Depends on your groupset. What are you running Shimano? Campy? 10 speed. 11-speed.

For example, Shimano offers an 11-32 cassette for Ultegra 6800

http://mikesbikes.com/...sku-fw6806-qc129.htm

On my 10-speed Shimano system (6700) I put a SRAM PG-1070 11-32 cassette that worked fine

http://www.amazon.com/...cm_cr_pr_product_top

However I DID need to replace my short-cage, 6700 derailleur with a long-cage. Also needed to put on a new chain

Not really needed. Tony had a 58 front ring and went with the 32 rear so he did not have to change out of the big ring during the TT. Not really an every day setup.

Going with the new Shimano 4 arm crank is a great way to go to get different setups. Compact and Standard setups can be gotten just through chain ring changes. Paired with a 11-28 cassette you will be covered for every ride you could want to do. Di2 rear derailleur will handle the 28 tooth rear.

A compact and a 11-28 cassette will cover most of what you need, with a cadence of between 80-120 rpm = speeds of 7.5mph to 42mph.

I've got a 11-28 currently but we have some rough hills I am struggling on in my local races. I just did one with a 170M elevation gain over 1.6km and it sapped the energy out of me. I was thinking having a 32 tooth in the rear for these would make them less daunting while I'm improving my climbing abilities. Also with my new bike moving to 11 speed from 10 I'd prefer to have the extra low gear to compliment what I already feel is a great setup in the 11-28. Anything that can keep my legs spinning faster up the tough climbs is welcomed.

Thanks for the insight! I really appreciate it.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

RD s have 3 cage sizes. A "regular", medium and large. For the 11-32 I think you can use the medium but can't use the regular which is the default that all group sets come with. I seem to recall that you can get a Di2 RD in a medium. But I don't know if you can get this in a gruppo or have to purchase separately. So, it could be costly.

As more of us old Farts keep riding I think we'll see this kind of gearing getting more prevalent.

Having said that, I run a compact and an 11-28 with Di2 Ultegra and I'm good on climbs up to about 12%, depending upon the length of the climb. Having said that, on grades above about 6% I find myself reaching for another gear so I can keep my cadence up in the 80s or 90s where I like to be. On the steeper grades I can't spin as fast as I'd like, just don't have the power so my cadence drops. I can get up the grades though so that's what counts.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

Are you currently running a compact or a standard crankset with the 11-28?

That's exactly how I feel. I'm a very high cadence rider (95-100) and I can make it up these climbs suffering through but ideally I want to spin faster. That's why I thought a 32 rear would give me that extra low end gear as my 28 only had me spinning at 50-60 up this escarpment. Since I'm building the bike up and tailoring it to my needs I'm not concerned with cost, within reason of course as I'm not Daddy Warbucks. I just want to get it right so I don't waste money on wrong parts due to my lack of wrenching in the past. Right now I'm putting together the build sheet for my shop so they can get to work on having it ready for next season. I'm able to choose every single component down to the type of grease they use basically. Part numbers are welcomed and encouraged!!! LOL

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

I can only answer it in general terms, not in specific terms as I did this with a Campa 10sp setup, and not electronic. But in general there is no added capacity for a larger rear cog between a medium and a long cage. Long cage derailleurs are solely meant for triple setup, they have a larger chainwrap capacity because the difference between the big ring and the granny ring is much larger than the difference when you have just two rings (compact or standard is not so important in this distinction). I just installed a medium cage and it cleared a 30t easily, probably it would clear a 32t also but I don't have such a cassette as the jumps between the gears would be too large for me.

In case you don't know about chainwrap, its basically the difference between the largest and smallest cog in the back plus the largest and smallest chainring in the front. So for me it would be 50-34 + 30-11, which gives me a chainwrap of 35. My short cage mech was only rated to 32, the medium goes until 37, whereas the long goes to 40t. Again, this says nothing specifically about fitting a 32t in the back, but if you're looking to improve your range then looking at chainwrap becomes important and might mean you have to go to a larger cage. Also make sure you get the chainlength right, Park Tool has a good way to calculate it. If the lenght is correct you can usually exceed the advertised chainwrap, especially if you avoid the extreme cross-chaining combinations.

