Which cassette for road bike

Shimano or SRAM cassettes are not the same but they can be interchanged because their spacing is usually the same. A bike cassette is one of the most important parts that you should always ensure that it is in good condition.

Just like the tires, bike cassettes are prone to wear and tear which means that you need to look for the best. If the cassette is not in good condition, you may not be able to pedal easily. Alex is a cycling expert at Pedallers and focuses on reviewing bikes , accessories, and general cycling. He searches for the most up to date products that match the needs of cyclists across the world.

Whether it's recent news or the best bike set-ups, Alex is a trusted source for anything around cycling. Last Updated on September 27, Check out the results fast — here are our review winners. Top 5 Road Bike Cassettes in Check Latest Price. Now: It features drilled cogs which makes it lightweight.

With this cassette, you can easily ride on steeper hills without problems. Excellent quality. Corrosion resistant. Allows you to ride on steeper hills smoothly. Latest deal: Shimano Tiagra. Check Price. Affordable price. It uses PowerGide technology. Rust and corrosion resistant cogs. It could have been a bit lighter. Campagnolo Chorus 11 Speed Road Cassette. Attractive design.

Perfect for 10 speed and 11 speed. Consistent and durable performance even through sprints and climbs. The size of the gear is determined by the chainring and sprocket combination that you use. Running the chain on the larger chainring gives you a larger harder gear that moves you further forward with every pedal revolution, as does running the chain on a smaller sprocket.

You can work on your fitness, of course, but you can also make changes to your equipment. Cassettes come with various different combinations of sprockets. Shimano offers a cassette with an tooth sprocket up to a tooth sprocket — often written as T. It also offers a T cassette, an T, a wide-range T cassette, and an even wider T.

All other things being equal, the 34T sprocket on the T cassette is going to give you the easiest gear. If your bike is currently fitted with an T cassette, switching to an T cassette will make climbing less of a struggle. Swapping one cassette for another is a straightforward job but you do need special tools: a cassette tool and a chain whip.

Shimano only goes to with its components, but there are reports of people getting SRAM cassettes to work in Shimano systems.

The very latest versions of Shimano's Ultegra and GS rear derailleurs will actually handle an cassette , which opens up a range of possibilities for gravel bikes, touring bikes, and any other situation where you're not in a hurry. In the last couple of years, Shimano has introduced cassettes at Tiagra, R, and Ultegra R levels, so the old is now the only enthusiast-level groupset you're likely to find on a new bike that doesn't officially work with , and there's not much left on bikes in the shops.

You can always upgrade the rear mech to R If you have a Campagnolo system, then for most groupsets of a few years ago you're limited to a tooth sprocket. However, the Potenza groupset launched in March offered an cassette so Italophiles can also get low gears; the following year's Centaur groupset followed suit.

The launch of speed Record and Super Record components saw the introduction of speed cassettes, though you'll need a lot of new components to make them work: shifters, derailleurs, chain, and sprockets. The upgrade path is painful as you'll need a new transmission and wheels with SRAM's XDR driver for the tooth sprocket, but if you want high-tech shifting and low ratios it might well be worth it.

We're going to focus on Shimano systems in this article, as that covers the majority of bikes out there. If you change your cassette, you need to bear in mind the maximum sprocket your rear derailleur will handle, and its total capacity.

The range is also limited to the capability of the rear derailleur cage. A short cage normally can only accept up to a 28, while a medium cage or long cage can accept much lower gears in the range of For obvious reasons, this is the biggest factor to decide the right cassette.

Since it increases the gaps between cogs sometimes even up to five or more teeth between two adjacent gears , bigger cogs can actually backfire for flatlanders. On the flip, if you ride on flat roads, your ideal range should be more like The second biggest factor is your fitness.

Riders with strong legs can get away with smaller range or , while newbies and weaker riders should prefer larger range or When choosing a cassette, most new riders fail to take their crankset into consideration.

For a smooth ride, you need to have the right combination. Find out everything you need to know in our Cassette Buying Guide. A typical cassette can have anything between five and 13 sprockets, although most modern bicycle drivetrains use either 9, 10 or Cassettes provide a range of gearing options for your chain to run on. The range of gear ratios allows you to vary your pedalling cadence revolutions per minute to achieve optimum efficiency. Running your chain on one of the larger sprockets - those with more teeth - will provide an 'easier' gear.

This reduces the torque required to turn the back wheel - perfect for climbing hills - but it also means you have to complete more pedal revolutions to cover the same amount of ground. Running your chain on a sprocket with a lower number of teeth maximises the torque, meaning less frequent but harder pedalling is required.

This will allow you to keep adding power through your drivetrain without 'spinning out' pedalling at an uncomfortably high number of revolutions on a downhill section or sprint. A good range of gears on your cassette, therefore, allows you to select the optimal level of torque versus pedal speed to transmit your total effort to the wheels in the most effective way.

The choice of cassettes can appear overwhelming at first glance. There are different combinations of sprockets to suit different tastes, terrains, and disciplines. For example, there is a significant difference in cassettes for triathlon bikes compared to those for mountain bikes. The main thing to consider is the spread of gears on the cassette.

The smaller the difference between the highest and lowest number of teeth, the smaller the jump between gears; facilitating a smoother gear change. However, having closer-geared sprockets will normally decrease the size of the largest sprocket on the cassette, leaving you with a gear ratio that may be less suited to climbing and tough terrain.

The largest sprocket on a road bike cassette is generally smaller than those on mountain bikes, providing smaller jumps between gears.