What about 12/28? How often would you find yourself descending so fast that you run out of gearing with 12 rear 52 front?
With 11/32 I’d be more worried about not having enough gears, especially in the middle of the cassette, for flat roads and false flats, which is probably most of your riding.
That is my current setup, albeit on QXL rings (52/36 equivalent). I was on a 50/34 round rings and 11/32 and really felt like the 34-32 combo was useless unless I wanted to just spin up a really steep hill. I use this for Road races, Crits, and all my training outdoors. Another benefit of the 32 is that I can be in the 52-28 and not be completely x-chaining. FWIW, although I am smaller and lighter I am not by any means a climber and I like having as much gear as I can carry. The 52/36 and 11-32 works really well for me.
11-28 will work with normal cages, so no RD change. What system are you running? Shimano 6870? Also, FD will not need changing at all.
edit: I am under the assumption we are talking 11spd.
I think it is an ideal setup if:
You don’t need the perfect cadence on the flats. The spread of an 11-32 is larger than your 11-25 and you will notice not always being in the most optimal cadence. I would think the 11-32 with a 52/36 is going to get you up any hill you can tackle. There are plenty of ratio and gear inch calculators out there that will help demonstrate what you will be using when you are in 36-25 compared to 36-32. It will be a noticeable difference. It never hurts to have more gears in my opinion. If you have a Shimano 11 speed setup, you can find a pretty cheap derailleur online if you are willing to install yourself. I personally would not buy online and then take to my LBS. No changes to your front derailleur from what I could see.Shifting might not be as crisp because of the larger spread in the cogs but I don’t think it would stop me if I needed the assistance. I am considering doing the same thing to my BMC because it came with 53/39 and that is just a huge spread for me. Finally, you will need a new chain since your gear inches will be changing.
I wouldn’t worry so much about being in the perfect cadence then, as you’d only be missing the 16. Which some can’t live without, but I don’t notice it being gone. YMMV
Great points!
thanks for all the great input. I have one more question. Since I am used to using 11/25, would it be smarter to just get a 11/28 rather than a new chain, rear derailleur, 11/32? I am assuming I can just swap out the 11/25 for the 11/28 without all those changes? Would going from an 11/25 to 11/28 give me that extra little boost on raceday I am looking for? I am torn between those two options
I just switched from a 11-25 to an 11-28 for my R3 (also 52/36), based on the recommendations of my bike shop guy. I did it mainly to be able to spin more up hills in my upcoming tris to save my legs, because I’ve been managing O.K. on my 25 for the steeper hills around where I live. Bike shop guy thought there was absolutely no reason to go any lower than a 28 for me.
I haven’t been in the 28 tooth cog yet, planning to try it out this weekend. But I’ve been fine on my regular rides with the other gears.
edited to add: I didn’t need to change anything else on my bike to accommodate the new cassette.
thanks for all the great input. I have one more question. Since I am used to using 11/25, would it be smarter to just get a 11/28 rather than a new chain, rear derailleur, 11/32? I am assuming I can just swap out the 11/25 for the 11/28 without all those changes? Would going from an 11/25 to 11/28 give me that extra little boost on raceday I am looking for? I am torn between those two options
11-32 is overkill and will have huge gaps between gears. Just buy an 11-28 cassette and go with that, doesn’t require any other changes and should be plenty of gear.
Or, swap front chainrings to a compact setup of 50/34 and keep the 11-25 on the back.
I run the 11 speed 11-25 on the back because it keeps the gear jumps smaller and allows me to fine tune my cadence. I have an 11-28 but I don’t like it, the jumps are too big. I also run a compact crank 50/34. Works great 99.5% of the time. There are a few descents where I wish I had more gear, but it isn’t often. Climbing wise it works great and I can always swap to the 11-28 if I am going to have a big climbing day. With your Ultegra 6800 you should be able to buy 50/34 chainrings and use them on your current crank. That is what I would do, then if you still want more, buy an 11-28.
I’ve run a 52/36 with a SS rear and 11/28 for years. And I’m a good climber.
Just switched to GS long cage and 11/32 on my tribike for some extended climbing races this summer (10K + elevation gains for the bike portions).