Hope this helps a bit.

My current setup is a full 10 speed Ultegra 6700 with a compact upfront and 11-28 in the rear. I'm not asking for this bike however as I stated I am building up a brand new bike from scratch and tailoring it to my needs/wants. I want a 11-32 in the rear so now I need to know what parts to put on the invoice to make that happen. I assumed with the extra gear going from 10 to 11 speed I could get this easily.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

It does help and thanks so much. I am an avid "NO CROSS CHAIN" rider. I didn't know about or think about this component of the setup (Chainwrap). Since I'm not doing this myself I am sure the shop will tell me what needs to be done but I like to know my shit to some degree and not relay on blind faith. Can you further explain the gear jumps and why you found a 11-30 to work better than the 11-32?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

You just need a medium cage on the RD. That'll fit the 32t. I've got this on my CX bike. I used SRAM Rival 10 sp med cage. It works beautifully w/ that 32t cog.

Like others have said, any med cage RD should work. You shouldn't need a part number if you shop has a clue. Just tell them you want a med cage.

For reference, here's the RD I put on my CX bike.

And btw, since you want to go 11 sp, the Rival 22 groupset is pretty sweet. It's got the same internals as Red 22. It's just a few ounces heavier. They save money not using carbon levers, etc. But the groupset is like a third the cost of red, with all the same technology and working parts. And if you want the carbon bits, Force 22 might answer that calling, at about half the price of Red.

Good luck!

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-Stephen in Arkansas

I just put on a 11-32 cassette and all was good. Cross chaining excepted. I have a campy 10 speed group set up to work with shimano 9 speed cassettes though! People who advise swapping chain rings are either nuts or have too much time on their hands. That's a lot of hassle compared to a cassette swap.

If going di2, the ultegra rd-6870 mid cage is the one you'll want for a 32t cog.

Happy to help. This was the first time I changed my rear mech and it was much easier than I thought, but I did do some research regarding chain wrap and largest rear cog, but when you're trying to operate at the edges of the derailleur I found that there were some contradictory reports on compatibility issues. Apparently the capacity also has to do with the length of your chainstay, with some lengths being more ideal than others. Here's the link to the Park tool site, even though you already said you'd be taking your bike to the shop, it might interest you: http://www.parktool.com/.../chain-length-sizing

Regarding Tony Martin's setup, I think I recall hearing about his setup that in addition to the ability of being able to stay in the big ring with his 32 and the big gear, when he was on the flats he would not be in the 58x11 but rather somewhere in the 14 or 15 so that the chainline was straighter than when it would have been on say 53x11 in order to generate the same travel per revolution, which could mean that his drivetrain would be that tiny amount extra efficient. Not sure if that is actually the case, but you know pro cyclists have their superstitions.

Re the gear jumps: I am actually on 9 speed, but have a rear mech that works with 10sp because 9sp mechs are not so easy to come by (plus I figured that in the future all I'd have to replace is my cassette and my rear shifter to upgrade to 10sp) I'm a poor student ;)

My rear 11x30 cassette now goes like this: 11-12-14-16-18-20-23-26-30 whereas the 11-32 goes: 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32. Those 3 and four tooth jumps are not as nice in my opinion, a big jump in cadence between gears, plus the two tooth jumps at the faster range are big too. Then again you will always give up the smaller increments if you want to increase the range. For me this is really a cassette I only use in the mountains, on the flats I use a 12-23. Ideally I'd get a 12-32 instead of a 11-32 or 11-30 , but I haven't found a 9sp cassette with this range at a reasonable price. The 11 is not as important to me because even though im only on a 50 in the front, when it becomes time to really throw down on 50x11, you're probably on a good descent anyway and it might be better to just tuck in and freewheel (but then again I'm not racing in the mountains). But I might be singing a different tune in the near future, I haven't tested my new setup in the mountains yet, I was on a 12-27 before. For the Alpenbrevet in a month I'll be hoping to complete the 275km 7000hm parcours where I think the 30 in the rear will be essential to my chances of completing the cyclo.

