Granny gear question

[CoupeKid]

A couple of years ago I bought a bike off eBay.

The rear mech is a Shimano Ultegra 6600 10 speed with a short cage and an 11/28 cassette.

That's fine for the flats, or if I had the legs for the hills, but I Iive on the edge of the Chilterns and would like lower gearing.

So, would it be possible to swap the current cassette for a Tiagra 11/32, buy a longer chain and add a Wolf Tooth derailleur extender?

It's either that or obey rule #5.

[Watchman]

Yep. I did something far more aggressive to a couple of our bikes last year. Went up to 11/40 cassettes. Works a treat but I did start with medium cages and a derailleur extender.

[tvrfan007]

Crikey 11/40 seems unnecessary unless you're doing single ring up front?

That wolf tooth looks a neat solution, never seen anyone running one.

Guy at work got a 11/32 in with his standard derailleur (originally 28) for the etape du dales (105 11 speed Short cage) so you might try that first.

I changed to an 11/34 for hilly stuff but that was with ultegra long cage rear derailleur. Did that with the Zoncolan in mind but couldn't make the club trip in the end. Gutted.

Edited by tvrfan007 on Tuesday 18th February 21:06

[Gruffy]

The Wolftooth works well. Shimano are also a little bit pessimistic with their limits and you can often make a 32 fit the medium cage, albeit with some sketchiness at the extremes - best avoid cross-chaining.

[Watchman]

tvrfan007 said:

Crikey 11/40 seems unnecessary unless you're doing single ring up front?

Exactly that.

[lufbramatt]

What chainrings has it got on it? Could swap to compact rings (34/50) if it hasn't got them already.

[CoupeKid]

lufbramatt said:

What chainrings has it got on it? Could swap to compact rings (34/50) if it hasn't got them already.

I like your thinking but I’ve been down that route at the BCD precludes it. From memory the chainrings are 52/37 on a 144 BCP and I couldn’t find a smaller chain ring when I looked online.

The cranks are FSA carbon ones and I don’t really want to change them, for vanity mainly, if I can help it.

[GOATever]

Don’t fear the granny gear. They are mostly redundant ( for the most part, traditionally speaking) with the advent of hanger extenders, and MTB cassettes on road bikes. The tiny third chain ring is pretty much history.

[CoupeKid]

Well I’ve bought an 11/34 cassette, a Wolf Tooth dropper and a new chain.

I could have bought a Chinese copy for a tenth of the price of the Wolf Tooth but I didn’t want it failing 30 miles from home so went for solid American engineering.

Now I’m waiting for the LBS or Cycle Hub to reopen so I can get it all fitted.

[Miocene]

Bike shops are allowed to open at the moment, give them a bell!