what size cassette and chainset on your bike???

[Asposium]

curious as to the consensus of bikepackers as to the size of cassette and chainset
might help me finally decide between road 50-34 or MTB 38-28

so, what size cassette and chainset do you have on your bikepacking bike?

ta

[voodoo_simon]

34-36

Was thinking of changing to 36-40/42 though

Do quite a bit on the road with the bike, hence wanting higher gears

[Bearbonesnorm]

Those with 'proper' gears.

32/22 x 36
32 x 42
30 x 42
28/36 x 36
22/32/42 x 34

[ScotRoutes]

My Amazon has a full road triple (52/39/30) and a 11-32T cassette
My Pact has 36/26 front and a 11-40T cassette (IIRC)

[whitestone]

Solaris has 32T chainring with an 11-40 cassette (well the XT 11-36 + 40T extender)
Fat bike has 28T chainring with 12-42 cassette
Road bike has 50/34 compact chainrings with 12-28 cassette
Commuter has 50/34 chainrings with 11-34 cassette

The commuter is 9-spd all the others are 10spd. The chainrings on the Solaris and Fat bike are both AB oval.

[Bearbonesnorm]

might help me finally decide between road 50-34 or MTB 38-28

Ask yourself what you're trying to build - is it a lightweight off-road bike or a heavy road bike? I first built my Arkose up with a 'road' chainset and it was pointless most of the time, I was just carrying the big ring round without really using it. A switch to a mountain bike double transformed it into something much more useable. I rode it on the T-N and it was superb even though it's around 75% road.

[Asposium]

might help me finally decide between road 50-34 or MTB 38-28

Ask yourself what you're trying to build - is it a lightweight off-road bike or a heavy road bike?

Been asking that question of myself far too much.
Partly explains why the frame and wheels are sat in my front room.
Ideally the bike will be an all rounder, happy on roads and gravel tracks. Will use for the Tuscany Trail.

I am leaning toward the XTR 2x11 38/28

[Ray Young]

22/30 x 11/36, guess that makes me a pussy .

[HaYWiRe]

I run a 50/32 on my road with an 11-30 cassette and its the best change i made, not just to lower gears but more useful range.

My mtb runs a 1x 32t up front on an 11-36 cassette, not as low as some mtbs go but works well. 1x was a fanastic change and saves a ton of maintenance cleaning crap out of a front mech that never quite worked right anyway.
I could honestly see myself going single speed if i had the lungs for it, though a 2 speed setup would suit me as i only use the top and bottom of the cassette and rarely the 8 gears in the middle.

One thing i have done however is as i am using a triple crank arm converted to 1x i still have the mounts for the granny ring, i have re fitted my tiny 26t ring to the inside bolts. I have no derailleur to change into it (and im running a narrow wide chainring) but should a situation arise where i cannot physically ride up a hill, most likely due to the bike being loaded; i can manually drop the chain to the lower ring by hand and it gives me some breathing room for little added weight.

Just my 2 pence

[whitestone]

though a 2 speed setup would suit me as i only use the top and bottom of the cassette and rarely the 8 gears in the middle.

You sound like my wife! Get into bottom gear to go up hills then as soon as she's on the flat, it's into the big ring and the chain whips across the cassette

[HaYWiRe]

More like "big ring all the way" mentality grinding up everything in knee busting agony!

I find im more "slow twitch" than "fast twitch" and ive got better lactic threshold than i have lung capacity so low cadence suits me....until it doesn't.....

Then im an instant convert to low gears, dive down the cassette and "sit and spin" while i check to see if my kneecaps are still firmly attached!

Once im over and towards the next hill, repeat step 1

[sean_iow]

Mines a 34 oval chainring and a 17T sprocket singlespeed if that helps

On a serious note I'd say you're always better off being under-geared than over-geared, unless you're racing. If your gears are easier it might take you longer to get there and on the flats/downhills you just need to have the right frame of mind that you could go maybe go faster with a bigger gear but then the journey would be over sooner If you're over-geared the hills may be much harder than necessary.

I have MTB ratios on the geared bikes I ride off road, 42/28 with 11-36T cassette and 34 with 11-36T cassette and road(isj) ratios on the road bike 50/34 and 11-32 cassette.

[Richard G]

Old Faithful: 38/26 with 11-34 at the back.
Overcompensator: 38/28 with 11-40 on the back. These feel fairly similar in terms of gearing (26er vs 29er).

No idea what my road bike is. Not enough for bloody steep hills, that's for sure.

