Fatal Swan
Senior Retro Guru
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So - I've recently started doing some road riding and on the road bike I've currently got a 11-27T 10-speed cassette. It does the job perfectly well for my use on it so far, but as I get more adventurous on my routes I've been thinking that I would like the safety net of a slightly larger sprocket on the back - I'm not completely hopeless/unfit and I do enjoy the challenge of a good climb - but I also miss the confidence that MTB gearing gives you that you'll be able to get up more or less anything. I know there's an argument to just get better legs/lungs etc but I don't have the time to ride that much nowadays so I'd like to enjoy the occasional ride I do manage to fit in with gearing that I'm comfortable with right now. I've got a spare mid-cage rear mech which will do the trick if needed when I go to a wider range cassette, so it's just the cassette that I need to consider.
As far as I can tell, the easy way to do it would be to go to the Ultegra 12-30T. Even I would probably miss the 11T sprocket though, as it's only a compact chainset up front. I'd been thinking that I might get the Ultegra 12-30 and knock out the 14T ring to replace it with an 11T (giving a spread of 11-12-13-15-17-19-21-24-27-30). Or, is it worth the hassle over an 11-32 XT cassette (out of the box 11-12-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32T)?
Any thoughts or advice please?
As far as I can tell, the easy way to do it would be to go to the Ultegra 12-30T. Even I would probably miss the 11T sprocket though, as it's only a compact chainset up front. I'd been thinking that I might get the Ultegra 12-30 and knock out the 14T ring to replace it with an 11T (giving a spread of 11-12-13-15-17-19-21-24-27-30). Or, is it worth the hassle over an 11-32 XT cassette (out of the box 11-12-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32T)?
Any thoughts or advice please?