Thanks for the reply! I think it's all becoming very clear now; midcage is the route to go and should encompass all of my needs. As I said I like to do some research and know what I'm talking about when the mechanic and I are speaking. I'm in that "knowledgeable enough to be dangerous" stage so I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to cause myself any unwanted expenses because I got overzealous.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

More importantly, what are you using for you main chain rings?

The problem with an 11-32 is it is a 21 teeth difference and depending on the Groupo, that may be too much. One solution in the Shimano camp is you use a mountain bike XD rear derailuer.

And if you are going with a Rotor Q ring? you are looking for a whole other world of hurt, mainly potential clearance issues on the front derailuer on the lower portions of the chain ring.

I am not a good climber and BARELY fit a Dura-Ace 7800 system running a Compact on the front and 11-28 on the rear. I would drag the chain in the small ring across the front deraileuer not to mention the chain having almost not tension and in the big ring, if I pushed into the 28 cog, I would only have a few degrees through the rear cage and not be straight

Your biggest issues is going to be the length of chain and the length of the rear deraileuer cage

I havent decided on that but I'm hoping to get suggestions. I'm starting to think maybe it's better to go 11-30 with a Q Ring setup on the front. Ideally it's going to be a Ui2 Electronic groupo but if cost is an issue at that point I'll be heading in the direction of Red22. What rings would you suggest in the front?

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Again, you do NOT need to go outside of the 6700 group derailleur to make 11-32 work. It's just with the cassette. I have done it with my full 6700 setup and works fine. If you want to keep it cheap and stay 10-speed you can do it for less than $200, depending on where you get your parts.

1. Buy this derailleur ($85 - the "long-cage" 6700 -- though Shimano calls it "medium"). Shimano part RD-6700-SS

http://www.wiggle.com/...-rear-derailleur-gs/

And this cassette ($75 if you choose the 11-32 in the dropdown)

http://www.amazon.com/...11-23T/dp/B0026YADRI

And any chain you want That's all you need.

Personally, given that these parts put you almost 1/3 of the way to the cost buying the full 6800 groupset anyway, why not go with that and choose the stock 11-32 if you can handle the financial bite? You could sell off the old parts later to recoup some of the cost. And you'd have an 11-32 with an extra gear in the middle.

[Edit]. I should say that I don't know if your front derailleur or crank would have any effect on that. but you certainly don't need a special rear derailleur. if you FD is also 6700 then the crank is the only thing to worry about.

What is the bike, and what are you using for the Groupo.

Some bikes or groups have limits as to what can be used.

For my combination, a Specialized Transition S-Works, the bike is really designed for TT, not climbing and the notion of using a compact crank on it was blasphemy, especially with the Dura Ace 7800 groupo which did not have a long front deraileur. To get around this I had to ANGLE the front deraileue slightly at the lowest position to get an extra centimeter or two.

And again, depending on the group and bike, and it is primarily going to be a factor of how long your rear deraileuer is, there is only so many teeth difference you can run

Part of what you are looking at, and not sure what the term is but the "throw" or "travel" distance of the rear deraileuer. With the Dura Ace 7800 it is only like 16 or 17 teeth, so that even though ultegra made an 11-28, this would not fit, and 11-27 was the max I could go. At 11-28, the rear deraileue would start running up onto the 28 cog, so this is a factor of how low your hanger is as well.

That is why some people went to using a XD derailurere and some even ran crazy like 11-36

I originally was looking at running a 53-39 with an 11-27 and was just able to fit an 50-34 with the 11-27 and lost about 2 or 4 gears. 34 to 11 or 12 would start riding on the chain keeper.

