Gearing Question on my Corsa



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Skott

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I just got my new Corsa and I don't seem to have a low enough gear for the area I live. Can I
replace the rear casette with an 11-32 and keep the present Ultegra deraiiluer and wheel set or is
the rear hub incompatible with Mountain bike parts?
 
"skott" skrev...
> I just got my new Corsa and I don't seem to have a low enough gear for the area I live. Can I
> replace the rear casette with an 11-32 and keep the present Ultegra deraiiluer and wheel set or is
> the rear hub incompatible with Mountain bike parts?

I ride with a Shimano 105-hub and an 11-32 Deore cassette so it ought to be fine. You probably need
a derailleur with a long cage. Mine is a Deore XT.

Mikael
 
The ALEX 300ti wheelset will work fine with an 11/32. The issue will be with the deraileur and the
chain. You will need to change as, Mikael said, to a longer cage deraileur. If you want to use the
big ring, with the 32 cog you will need extra links in the chain. Also there are chain wrap issues
because you have a 55/44/30 chainwheel setup. You could put a 28 or even a 26 up front with your
current rig and it will work. The up shift is a bit tricky but manageable and your limited to the
number of useable gears when on the small ring. Again because of chainwrap limits, chainwrap being
the number of links that a specific cassette and chainwheel combination can accommodate without
chain sag or cage/chain/cog interaction. I expect that there will be some tecno blab about the
upshift from the small ring to the mid, so be it. The ideal setup depends on you. Did you have to
get off and walk up a hill with your current set up? I had a guy call me for a 26t cog for his stock
STRADA call me back a week later saying he climbed the mountain he couldn't last week, so forget the
26t. I changed my AERO to a SRAM XO deraileur and shifters. I wanted to evaluate this deraileur
across a range of cassettes, it looks cool on my bent and allows for optional smaller gearing. This
year, because I am 3K behind last year at this time due to bad weather and other commitments. I
doubt I could climb an good hill very well without the lower gearing a This is a fitness/climbing
practice issue for me. Again, for me, what gearing I use depends on my degree of fitness and the
terrain of the ride. Next Sunday I will ride the Bay to Bay 104 miler. Slightly hilly or moundy to
some of you, but mostly flat. I will run the heavier HED Disk wheelset with an 11/23.... err..11/25?
I'll have fun, but know I won't be happy with my performance.

--
Jude....///Bacchetta AERO St. Michaels and Tilghman Island.. Maryland Wheel Doctor Cycle and Sports,
Inc 1-800-586-6645 "skott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I just got my new Corsa and I don't seem to have a low enough gear for the area I live. Can I
> replace the rear casette with an 11-32 and keep the present Ultegra deraiiluer and wheel set or is
> the rear hub incompatible with Mountain bike parts?
 
[email protected] (skott) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I just got my new Corsa and I don't seem to have a low enough gear for the area I live. Can I
> replace the rear casette with an 11-32 and keep the present Ultegra deraiiluer and wheel set or is
> the rear hub incompatible with Mountain bike parts?

My understanding is that you will need a MTB derailer in order to handle the mega-range cassettes. A
compatible derailer that should work with your shifter (and be in the same price range as the
Ultegra) is an XTR (non Rapid Rise?). The Ultegra is speced to handle a max cog size of 27-28.

This is why I believe that recumbents should have road triple cranksets and MTB rear derailers. I
have SRAM 9.0 rear derailer and shifters which work very well with a 11-32 cassette. If I can
reachieve my conditioning from last year, I should be able to handle the 12-26 cassette I have in
storage but right now the hills are smacking me instead of the other way around.

Craig Optima Baron
 
On 20 Jun 2003 07:19:50 -0700, [email protected] (cbb) wrote:

>My understanding is that you will need a MTB derailer in order to handle the mega-range cassettes.
>A compatible derailer that should work with your shifter (and be in the same price range as the
>Ultegra) is an XTR (non Rapid Rise?). The Ultegra is speced to handle a max cog size of 27-28.

Actually XT is the same grade level (second from top) as the Ultegra. Other grades should
work fine too.

Personally I'd just replace the small chainring with a smaller one. I think it makes more sense to
get widely spaced gears in front and close ratios in the rear. If you replace the cassette, you get
moderately wide spacing on both ends and lots of overlapping gear combinations.
 
