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Cassette/gear setups - 11-28?? question

OK - only started into tri last march 08 and still relatively 'fresh' today to most of it with a couple of sprints and olympic distances under the belt.



Anyway - had left my bike in to be serviced there last night at my LBS which is a different one from where I bought my Specialized Allez.



The guy last night was taking a look over it and was very very surprised to see it had a 11-28 cassette on it - he didn't explain too much to me but made it sound like it was a terrible choice to have put onto a road bike from the original shop and had mentioned that it was more like a mountain bike cassette. He has offered me the choice to get a 12-25 or 27 put onto it which he said should offer me a lot more whilst on the bike.



So as I said - I'm still a relative newbie especially to bikes and their setup. So I've a couple of questions regarding this:



1) Did the original shop where I bought this bike make a bad mistake and put this cassette on? Do I have any right to complain to them or is what they done acceptable i.e. the bike still worked in essence.

2) Would this 11-28 cassette setup have been a less than efficient setup as opposed to a 12-25 etc?

3) Will I notice any differences if I get the cassette changed to a 12-25?



Thanks for any feedback guys



G



Comments

  • garydee77garydee77 Posts: 63
    ok Cheers Conehead!



    G
  • han382han382 Posts: 80
    Hi Conehead/all, I was out riding this weekend and am also a newbie (I'm signed up for 27 June so no need to sell it!) and was thikning about this exact issue. Am I right in thinking if I'm running out of gears down hill then it's the 12 part of the 12-25 that I need to look at as well as the largest chain ring? I assume that all 12s (either 12-25, 12-27 etc) will all have the same dimensions and therefore I'd run out of gears at the same place down hill?
  • graham33graham33 Posts: 265
    Hi Gary,



    Like has been mentioned - it's covering all the bases really. I did the Exmoor beast last year with a 11/27 and only a double on the front - I was so greatful for the 27 on the up hills but the 11 gave me excellent speed to the flats(no many) and the downhills.



    So it really does depend on what event you intent on doing.



    I'm doing the Exmoor beast this year too- infact let me borrow your 11/28! [;)]
  • Sorry to be a gatecrasher - but could some explain what 11/23 and 12/25 means?

    Gears/cassette for dummies.



    I don't know what I've got on my bike.
  • gdh250467gdh250467 Posts: 237
    11/23, 12/25 etc refer to the number of teeth on the back cogs, the first number relate to the teeth on the smallest, and the second number to the teeth on the largest. Generally the number of teeth on an 11/23 cassette are 11/12/13/14/15/16/17/19/21/23, and on a 12/25 cassette are 12/13/14/15/16/17/19/21/23/25.



    Likewise, the 53/39 referred to by my learned colleague Mr Conehead is the number of teeth on the front cogs. I currently use a more standard 50/34 front and 12/25 rear.



    If you go to http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears and enter your parameters it gives you your speed on the various combinations.



    For example, if myself and Conehead were to cycle on our highest gears at say 90rpm, on my 50/12 i would be doing 47.2km/h, wherease the fitter and aster Conehead on his 54/11 would be doing 55.6km/h.

  • Ok - quite simple. I will count mine later and see.

    Maybe it can be used as an excuse for being slow on the bike!
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