Again, some of what you run across is how parts fit. You may be able to drop your deraileuer to the lowest level, but throw on a TT crank and you may not physically shift into the big ring.

If you are looking for the biggest range, look at throwing on a mountain bike derailurer, run a standard 53-39 up front and then an 11-34 or 11-36 in the rear. Caveat is you may run out of chain still, and the shifting gets a little funky.... not to mention spinning like a mother fer in the largest cog, but there are a ton of factors beyond what drivetrain is compatible

Let me refocus this thread because I truly do value each and everybody's input into this venture.

I'm custom ordering a new bike with a remaining budget in and around $6000-$7000. I am looking to get the best possible setup so I don't have to switch cassettes and chain rings from event to event. With 10 gears now I am pretty much good all the time but the really steep hills I find myself wanting a bit easier of a gear to spin faster to align with my typically high cadence numbers. Moving to the 11 Speed I assume I can either add another low end or mid cog to the mix. I don't want to just get an off the shelf bike because I know I'll covet certain parts they don't ship with for optimizing my abilities. Example ROTOR FLOW 165mm crank, Q Rings, 11-32 cassette, electronic shifting, all carbon everything. As it stands what I've chosen so far is the following:

Felt IA1 Frameset
Reynolds Carbon Clinchers(purchased)
Powertap G3(purchased)
ROTOR FLOW 165mm Crank
ROTOR Compact Q Rings
Ui2 6870 FD
Ui2 6870 RD(mid cage)
Ui2 Bullhorn shifters
Ui2 Pursuit brakes/shifters
Ui2 Wiring harness
Ui2 Battery
Chris King BB30 Bottom Bracket
Dura-Ace chain
Dura-Ace Pedals(purchased)
ISM Attack Saddle (purchased)
LizardSkins Bar Tape (purchased)
Ti KCNC Skewers (purchased)
Continental GP4000s II (purchased)
Latex innertubes (purchased)
Zipp Valve Extentions (purchased)
Reynolds Cryo-Blue Power Brake Pads (purchased)
wheelbuilder.com disc cover (purchased)
Ultegra 6800 11-32 Cassette <---- This is my wild card component I am not sure if it works with the rest of the gear. This is what I'm looking to figure out from posting this thread.

Let me know what sticks out as "poor choice" here for a race bike for a FOP age grouper. I'm curious to know what others think and what their reasoning would be for going another route. I'm still new to the mechanical part of cycling so I'm eager to learn and as I said dangerous enough to cost myself some hefty $$$ but not knowing what I'm talking about.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Make sure that the rear brake on the felt are sufficient for your needs. When I was test riding a bunch of bikes I liked the Felt but I didn't like the rear brake, it just felt too spongy for me. The shop said that was a mechanical and they could easily fix it but when I went online it appeared to be more of an issue. While that wasn't the only reason I didn't go with Felt, it was a contributor.

And, further to gearing, fir touring years ago I went with a triple up front and a rear cogset that had, I believe, a 36 as the largest (triple up front was a 34 I think) in any case, 1 pedal revolution was less than 1 wheel revolution. Really helped with 60 pounds on the bike and my fat ass trying to get up steep grades. Anyway, my largest chainring was a 54 and because of the range of gearing I had my chain set so that I couldn't even go big - big, the chain wasn't long enough. But that was deliberate, the last cog was a bailout gear so a really large jump from one down from it (on a 6 speed cogset).

I generally will never cross chain but I find that with Di2, I just hit the button and don't really think about what gear I'm in. And, this has led to cross chaining, usually big-big as I'm climbing. I starting to see the potential usefulness of getting the Di2 gear Wireless unit that sends out a signal indicating which gears you are in although I'd have to upgrade to a new bike computer I think.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

Also, think ahead to when you decide to get a Power Meter so you haven't limited yourself.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.