Which Cassette?

[silverlight]

yes i agree with Richard, gorge rd is not the best road to ride on, the surface is bad/bumpy and cars sometime think its a speed track around the corners so pls pls becareful to all who ride there, however in saying that i would prefer to ride hills anyday compared to riding on the metro populated roads, i was hit 4 months ago by a motorist who failed to give way and sustained 3 broken ribs, punctured lung etc. and although im back on the bike now im very very cautious riding to and from the city (thats where i work) but i know that this can happen anywhere. I believe that motorists are more in a hurry on metro roads and the road rules go out the window than they are when in the hills (my observation only) , I live in the foothills near the start of montacute so growing up ive always ridden these and found traffic good and drivers respecting cyclists and will wait till its fine to overtake, another nice ride is montacute to mt lofty, there are so many combinations that are available living in adelaide and each a joy riding them.

[Jeremy]

sorry to be spamming up this thread, but points have been raised......

I wouldnt know what gorge is like on a weekday, but at 7:30 on a sunday morning, there are very few cars....you are lucky to see one every 10 min or so.....and you can hear them coming with plenty of time to drop back to single file and move left........with our group of 5 or less we've never had a car stuck behind us at all.
I've found that gorge is actually a very good piece of road quality wise (in the higher sections), especially when compared to the chain of ponds rd (which i wont ride on.....because of the poor road quality and traffic levels)

We'll be looking at norton summit rd this sunday.....i've heard it's quite popular for cycling training.

[Deanj]

Yeah I leave early myself to try and avoid as much traffic as possible. Now its warming up a bit i aim to be up a 4 to leave at 5. Far to early really when you think about it.

The once i rode up, there were loads of cyclists on it. Made it a bit more fun trying to catch them up!

[darkpromenade]

I went for my first ride with the 12-28 rear cassette this afternoon, up Norton Summit to Mt. Lofty.

It was ok. I could manage all the hills, most of them sitting down, except for two sections........ one when you turn off the road from Norton Summit to head towards Summertown and another just before the final climb to Lofty. For these two sections I had to get out of the saddle. I'm probably not quite fit enough to push a 42-28 combination comfortably, but hopefully things will get better with time.

The ride itself was great..... thought I would get one in before the weather turns nasty later in the week. I might try to get to Forest Range next time I'm in the hills, then back up to Mt. Lofty and home again.

[Blybo]

I run a CT set up with a 50/34 chain ring and 12-27 cassette. Compared to what a lot of you guy's are running it is "soft option". I needed this combo when I started out but rarely use bottom gear these days. I climbed Mt. Dandenong with 34/25 being the lowest gear I needed. I have started to think about changing it to an 12-25 cassette but you know what? It is nice to have that bottom gear when you need if and I don't think I'm giving up too much to keep it. When the cassette wears out I'll change ratios but it is nice to be able to spin when others are standing and mashing . There were a couple of short steep hills late in a very windy 120k ride last week were I was really glad I had "my granny gear" as there wasn't much left in the tank. Don't be sheep and use what works for you.

[sogood]

It's a balance b/n what you have at the low/top ends and closeness of gear ratios. It is nice to have a close ratio cassette where you can fine tune your cadence.

[Blybo]

yep understood, but its only in the low gears where there are gaps in ratios that you notice, and if you're getting into those gears you appreciate the jump.

I don't do much group riding; yet but I don't find it a problem getting my cadence right on the road, even in a group situation. I would if couldn't spin up a hill though...

Each to their own, I like the piece of mind of knowing the low gears are there...

[sogood]

yep understood, but its only in the low gears where there are gaps in ratios that you notice, and if you're getting into those gears you appreciate the jump.

Actually, when you are climbing hard, close ratio can also help a lot and is no different to what happens at the higher gears. The point being, when you are putting out power close to your maximum, close ratio helps. When you are just cruising and in the middle or lower range of your power band, big gaps matters little.

[toolonglegs]

If I end up moving back to France I will consider putting compact cranks on my training bike...as the 39/27 was a struggle on some of the hills I found over there...plus the fact that I was trying to find the steepest climbs around and enjoying watching the faces of th wippets as the front row'r went erm sailing past them....