[splat]

OK I was in a discussion with MMcg about gearing and I mentioned the largest gog on my cassette is a 28 tooth he felt that was roadie gearing ( my Road bike the largest is a 23 )

so How does every one feel about this ?

 

[Heidi]

I think mine's a 32. I've never really thought about it. I can say that I have made it a goal this year to use my small ring as little as possible. Most of my races have at least 3000' climbing but that damn Cascade Cream Puff WILL require the small ring with its 18,000' climbing!

 

[Serial Midget]

I have a 12/34 and I use them all!!!

 

[wooglin]

Road cassette. I think its a 23-13.

 

[Westy]

11-34. I hardly ever leave the middle ring. I experimented with 1X9 this winter and decided having the other two rings was pretty much required to keep the chain on.

 

[SuspectDevice]

On XC bikes I use either 41-32 with a 12-32, a 36 with either a 11-34 or 12-26 or a 42-34-26 with a 12-26 depending on whether I'm on a fs bike or a hardtail, and what the course conditions are like at the time.

I prefer my gears to be as close together as possible in the back, and I wont run any gear ratio lower than 1:1 as after that point i feel you are better off running anyway. I also don't like larger chainrings for many east coast courses, as many races have so little open stuff that you end up not being able to find a good gear and need to shift into the smaller ring. Shifting= the devil, so the less you need to shift in the front the more I like the gearing. The only drawback to this is when i get full on xc gear-queered I end up bringing a box full of casettes and chainrings to races, where I still get beat by people with 44-32-22 and the 12-34's... But this is the price we used to be fast over-analytical types must pay for out labors..

If i had some sort of heavy trailbike I might feel differently though...

 

[Wumpus]

I run a 1x9 with a 32 in the front and 12-34.

 

[Carbon Fetish]

My XC race bikes have 12-32
My Trail bike has a 12-34
My Road bike has 12-25

 

[BikeGeek]

My XC bike is 8-speed, with an 11-28 cassette. I have yet to need anything bigger than a 28.

My commuter used to be 1x7 with a 12-21 in the back and a 42 up front.

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by BikeGeek
My XC bike is 8-speed, with an 11-28 cassette. I have yet to need anything bigger than a 28.

You've never climbed Mt St Helens.

 

[BikeGeek]

Originally posted by Serial Midget
You've never climbed Mt St Helens.

Tru dat

 

[Wumpus]

Just knowing rear gearing without knowing the front is kind of pointless.

 

[splat]

Originally posted by Wumpus
Just knowing rear gearing without knowing the front is kind of pointless.

there now you went and spoiled the surprise of what My next poll was going to be ! :dancing:

 

[Heidi]

Originally posted by splat
there now you went and spoiled the surprise of what My next poll was going to be ! :dancing:

SURPRISE!

 

[rockracing]

11-34 try and not use my 32 up front with the 34t at the back too much cos of the funky chain line, this year I've actually consciously started using my 22 in races more (with some middle cogs at the back) to get a nice seated spin rather than "stand and hammer".....

next cassette will probably be a 32t max.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I don't know what my gearing is...............

-S.S.-

 

[Echo]

11-34 in the back, 22-32-44 in the front. I generally stay in the middle ring, and try to stay in the center of the cassette. This year however I'm trying to remember to go to the big ring for more speed on downhill and flat sections.

 

[Ian F]

XC hardtail: 11-30 8spd
FS bike: 12-32 8spd

Both are XTR ti cassettes and both bikes have XTR 24-34-46 front triples. I rarely run out of gear on the HT and occasionally on the FS. Lately, I run out of legs first. If/when I switch to SRAM 9spd on the mtn bikes, I'll probably go with bigger cogs.

 

[Wumpus]

Originally posted by Ian F
If/when I switch to SRAM 9spd on the mtn bikes, I'll probably go with bigger cogs.

The range on SRAM sucks when you go to the 34 in the rear. I believe it goes from a 34 to a 28.

 

[Wumpus]

Top row is front rings/left column is rear cogs.

Numbers in the boxes are gear inches.

 

[ghostrider]

I run an 11-34, in my best Spock voice, it just isn't logical to have anything but the widest range available.

 

[Serial Midget]

Well you made me look and not just guess...

I have 3 mountain bikes and 5 wheelsets for XC riding.

3 of my cassettes are 11/34
1 is 11/32
1 is 11/30

I do the same climbs with all 3 bikes and they all have the same front rings. Oddly I don't notice myself climbing better on one cassette or the next.

 

[SuspectDevice]

Originally posted by Serial Midget
Well you made me look and not just guess...

I Oddly I don't notice myself climbing better on one cassette or the next.

It isn't climb where one notices the difference, it is rolling terrain. The most noticeable thing is the huge jump between gears with the wider range casettes. A real "flow-killer" IMO>

 

[Westy]

Originally posted by SuspectDevice
It isn't climb where one notices the difference, it is rolling terrain. The most noticeable thing is the huge jump between gears with the wider range casettes. A real "flow-killer" IMO>

With rolling terrain no matter what type of cassette you have you would have to shift constantly to always be in the right gear. I would rather have a wide range cassette, shift less and be able to keep things in the middle ring all the time.

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by SuspectDevice
It isn't climb where one notices the difference, it is rolling terrain. The most noticeable thing is the huge jump between gears with the wider range casettes. A real "flow-killer" IMO>

On a road bike I agree but where I ride MTB it's either up or down - you'll be in 44/12 one minute and 22/34 20 seconds later, narrow spacing isn't going to make much difference to me in that situation.