I am thinking of that high grade climb on the HIM Mooseman course (yes I know not tough for others). I’m not a terribly great climber and had a very hard time getting up that one hill with the high grade climb. Luckily I didn’t have to do the walk of shame but I was barely getting up it. What would be a ideal cassette to get for tough climbs? I can’t really do much about the cranks as it is a Quarq PM so I am stuck with that. The Apex looks nice but obviously that require changing more than the cassette. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
you didn’t give us one piece of relevant information – how much easier do you need the gearing to be?
compared to 39x25 (your current lowest gear)…
…39x27 is 9.7% easier (think: you can pedal at lower power for the same cadence – or you can pedal faster and keep the same (low) power).
…39x28 is 12.9% easier.
…39x32 is 22.6% easier.
if for some reason you decide you do not wish to change your cassette, you CAN switch to a smaller inner ring on your s975. i am sure there is a 38T/130BCD ring (i know someone who did just that for hilly races; there might be some rub in 38x11/12/13, but you shouldn’t be riding those). the quarq part is irrelevant, though they’ll have to recalibrate it for you (they do this for free).
I don’t know why SRAM and Shimano have a wide ratio rear derailleur/cassette on their top end stuff. Baby boomers with the gimpy knees are the ones with the money. Always seems like an after thought for them.
I’m no dainty climber (190#), but I run a 50x34 compact crank and an 11x28 at real grade stuff like Horribly Hilly and Insane Terrain and that seems perfectly adequate for the job.
