MTBMaven

I went down to my LBS (The Path in Tustin, CA) today to test out installing a SRAM Apex 11x32 cassette. Cassette was $60 + tax. I am currently running a full Ultegra groupo with a compact crank and an 11x27 cassette. The installation turned out to be very straight forward. All that was needed was to swap out the cassettes and adjusting the B-tension.

I elected to replace my chain rather than add a few links back as big-big was not quite possible with my current chain. A full length chain should not have any problems with 54x32. I also elected to install a slightly longer B-tension screw to get a little more adjustment. Not required but everything runs a little smoother now.

Your results may vary. Depending on the derailleur hanger length the installation may not be as straight forward. If it does not work one option is to try installing a mountain derailleur as well.

I have three events coming up where this cassette will come in really handy. I am doing The Death Ride on July 10th, a 7 day northern California unsupported tour in August, and Everest Challenge in September. Will try to report back on this thread after I have some real world usage with this set up.

kayakdiver

Thanks for sharing this info. Something for me to consider for one climb I really hate doing with my compact.

BengeBoy 

This may be a dumb question, but - I'm assuming you had the long cage Ultegra RD?

mvanderk

I will be interested to here how it works. I'm currently running the same group with a compact crank also. I recently changed out the cassette to a 11-28 to help with some of the climbs here in the Smokey Mtn's where I spend my summer. A 11-32 would be nice on the long climbs. ...........Keep us posted

MTBMaven

@BengeBoy: Actually it is not a long cage.

redbike72

Ummm, I'm certainly not a pro when it comes to touring but, why would you ever want to got to 54x32? I would have thought that you would switch to the inner chain ring if you were that high up the cassette?
I'm not trying to be a smart aleck here. I'm looking for an opportunity to learn. Perhaps I haven't fully followed the gist of the thread.

BengeBoy 

I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that it was a typo and the OP meant that his lowest gear would be a 34T chainring on the front and a 32T big cog on the rear.

If I'm wrong, it's only the 2nd time in this thread.

Bekologist

the compact mountain double. got to love it, will be setting up the travellers check with a wide range rear gear on a compact double on it tomorrow, replace the road triple 11-27 i had on there for my hawaii trip.

should be nice. on a supporting note, i've seen several bikes running mountain cassettes with 105 and tiagra derailleurs and a medium cage would work as long as you only had two chainrings. ive currently got a 105 and an 11-32 running on the city bike. even though its 9 speed and friction, its a shimano road derailleur running a mountain cassette. its kind of common, around here anyways.

dscheidt

You wouldn't actually use it, but it's good to have the chain length to engage the gear. If it gets selected by accident, something on the bike (usually the RD) will break before the chain does.

MTBMaven

And the winner is...dscheidt. I would not want to run 54x32 intentionally but it could happen by accident. Sometimes late in the day when the brain is not thinking too clearly I'm bound to switch into any combination of gears. I don't want to have to think about it. I don't want to snap a chain or something else because I went big-big.

I installed a new 10 speed SRAM chain today to get some extra length and my old Wipperman had enough stretch to warrant switching. I removed 6 pieces of chain. Not sure if that is 6 links or 3 links, so let me define what I meant. I removed 3 of the narrower and 3 of wider portions of the chain. I am now able to shift into big-big, which is 54x32. The B-tension screw is all the way in. The longer one I got from the hardware store began to slip off the back of the hanger so that didnit work. I need about 0.5mm - 1mm of adjustment out of the B-tension. I might try the longer one again to see if I can get it to work. If I was building a new bike I would just go with a Shimano XT level derailleur, maybe mid-cage.