Rear cassette replacement for Verve + 3

[Latitude]

I am now in possession of Park Tools to remove/replace my rear cassette and chain, thinking this will be needed as I have over 3000 Km on the bike now and on my second chain... although I think the first one has life left in it at .50 wear. When I replace the cassette, I will do a new chain also... no rush. (I’m nearly an hour and a half drive from my Trek shop and want to be self-sufficient at likely maintenance tasks).
The original chain that came on my bike had 118 links... the Shimano replacement I got from my Trek shop had 116 links, but seems to be working ok. Clearly, 116 is a standard. But it seems a bit tight on the system.
It seems hard to find a Shimano 11-36 cassette, even my Trek dealer doesn’t stock one. I can find an Alivio one on Amazon.ca. It’s silver, not black, not a concern. But there seem to be more available in an 11-34 cassette. Is this a better alternative, and more suited to a 116 link chain? I think I need the 11, not so much the 36?

 

[Latitude]

I am also reading with interest the thread on high spinning/cadence cycling. Very informative and interesting discussion. This is such a valuable forum.

 

[TOOSLOW]

Have any hills? 11-34 won't climb much of anything. I run 11-50, pretty much climb almost anything.
Even my Tern runs a 11-36, which is not much of a pavement hill climber unless I am in turbo pumping fairly hard. Bought a 11-42 upgrade for this reason.
118 links is a but of an odd one here as well, mostly 116 link chains available.
So if anything, go wider range, not smaller, my two cents.

 

[Latitude]

Have any hills? 11-34 won't climb much of anything. I run 11-50, pretty much climb almost anything.
Even my Tern runs a 11-36, which is not much of a pavement hill climber unless I am in turbo pumping fairly hard. Bought a 11-42 upgrade for this reason.
118 links is a but of an odd one here as well, mostly 116 link chains available.
So if anything, go wider range, not smaller, my two cents.

Thanks, I wasn’t aware that a range that broad existed. I will check it out.

 

[fooferdoggie]

well you should have a lot of life left on your cassette. I have 5600 miles on my bulls and I am in the middle of the 3rd chain and the cassette is fine. I have a 11-32 or 34 and a 45t chain ring and climbing is not really a problem anything after 16% grade is work but those slopes are rare.

 

[Latitude]

well you should have a lot of life left on your cassette. I have 5600 miles on my bulls and I am in the middle of the 3rd chain and the cassette is fine. I have a 11-32 or 34 and a 45t chain ring and climbing is not really a problem anything after 16% grade is work but those slopes are rare.

Fooferdoggie, that is good to hear. Having just done a major clean of my running gear, it does look like my cassette is in pretty good shape. I do find few hills that I can’t negotiate in 1st gear... they aren’t that tall.

 

[Sierratim]

My Vado 5 uses a 120 link chain with its 11-42 cassette and 48t chain ring. I buy 126 link chains and shorten them to fit.

I'm on my 2nd chain at ~1,500 miles. The cassette looks fine. I do wipe the chain down after trail rides with WD40 sprayed on a rag and then reapply a commercial chain lube then wipe again. I'll change the chain again in the Spring, well before it's at its wear limit.

 

[Latitude]

Looks like a new cassette can wait as a spring job... I am liking the idea of the wider range option... i.e. 11-46 SunRace. Anyone tried that one? For now, will concentrate on new pedals (on the way) and all-season Schwalbe marathon tires... back ordered.

 

[TOOSLOW]

Running a 11-50 Sunrace. Excellent product, would consider it as good if not better than shimano.

 

[Sierratim]

I have an extended range Sunrace cassette on my Cannondale mech bike. I'm very happy with it.

 

[fooferdoggie]

you have to make sure your derailed can handle the larger cogs.

 

[Latitude]

Thanks. You guys and girls are great!

 

[Latitude]

I do have a long cage Alivio.

 

[ruffruff]

11-50! How fast are your legs going?

 

[Latitude]

Just an update on this. I did switch my Shimano 11-36T cassette out for a SunRace 11-46, largely based on advice here. I couldn’t be happier with the results. It has made my bike much more suitable for the off-road portion of the riding I do... which is a lot. Having two lower gears gets me up the occasional steep grade so much more smoothly now, with less effort and I’m never afraid of running out of momentum near the top of a trail climb. I don’t find I’m missing anything as far as shifting smoothness in the mid-gears as I tended to do them two at a time anyway.
Thanks for all your help.

 

[steve mercier]

Just an update on this. I did switch my Shimano 11-36T cassette out for a SunRace 11-46, largely based on advice here. I couldn’t be happier with the results. It has made my bike much more suitable for the off-road portion of the riding I do... which is a lot. Having two lower gears gets me up the occasional steep grade so much more smoothly now, with less effort and I’m never afraid of running out of momentum near the top of a trail climb. I don’t find I’m missing anything as far as shifting smoothness in the mid-gears as I tended to do them two at a time anyway.
Thanks for all your help.

How many links longer chain did you need ?

 

[Latitude]

I think I’m about at 123, I will have to check. (Original for the 11-36 was 118 links). I also added a Wolf Tooth component to drop the derailleur so it could clear the largest cog on the cassette. I just put the chain on and cut it where it looked right.

 

[Sierratim]

I think I’m about at 123, I will have to check. (Original for the 11-36 was 118 links). I also added a Wolf Tooth component to drop the derailleur so it could clear the largest cog on the cassette. I just put the chain on and cut it where it looked right.

Was this hanger extension a precaution, or was there interference with the granny gear cog? I would have expected your long cage derailleur to be OK with the gearing change I changed out an 11-42t cassette for an 11-50t . My original derailleur was a medium cage. I swapped in the longer arms to get a long cage derailleur with no cog interference.. We ride different bikes so that may make a difference.

 

[Latitude]

I had tried a longer B screw to get the current Deore Shadow 9 speed out far enough to reach the largest cog, but it was barely making it. My previous derailleur seemed to do better in that regard. I think the 10 speed derailleurs are better that way. So this hanger extension seemed the best solution. I am having a bit of difficulty shifting smoothly into highest gears, but I’m not using them so much in winter anyway. I can easily get 8th gear and hit 30 km with it. I don’t think my Trek dealer really liked the hanger extension and said the extra torque on it made shifting unreliable. They also admitted I couldn’t get a Shimano 11-36 original replacement anyway for now. But I suspect when I destroyed my original derailleur with a branch, it bent the hanger. Spring project to get it straightened out, because for a while, I had smooth shifting with 11-46.

 

[Alaskan]

For future reference, you can buy individual replacement cogs for the 11 speed Shimano cassette and many other cassette. The cogs that wear out the quickest are the smallest ones, the high speed first two cogs, 11 tooth and 13 tooth. They have the fewest cogs engaged on the chain which are therefor exposed to the most wear. A pair of 11 & 13 tooth cogs can be purchased for about $20 on Ebay. I was able to do this twice, tripling the life of my cassette. Note the long dropout along with the long cage. This is on a 2018 Riese & Muller Delite Mountain.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...esc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=shimano+xt+11+tooth+cog

I also changed over to the Sunrace 11-46 cassette as it has more evenly distributed gear steps and seems to shift more quickly and precisely.

https://ebay.us/zbCNro