While you won’t notice a huge difference over the 11/28 versus 11/32, it is nice to have one more gear down to allow another spinning option on the hills. IMO, it actually allows me to climb better while staying near my FTP on steeper grades, which is a good thing when I’ve got so many feet of elevation to go up over the course of a very hilly IM. You may not need it, but it is there to bail out into if you do need it. and time losses on hills over an 11/28 are very minimal while saving some % of the legs for more climbing or on the run.
If you can afford it, do so and don’t regret it. You will need a new rear der, new cassette, new chain. And I do actually miss the 16 (?) in the middle of the cluster when up to speed. My plan is to keep both sets and put the smaller der / cassette back on when not doing such huge climbing races. Get one of the quick connect link pins for both chains and you can switch equipment as needed.
My road bike stays with an 11/28 and 52/36.
I’ve run a 52/36 with a SS rear and 11/28 for years. And I’m a good climber.
Just switched to GS long cage and 11/32 on my tribike for some extended climbing races this summer (10K + elevation gains for the bike portions).
While you won’t notice a huge difference over the 11/28 versus 11/32, it is nice to have one more gear down to allow another spinning option on the hills. IMO, it actually allows me to climb better while staying near my FTP on steeper grades, which is a good thing when I’ve got so many feet of elevation to go up over the course of a very hilly IM. You may not need it, but it is there to bail out into if you do need it. and time losses on hills over an 11/28 are very minimal while saving some % of the legs for more climbing or on the run.
If you can afford it, do so and don’t regret it. You will need a new rear der, new cassette, new chain. And I do actually miss the 16 (?) in the middle of the cluster when up to speed. My plan is to keep both sets and put the smaller der / cassette back on when not doing such huge climbing races. Get one of the quick connect link pins for both chains and you can switch equipment as needed.
My road bike stays with an 11/28 and 52/36.
Why would you swap the RD? My roadie has an 11-32 on the training wheels and a 11-28 on the race wheels. I don’t even need to tweak the GS RD when swapping, certainly don’t need to switch to an SS.
I’m just that way…probably to sell off the GS later with minimal mileage.
I would stick to 11-28. If you want more low gear than that, throw on a 34 instead of your 36. If you don’t want to lose your 52 by running 50/34, don’t. Run 52/34. It should work fine. I run 53/36 with di2 9070 and it works fine. And that is with Q-rings, which don’t shift as well as round rings. With round rings, 52/34 should be fine. I have a teammate who runs 53/34 and it works fine as well.
I have 52/34 and it shifts fine (Ultegra Di2 6870), but it was an adjustment for sure. Since there is less overlap between the ranges of the two rings, an upshift in the front requires 3-4 downshifts in the rear to get to the “next” ratio. I tend to cross-chain more now, and stay in a ring longer.
I’m going to throw another option out. 12-30 rear cassette. (IRD makes them) It will work with a short cage rear mech. 52x13 was good enough for Eddy I’m going to guess a 52X12 will work for you.
I really dislike the prevalence of cassettes with an 11 tooth (unless you are running a 50 big ring) it is an overkill for 75%+ of riders out there. I rather have more cogs between 12 and whatever the big cog is that I would use frequently than a 11 tooth that I use rarely.
Or just go with a 50-34 up front with a 11x28 in the back.
thanks for all the great input. I have one more question. Since I am used to using 11/25, would it be smarter to just get a 11/28 rather than a new chain, rear derailleur, 11/32? I am assuming I can just swap out the 11/25 for the 11/28 without all those changes? Would going from an 11/25 to 11/28 give me that extra little boost on raceday I am looking for? I am torn between those two options
11-32 is overkill and will have huge gaps between gears. Just buy an 11-28 cassette and go with that, doesn’t require any other changes and should be plenty of gear.
Or, swap front chainrings to a compact setup of 50/34 and keep the 11-25 on the back.
I run the 11 speed 11-25 on the back because it keeps the gear jumps smaller and allows me to fine tune my cadence. I have an 11-28 but I don’t like it, the jumps are too big. I also run a compact crank 50/34. Works great 99.5% of the time. There are a few descents where I wish I had more gear, but it isn’t often. Climbing wise it works great and I can always swap to the 11-28 if I am going to have a big climbing day. With your Ultegra 6800 you should be able to buy 50/34 chainrings and use them on your current crank. That is what I would do, then if you still want more, buy an 11-28.
