[ualar]

Hey folks;

i have been riding with XTR 12 speed 10-51 casette (full drivetrain)

My crankarm length 170mm chainring size is 34t

Honestly almost never using 51t sprocket, even on very long riding days with a lot of climbing.

Those big bad 12 speeds and their crazy gearing ranges are just for marketing really ? For most dedicated XC riders out there ?

Often asking myself why ?! dragging this big casette around with me.

10-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-33-39-45-51 teeth my current 10-51 XTR

10-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32-36-40-45 teeth 10-45 XTR Thinking of buying this casette after wearing down my current.

Checked both, there is no weight saving between those really...

11 Speed casette doesn't work with my freehub body, also my shifter have no clutch for 11 speed option (i have seen some XTR shifter has it)

Share your thoughts about this.

Peace.

 

[wayold]

As an old man 50t (and 28t front!) is a life saver for recovery on long climbs.

But if you're fit enough you could swap out freehub, shifter, cassette (and maybe derailleur) for a lighter 1x11 system. The good news is that 12 speed parts are hard to find these days so you can probably get a good price if you sell your current drivetrain. I just checked and universal cycles has SRAM 11spd derailleurs, shifters and cassettes in stock if you want to go that way.
IIRC the X01/XX1 10-42 11spd SRAM cassettes weigh about 268g while the big XTR 10-51 is about 100g more.

 

[Cary]

Sounds like for where you ride and your fitness level, you don’t need the extra range. For others it is needed. I run a 30 front and 10-52 on the back and need the 52 for some long steep climbs locally, and when riding at 8,000 feet of elevation and higher, sometimes that isn’t a low enough gear to keep my lungs in my chest.

 

[OldMike]

The 10-45 XTR is marginally lighter, nothing to consider, however tighter gears (less drastic jumps) is somthing you might find beneficial.

 

[Arm&Hammer]

Get a bigger front ring

 

[ualar]

Get a bigger front ring

i have 36t front ring also, used it for quite long. i did not like pedaling efficiency of it, so put my 34t back.

 

[Jayem]

Get a bigger front ring

Most modern frames wont allow much bigger than that, if any.

But a few things to ponder:

Usually reasonably fit people can adapt to a fairly wide range of gearing pretty well. It's not the gearing that gets you to the top, it's the physical ability. If someone can't make a section on a climb, going to easier gearing usually doesn't make them get it. Only pushing to a harder effort somehow, building up that extra pedaling and watts capacity, that's what does it. I've had the situation go both ways, going to both and easier and harder gearing combo didn't make jack squat of difference on my climbs after about 2 weeks.

But people also rarely "spin out" their gears on any kind of mtb trail. For the best (human) efficiency, you want to be pedaling up around 90rpm, but at that RPM and with your gear combos, you'd probably be up around 35mph. If you are truly riding to 35mph on trails where you can pedal, then that is some seriously impressive stuff, because MTB racers are getting faster and faster every year without 40t front rings. In other words, virtually no one really "spins out" with mtb gears in any mtb situation, most that think they do aren't spinning their cranks fast enough and if they spun faster, they'd go faster. Even enduro/DH bikes come with way lower gearing than back in the day...because it simply doesn't make you go faster, it's also dead weight, like you were mentioning.

I still use 32x42 on some bikes, happily, others I have set up 30x42. I just switched out the ring on my fat-bike though for a 28, rear is 50. The bike weighs around 60lbs when loaded for expedition bike-packing and you are lucky to make 5mph in the snow on the frozen rivers in the snomobile tracks. There's just massive rolling resistance and you could probably do the race I'm going to do on a single speed with that gearing combo just fine, you just don't need the higher gears much.

 

[armyofevilrobots]

I'm curious what your every-day loop looks like? How much elevation gain total, difference between base and peak elevations, and how much distance?

I ask, because I would die without the 51T, and I have a 28T front (I'd ride a 26T front if anybody had them available for Shimano 12spd). My climbs often have sustained 20% grades, although most is less steep than that). My "backyard" loop has about 1000 meters of elevation gain, over about 10-15 km of climbing distance, and another 10k of descent after that. I am not super fit, but neither am I a slug.

These posts pop up fairly often, and I wonder what kind of terrain doesn't need a full gear range.

 

[TheOtherOne]

.

 

[Sparticus]

Singlespeed time.
=sParty

 

[ualar]

I'm curious what your every-day loop looks like? How much elevation gain total, difference between base and peak elevations, and how much distance?

I ask, because I would die without the 51T, and I have a 28T front (I'd ride a 26T front if anybody had them available for Shimano 12spd). My climbs often have sustained 20% grades, although most is less steep than that). My "backyard" loop has about 1000 meters of elevation gain, over about 10-15 km of climbing distance, and another 10k of descent after that. I am not super fit, but neither am I a slug.