[email protected] (skott) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I just got my new Corsa and I don't seem to have a low enough gear for the area I live. Can I
> replace the rear casette with an 11-32 and keep the present Ultegra deraiiluer and wheel set or is
> the rear hub incompatible with Mountain bike parts?

The switch to an 11-32 or even an 11-34 cassette is a popular change/upgrade for Strada/Corsa/Aero
owners. I love these bikes but do think that in many instances this change is needed for the
majority of riders other than those who live in very flat locales. And yes you will need a new
derailer with the XT giving you alot bang for the buck.

Pat Mc
 
Ken Kobayashi <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> On 20 Jun 2003 07:19:50 -0700, [email protected] (cbb) wrote:
>
> >My understanding is that you will need a MTB derailer in order to handle the mega-range
> >cassettes. A compatible derailer that should work with your shifter (and be in the same price
> >range as the Ultegra) is an XTR (non Rapid Rise?). The Ultegra is speced to handle a max cog size
> >of 27-28.
>
> Actually XT is the same grade level (second from top) as the Ultegra. Other grades should work
> fine too.
>
> Personally I'd just replace the small chainring with a smaller one. I think it makes more sense to
> get widely spaced gears in front and close ratios in the rear. If you replace the cassette, you
> get moderately wide spacing on both ends and lots of overlapping gear combinations.

Thanks guys for your help. I will ride for a while before I make any changes but to give you an idea
what I am facing the hill I have to ride up to get home is about a mile long. I don't know the grade
but I have to train hard for two weeks each spring before I can spin up it on my mountainbike. It is
rough but on a smooth two block section last night I went from 0-32mph coasting on my Corsa before I
had to brake because I couldn't see. I had glasses on but still too much Water in the eyes. Do you
guys wear goggles? The rest of my terrain is moderate and once I am off my hill the stock Corsa
gearing seems ok so perhaps going to a 28 front chainring would be the simplest solution.

Jude what gears wouldn't work if I went thast route.

Loving my Corsa-never been so fast on a bike'

Skott
 
skott,

> Can I replace the rear casette with an 11-32...present Ultegra deraiiluer

No. Unfortunately, you are near the bottom of what you can get, without swapping out a
bunch of parts.

If you are riding in very hilly terrain, I would suggest going with a 50T big ring and a 24T granny
ring. If you try anything smaller than a 28T granny with your current big ring, it will drag on the
bottom of the der. cage.

Also, switch to a 11-28 cassette. This will work with your current rear der. This setup will give
you a top gear of 106". Only 3.5% lower than your current high. If you can push a bigger gear than
this on the flats, you don't need a lower low.

This setup will also give you a 21" low, rather than your 29". This is a 27.5% lower low.

Set your chain length for the big-big, and avoid riding in the little-little. If you forget and do
shift into the little-little, at least you won't blow up your drivetrain.

If you need a lower low (I do, for the really steep stuff), you will need to swap your rear
der. also.

Not everyone lives in the flatlands, or has legs like a Clydesdale.

Warren
 
Craig, I ran an Ultegra on the rear of my Halulzak for several years with an 11-32 cog set. The
front was 30-40-50T. It worked perfect. Shifted fast and never any glitches with Shimano indexed bar
end shifters. I only swapped it for an XTR when I went to a 26T up front and the total teeth count
became too large for the Ultegra.

[email protected] (cbb) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>... The Ultegra is speced to handle a max cog
size of 27-28.
 
"Jude T. McGloin" wrote:
> ... The ideal setup depends on you. Did you have to get off and walk up a hill with your current
> set up? I had a guy call me for a 26t cog for his stock STRADA call me back a week later saying he
> climbed the mountain he couldn't last week, so forget the 26t....

I find that I climb much faster on longer hills if I can maintain a cadence of at least 100 rpm. If
I am forced to use a low cadence my leg muscles tire quickly and my speed drops off rapidly. Those
with more fast-twitch muscles may be able to get by with higher gearing.

When I had a Wishbone, my lowest gear was 36 inches, and while I climbed some reasonably steep hills
on it (Fosse Road on the Bike Psychos Century) I would have been better off with a much lower gear.
So being able to climb the steepest hill without walking does not necessarily mean the lowest gear
is low enough, especially since applying high pedal forces can lead to knee problems.

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)
 
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