Shimano 5800, 6800 and 9000 cassettes
11,12,13,14,16,18,20,22,25,28,32
11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25,28
When did 2 and 3 teeth between cogs became “huge gaps”?
You lose the 15 and gain the 32
thanks for all the great input. I have one more question. Since I am used to using 11/25, would it be smarter to just get a 11/28 rather than a new chain, rear derailleur, 11/32? I am assuming I can just swap out the 11/25 for the 11/28 without all those changes? Would going from an 11/25 to 11/28 give me that extra little boost on raceday I am looking for? I am torn between those two options
11-32 is overkill and will have huge gaps between gears. Just buy an 11-28 cassette and go with that, doesn’t require any other changes and should be plenty of gear.
Or, swap front chainrings to a compact setup of 50/34 and keep the 11-25 on the back.
I run the 11 speed 11-25 on the back because it keeps the gear jumps smaller and allows me to fine tune my cadence. I have an 11-28 but I don’t like it, the jumps are too big. I also run a compact crank 50/34. Works great 99.5% of the time. There are a few descents where I wish I had more gear, but it isn’t often. Climbing wise it works great and I can always swap to the 11-28 if I am going to have a big climbing day. With your Ultegra 6800 you should be able to buy 50/34 chainrings and use them on your current crank. That is what I would do, then if you still want more, buy an 11-28.
Shimano 5800, 6800 and 9000 cassettes
11,12,13,14,16,18,20,22,25,28,32
11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25,28
When did 2 and 3 teeth between cogs became “huge gaps”?
You lose the 15 and gain the 32
Yeah, 3 teeth is a huge gap.
I don’t like the 11-28 11 speed from SRAM because it goes to 3 tooth gaps for the last three. I run the 11-25 to keep gaps to 2 teeth.
May not seem like a huge deal but when racing there are times you need to be toward the higher number gears to chase up a hill and you may not want to get out of the big ring to do so as the pause might cause you to get gapped by the group. Having the smaller jumps helps in this situation.
For what it’s worth I have a 54/39 11/32 on my TT bike. The front rings are Q Rings but thats a moot point. I use the 32 often when going up steep climbs to help keep me in the right power/cadence ranges. I don’t do well on the low cadence side of things (75 or less) so having the ability to keep spinning and control my power with the extra cog means more to me than the missing “range” on the lower end. I do just fine with the 54/14 or 54/16 on the flats but thats my style of riding.
I use this setup (SRAM) on my CX/gravel bike. Rival mid cage RD. I used to have a 46-38 crank, but when that broke I threw in the 52-36 I had laying around. This setup actually works pretty well. I don’t use/need the 32 on regular occasion but once I am offroad I use it all the time. I’m just too lazy to change the cassette out all the time.
I switched to that combo from a 52/36 11/28 on road/ training bike. If you tend to turn a smaller gear, then this is a great setup for training on the hills. I regularly train on 7-14% grades, with the occasional 21%.
On the hardest hills I never wish I had a gear that was way easier, just one a little easier so that my legs didn’t get quite so fatigued.
Do you have a PM? I suspect you are simply going too hard on the hills. If you ease off a bit your legs won’t be fatigued.
A 28 will certainly help but I wonder if lower gearing is really necessary.
.
Shimano 5800, 6800 and 9000 cassettes
11,12,13,14,16,18,20,22,25,28,32
11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25,28
When did 2 and 3 teeth between cogs became “huge gaps”?
You lose the 15 and gain the 32
Yeah, 3 teeth is a huge gap.
I don’t like the 11-28 11 speed from SRAM because it goes to 3 tooth gaps for the last three. I run the 11-25 to keep gaps to 2 teeth.
May not seem like a huge deal but when racing there are times you need to be toward the higher number gears to chase up a hill and you may not want to get out of the big ring to do so as the pause might cause you to get gapped by the group. Having the smaller jumps helps in this situation.
So you find yourself riding in the 4 largest cogs for a significant portion of your racing?