These posts pop up fairly often, and I wonder what kind of terrain doesn't need a full gear range.

i do live in hot City with sea, lakes and mountains around so i have kinda all types of terrain, winters we have only rain, no snow.

Steep fire road climbs, around 1500 - 2000 meter mountain climbs with up to %25-30 grade steep on some parts (according to garmin). Tarmac flat rides sometimes also various of tarmac rides with ascending and descending parts. Street free rides around for relaxing and fun (if trail very muddy, i don't like to ride in mud)

 

[TheOtherOne]

.

 

[ualar]

I hope you never age and need to climb short, steep hills.

Let me know your secret to maintaining/increasing power output even as you grow older.

i am 37 years old. 173 cm height & 64-66 kg weight around.

So i am not a big man

i don't eat meat, doing upper body workout a lot with weight training.

i do walk a lot with tempo, apart from weight training and cycling, sometimes up to 30.000 steps&day according to my android phone counts.

Kind of hyperactive person since i was kid.

i recommend doing different trainings other than just cycling

Planking is so good, try doing that every morning.

You don't need many tools for building and shaping body and fitness.

Cheers.

 

[the-one1]

Shifters don't have clutches, the derailer does.

 

[ualar]

Shifters don't have clutches, the derailer does.

Sorry for bad spelling but XTR shifter have some kind of screw that you can change it to 11 speed from 12 by screwing it.

 

[TylerVernon]

12 is for big mountains - slow up, really fast down. I'm sticking with 11 speed, saving 200 grams.

 

[cmg]

Most modern frames wont allow much bigger than that, if any.

But a few things to ponder:

Usually reasonably fit people can adapt to a fairly wide range of gearing pretty well. It's not the gearing that gets you to the top, it's the physical ability. If someone can't make a section on a climb, going to easier gearing usually doesn't make them get it. .

this.....(and l generally dont agree or like what Jayem posts, but this is truth)

having said that, maybe l should clarify: l would like to meet Jayem im person, which is unlikely at the moment, as lm sure he's cool and l wish to understand his online persona better than l do

 

[ualar]

Most modern frames wont allow much bigger than that, if any.

But a few things to ponder:

Usually reasonably fit people can adapt to a fairly wide range of gearing pretty well. It's not the gearing that gets you to the top, it's the physical ability. If someone can't make a section on a climb, going to easier gearing usually doesn't make them get it. Only pushing to a harder effort somehow, building up that extra pedaling and watts capacity, that's what does it. I've had the situation go both ways, going to both and easier and harder gearing combo didn't make jack squat of difference on my climbs after about 2 weeks.

But people also rarely "spin out" their gears on any kind of mtb trail. For the best (human) efficiency, you want to be pedaling up around 90rpm, but at that RPM and with your gear combos, you'd probably be up around 35mph. If you are truly riding to 35mph on trails where you can pedal, then that is some seriously impressive stuff, because MTB racers are getting faster and faster every year without 40t front rings. In other words, virtually no one really "spins out" with mtb gears in any mtb situation, most that think they do aren't spinning their cranks fast enough and if they spun faster, they'd go faster. Even enduro/DH bikes come with way lower gearing than back in the day...because it simply doesn't make you go faster, it's also dead weight, like you were mentioning.

I still use 32x42 on some bikes, happily, others I have set up 30x42. I just switched out the ring on my fat-bike though for a 28, rear is 50. The bike weighs around 60lbs when loaded for expedition bike-packing and you are lucky to make 5mph in the snow on the frozen rivers in the snomobile tracks. There's just massive rolling resistance and you could probably do the race I'm going to do on a single speed with that gearing combo just fine, you just don't need the higher gears much.

Well said it's all about fitness and yes we are not road&race biker so

 

[141]

I'm curious what your every-day loop looks like? How much elevation gain total, difference between base and peak elevations, and how much distance?

I ask, because I would die without the 51T, and I have a 28T front (I'd ride a 26T front if anybody had them available for Shimano 12spd). My climbs often have sustained 20% grades, although most is less steep than that). My "backyard" loop has about 1000 meters of elevation gain, over about 10-15 km of climbing distance, and another 10k of descent after that. I am not super fit, but neither am I a slug.

These posts pop up fairly often, and I wonder what kind of terrain doesn't need a full gear range.

Yep same here my most frequently used cog is the 51t with a 28t chainring. I would love to have a 24t or 26t chainring, I think the big chainrings are all about marketing, nobody actually needs to go faster than a 24 x 10 gear.

 

[LMN]

Do I need a 51, absolutely not. But boy it sure is nice to be able to dial the effort back on a steep climb and not be breathing out my eye balls.