IRD,Elite, 12-30

kruncher said:

My fitness goal this year is to ride the Markleeville Death Ride. After riding parts of the course in October, I found that a 11-25 cassette dosen't work for me. My question is will Shimano IRD Elite 12-30 work with a Shimano 105 (short arm) rear deraileur ?

Probably but at the very limit of having enough chain length for the big-big combo and the chain 'may' be droopy in the small ring and smaller cogs. Don't make the chain too short(probably need a new, longer one) or when you are toasted and forget about the bad-ness of big-big, you'll shift there and kill many things.

What Peter said.

You might consider instead a 12-27 and get yourself a 50/34 crank to go with. Or get a mountain rear der (be sure it has a built-in cable adjuster) and go with a 32T or 34T max cog in back. And if you're a wuss like me (you're not, or you wouldn't be entering the Tour of the California Alps - Death Ride), slap a triple--maybe even a touring 48/36/24--on, to go with the mountain rear der, giving you a front/back negative ratio as low as 24/34 (30/34 with standard road triple).

On my "climbing" bike, I run a 9-speed 53/39/30 up front and an 11/34 in back. But then, my interest isn't max speed, it's survival to the finish. Works for me.

kruncher said:

My fitness goal this year is to ride the Markleeville Death Ride. After riding parts of the course in October, I found that a 11-25 cassette dosen't work for me. My question is will Shimano IRD Elite 12-30 work with a Shimano 105 (short arm) rear deraileur ?

FWIW, IRD cassettes have gotten terrible reviews... do a search
I don't think a 30 tooth cassette will work with a short cage, the pulley may rub on the large cog. At least, I could not make it work on a Ultegra short cage; 28 tooth cog works fine... maybe a 29

Thanks for the reply information, very helpful. I do have a compact crankset, 50-34 chainrings. If a 28 tooth cog works that may be the way to go.