junior cassettes

[vqdriver]

i ran across the ultegra 14-28 cassette on btd and it looks great from a usability standpoint. lower overall gear range without the big jumps between cogs. seeing as how i seldom use my 11t it looks like an interesting option. tho when i had a campy 13-29 i did use the 13t a fair bit. i wonder if the pendulum would swing too far...

thoughts?

on a related note. why no love for 12t small cogs? i see big range 11-28 and up to 11-32 cassettes but for 12t, i only see one offering which is DA and quite expensive.

[stien]

Seems like when everyone went to 11 from 10s they just tacked on an 11t instead of doing something useful like adding mid range. I guess the 11 is good if you've got a compact so you can spin up to reasonable speed in the small ring.

[unterhausen]

I have an 11-36 cassette on my road bike now. If you have a 36, you don't need an 11. I know, gross generalization, blah, blah, blah.
I just don't understand the logic of it at all, but it was going to be a pain to get anything other than an 11 on that cassette. If a 54-13 high gear was good enough for Eddy Merckx most of the time, it's good enough for me.

Now for 1x, that's a different matter.

[nobuseri]

I bought a couple of them. Mainly to train on the road in raising my cadence. I like them due to the tight gearing.
Tried to use them in fast group rides and I was spinning way out of my comfort zone to keep up. Maybe with a standard chainset i may be able to hold on. Solo rides with rolling terrain, they are fine.

I think I will prob end up using them more in my cross bike with a 46/36 front.

See how it goes.

[NHAero]

FWIW - I just swapped a 6800 series 12T beginning cog onto an Ultegra 11-34 11s cassette. So I imagine you could graft 12-13-14-15-16-17 cogs from the 12-25 onto the 19-21-23-25-28 from the 11-28 and have a 12-28 which is
12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25-28.

[carpediemracing]

I did a race once where my front der ended up stuck over the 39T ring, so I had a 39x11 top gear. Managed to win the sprint in my group (3rd group, main one) over a couple riders known for their big gears (54x11, 55x11, Cat 2 and 3 respectively).

Having said that it's nice to have huge gears in certain situations, downhills or ferocious tailwinds. It's nice not to have to pedal really fast. