Change ring on Shimano HG CS5600?

[ianMac]

Hi,
I have an HG Shimano Hyperglide CS5600 with Shimano 105 set up and Ultegra rear derailleur. The top gear is 50/12. I want to swap out one of the middle rings and replace it with an 11T ring: is this something I could do by myself? Or is it not even possible? I want to learn more about the bike and if I can do things myself I want to have a bash!

Thanks,
ianMac

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

.

Hi,
I have an HG Shimano Hyperglide CS5600 with Shimano 105 set up and Ultegra rear derailleur. The top gear is 50/12. I want to swap out one of the middle rings and replace it with an 11T ring: is this something I could do by myself? Or is it not even possible? I want to learn more about the bike and if I can do things myself I want to have a bash!

Thanks,
ianMac

Seeing you've not had much response in this General Cycling forum yet, you might try re-posting in the Know How forum in the Technical section.

 

[TheDoctor]

Loose one of the middling sprockets so you can fit an 11T?
That *might* work, but it'd be less hassle to fit a 53T chainring, or buy a cassette with an 11T small sprocket.
Even less hassle to learn how to spin - that 50*12 gear would get me up to 45+ mph if I was strong enough!!
Seriously - it's doable if you know what you're doing. If you need to ask if it's possible I'd say it's not a good idea.

 

[PpPete]

How many of the sprockets in the existing cassette come as a block and how many are loose?
Usually its just a few of the smaller ones that are "loose" and taking one of those out will almost inevitably leave you with an uncomfortable "gap" in the gears.

You can take one of the bigger sprockets out by dismantling the "block" - not sure about the 5600, some of them are assembled using a tiny allen keyed bolt, but most you have to grind off the head of a rivet on the back of the biggest sprocket.

Don't forget you'll need a different lock-ring for an 11T, they are different to 12T lock-rings.

Much easier to buy a whole new cassette IMO.

 

[ianMac]

Thanks for the replies. The new cassette looks like the best option - next spring!

Thanks again!