spider so it is lighter. It has about 5000 miles on it now and I don't see any wear problems. We do use the 53 - 11 on our favorite downhills but if we didn't have it we would be OK.

I think that a large range cassette is destined to not crisp as shiftly as a tighter range cassette and I have no complaints about the rear shifting of our 11-34. I have found over our 9000 tandem miles in the last two years that when I have the bike shifting fine in the stand, I will probably have to do some fine tuning on the road more than I would have to on my single.

If you need the range I wouldn't be afraid of it but a smaller range will no doubt be crisper.

Bloomington, IN

We have an 11-26 10spd on our tandem and find it handy for those bursts into the 35-40mph
range on hill rollouts, but on a singleton, unless you can generate (solo) 350watts or so the
11t will have no use on a road bike even down hill. With an ATB front and 44t or 46t large
CW it might be useful occasionally. His problem is uphill though, and with very choppy terrain
the obnoxious 3-5t steps between shifts are less annoying.

Where are you going to need gears like that?

Back when men were men cyclists used to climb hills 42x21 with 42x23 for wimps. I even went touring in Devon with 42x23 about 15 years ago. It was character building.

Going to attempt Ventoux next year. Did it this year with 30/28 but new bike is 10 speed. 34/27 will be a struggle but what makes it worse is that there are 3 climbs up Ventoux. If the training goes right- I will be attempting the 3 climbs in one day. I might need that 34 by the end. If not then 34/28 will still be there with the 34 as an emergency gear. - And devon- except for a couple of notable hills- is relatively flat to where I live on the Sussex Downs so I do have a good training ground.

As this is a Tandem forum- I hope to be taking the Tandem down with me aswell- but an MTB up Ventoux is not on- Mind you a downhill offroad for 22kms could be fun.


Edit-- And thanks for the information on the cassette.