Rear cassette

[jowwy]

Afternoon Cc'ers

I'm in a bit of a quandry on whether to change the rear cassette on my bike to a bigger ration of 11-32 rather then the current 11-25 it has at the moment to help me with some of the hills that i have around here, especially first thing in the morning when i commute as i have a 1100ft climb in the first 2miles of the commute, then basically all down hill all the way for the next 11 miles.

now i have the shimano 2300 system on the bike and i know the max tooth size it can take is 26T - can i change the rear derailluer to an MTB type and then fit a sram cassette with wider ratio????

Thanks guys
chris

ps can someone advise me on what derailluer to fit and keep the costs down too.

 

[Alun]

How many speeds? and do you have a STI setup (drop handlebars)? I fitted a 11-32 shimano cassette and Deore (9 speed) derailleur with a new chain to a 10 speed STI setup and it works fine. SRAM and Shimano Dyna Sys derailleurs have a different cable pull, so steer clear of those.

 

[HLaB]

Get further advice but I thought most road derailleurs could go to 27t and I think the 105's go to 28t. However, yes you can change it for a mtb type I was on a cycling holiday a few year back and one of the blokes had done that, no problem.

 

[jowwy]

How many speeds? and do you have a STI setup (drop handlebars)? I fitted a 11-32 shimano cassette and Deore (9 speed) derailleur with a new chain to a 10 speed STI setup and it works fine. SRAM and Shimano Dyna Sys derailleurs have a different cable pull, so steer clear of those.

hi alun

yeh drop bars sti and 8 speed

 

[TheDoctor]

Get an 8 speed cassette and a Shimano MTB rear mech, and all should be sweetness and light.
SRAM or Shimano cassette is fine - the spacing and everything is identical. It's SRAM mechs that are different.

 

[Alun]

Some more info here: http://sheldonbrown.com/k8.shtml
Looks like you could use 8 speeds from a 9 speed cassette, if you can't get an appropriate 8 speed cassette

 

[mcshroom]

My bike comes with 2300 shifters, an altus rear mech and a 32t cassette. It works fine

I've currently got an SRAM PG830 cassette installed at the moment and the grouping is much closer at the top end than the Shimano equivalent.

 

[TheDoctor]

8 speed 11-32T cassettes are easy to get hold of. CRC have 'em in stock
That dodge of Sheldons is to get 8 speeds onto a 7 speed hub IIRC, so it's not really relevant here.

 

[ColinJ]

Blimey - 10.4% average for 2 miles from a cold start - that's nasty! The 11 mile run down afterwards sounds nice though!

The climb from Hebden Bridge to Heptonstall is about half that (10.9% for 1 mile) and that is bad enough. I'll be tackling that from cold on Sunday and I'm not looking forward to it!

 

[jowwy]

Blimey - 10.4% average for 2 miles from a cold start - that's nasty! The 11 mile run down afterwards sounds nice though!

The climb from Hebden Bridge to Heptonstall is about half that (10.9% for 1 mile) and that is bad enough. I'll be tackling that from cold on Sunday and I'm not looking forward to it!

it is a very nasty start, my work colleagues think i'm mad cycling into work especially with that start, but there aint no easier way to do it...........i get to the top, blowing out of my arse, then i recover and ride in quite strongly. but the uphill ride back home is a long drawn out climb..........

 

[Alun]

8 speed 11-32T cassettes are easy to get hold of. CRC have 'em in stock
That dodge of Sheldons is to get 8 speeds onto a 7 speed hub IIRC, so it's not really relevant here.

Just quoting from the site, haven't tried it myself.

The wider 8-speed cassette does not fit on the narrower 7-speed body.. You could install 8 sprockets of a 9-speed cassette, though

 

[TheDoctor]

yebbut...2300 is 8 speed, so that's not relevant.
If the OP had got a 7 speed system, then the SRAM 12-32 will do nicely.

 

[jowwy]

So can anyone advise me on what rear mech to buy?? And will i need to change the chain too???

 

[chris-s]

You might find an 11-28 would be sufficient. Going to 11-32 would give some noticeable jumps between gears and almost certainly require a longer chain and rear hangar whereas the 11-28 would probably be fine.


Chris

 

[jowwy]

I did think of doing that to chris-s, but i would still have to get a new rear mech.

Or would i

front 50/34 rear 11/25 max 33t so if i went to 11/28 would i need to change rear mech???