Custom cassette for flattish terrain with two bailout gears

[[email protected]]

Hello all,
my bike has 22-32-42 chainrings and a 12-28 cassette (7 speed). I am
not terribly fit.
I ride mostly on flat and would like more closely spaced gears.
However, if I replace the cassette with a "road" cassette (e.g. 13-21)
I lose both the ultra-low gear and my top gear gets lower. I wouldn't
like this because sometimes I'd like an 11t sprocket.
Shimano sells Mega-range cassettes which are closely spaced cassette
with an ultra-low bailout gear.
Is there something similar with *two* bailout gears, one for the ultra-
low and one for the ultra-high? Ideally it would have both an 11t and
a 28t sprocket, and all the others would be much closer than a
standard 11-28.

Any idea?

Thanks

 

[[email protected]]

On Mar 13, 3:34 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello all,
> my bike has 22-32-42 chainrings and a 12-28 cassette (7 speed). I am
> not terribly fit.
> I ride mostly on flat and would like more closely spaced gears.
> However, if I replace the cassette with a "road" cassette (e.g. 13-21)
> I lose both the ultra-low gear and my top gear gets lower. I wouldn't
> like this because sometimes I'd like an 11t sprocket.
> Shimano sells Mega-range cassettes which are closely spaced cassette
> with an ultra-low bailout gear.
> Is there something similar with *two* bailout gears, one for the ultra-
> low and one for the ultra-high? Ideally it would have both an 11t and
> a 28t sprocket, and all the others would be much closer than a
> standard 11-28.
>
> Any idea?
>
> Thanks

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Nashbar has 7 and 8 speed cassettes for $10 or $18. The 8 speed model
has an 11 tooth starting cassette. If you mix one or maybe two
thinner cogs from an 8 speed cassette into a 7 speed cassette, you
will be fine. Particularly if the ones you mix in are on the ends of
the cassettes. And you can buy 1mm thin spacers to take up any slack
if need be. Buy the 8 speed cassette starting with 11, and the 7
speed cassette with the big cog you want. Use just the 11 tooth cog
from the 8 speed cassette and the last 6 cogs from the 7 speed
cassette and the 7 speed spacers and you should be OK. Might be
cheaper to just buy the starting 11 cog by itself instead of buying
the whole cassette. May also have problems with the 11 cog fitting on
certain hubs. I know there was something about Shimano hubs and 11
cogs at one time.

 

[Art Harris]

"[email protected]" wrote:
> my bike has 22-32-42 chainrings and a 12-28 cassette (7 speed). I am
> not terribly fit.
> I ride mostly on flat and would like more closely spaced gears.
> However, if I replace the cassette with a "road" cassette (e.g. 13-21)
> I lose both the ultra-low gear and my top gear gets lower. I wouldn't
> like this because sometimes I'd like an 11t sprocket.
> Shimano sells Mega-range cassettes which are closely spaced cassette
> with an ultra-low bailout gear.
> Is there something similar with *two* bailout gears, one for the ultra-
> low and one for the ultra-high? Ideally it would have both an 11t and
> a 28t sprocket, and all the others would be much closer than a
> standard 11-28.
>

Are you riding off road? Your current low gear (22 x 28) is quite low,
and your high gear (42 x 12) is reasonably high.

Harris Cyclery (no relation) offers a variety of 7 speed cassettes
that might work better for your needs such as a 11-26 and 11-24.

See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/k7.html#7

Art Harris