[Kumquat]

I run a 36/46 on the cx bike with a 11-28 on the back. Kmc chain 10 speed.

I run a 32 oval on the 29+ with a 11-42 on the back. Kmc chain 11 speed.

I want to convert the cx bike to 28/38 and the mtb to 26/34 keeping their respective rear end set ups.

[Richard G]

On the subjects of cassettes... has anyone ever got one that they'd have considered faulty from manufacturing?

I put a new XT cassette on my bike and one of the cogs skips every single time I put any reasonable amount of power into it. Every single element of the rest of the drivetrain is new too, and it's literally just that one cog... so I'm thinking it pretty much has to be faulty right?

[jameso]

My only bike that has a road compact is the winter road bike - rarely ridden with a load on. 50-34 isn't much use for loaded or very hilly long rides unless you can get a 34 or more on the back. The first climb of the Torino-Nice had maybe 90% of the riders on 50-34 equipped CX/road mix bikes off and pushing very early on. It wasn't an easy climb but it wasn't really outside the scope of a gravel / touring bike either.

Everyone's different and loading, willingness to push a gear, whether you ride SS or not, fitness, wheel OD etc.. all varies but fwiw this is what I use these days, I like my SS MTB and though I'm not a fast climber compared to someonewith good roadie fitness I'm happy enough on hilly rides -

A triple on my 29" MTB with 22-36 bottom gear if I'm road touring or going off road in the Alps. A 22-36 with a bash guard if there's no point having the 42/44 outer ie no road miles.

A 28-40 XT or 30-42 XTR double on my 650B fat roadie - 12-34, 11-32, 11-28 at the back depending on where I'm riding. Light load on Alpine roads and dirt tracks - 11-32 at the back is OK. 12-34 is comfortable.

I like MTB chainsets like this - ~48mm chainline is spot on for 135mm rear ends and 104 BCD means you can get 26-44 rings from Middleburn, TA and others. SRAM and Shimano stock ratios have been a bit hit+miss since they moved on from 10s for MTB (imo). 'Alpine doubles' may not shift as well as Shimano would like but get the outer ring size right and you don't need to shift that often anyway. Overall I prefer a wide ratio double to a triple unless it's for really hard and very mixed terrain.

[rudedog]

11/42 x 38 oval - this is working great for me just now, thought I'd miss the low gears by going 38 on the front but it just makes you fitter :)

[Richard G]

Or better at pushing. Both good for BB rides.

[whitestone]

11/42 x 38 oval - this is working great for me just now, thought I'd miss the low gears by going 38 on the front but it just makes you fitter :)

38T Where do you live? Norfolk? I'd struggle with 34T on my 29er.

[BreninBeener]

My 29 HT uses a 30T front and a 10sp 11-40 cassette. The 40 is an aluminium expander and i use it rarely...but i like it being there.

Running 650b, then i use a 32T chainring. It gives the same bottom gear

[rudedog]

11/42 x 38 oval - this is working great for me just now, thought I'd miss the low gears by going 38 on the front but it just makes you fitter :)

38T Where do you live? Norfolk? I'd struggle with 34T on my 29er.

Edinburgh so most of my rides are in the Pentlands. Managed all the way up puke hill on it (its pretty steep)

[Mariner]

Second time I posted this first seemed to have disappeared.

I run 2 x 11 36/26 with 11-40t cassette.
I spent hours on Arts Cyclery Gear Calculator analysing my old bike 3 x 9 to try and emulate it on the new bike. The idea was to eliminate a lot of the overlap. The old bike was 29er and the new bike 650b.
Produced spread sheets and comparisons of ratios and gear inches did loads of research and when I finally tried it I found I didn’t like 650b so went back to 29er.
It’s a bit light on top end but cant half climb hills – slowly - and when all my kit is loaded it is somehow just right.

[psling]

Never really given this a lot of thought so went and looked at my bikes:
26" Singlespeed - 32 x 18 - gets bikepacking use during the winter months, eg Winter Event.
26" MTB - 42/32/22 x 11/32 - my regular bikepacking bike.
700c Light Tourer (known these days as a gravel/adventure bike) - 46/36/26 x 11/32 - used for more road/track bikepacking.
700c Road - 52/39 x 11/28 - not used for bikepacking!

[Fat tyre kicker]

As a matter of interest what 28t 64 bcd chainrings are people using ?

[ianfitz]

As a matter of interest what 28t 104bcd chainrings ( not single) are people using ?

I didn't think there was anything smaller than 30 that would fit on 104?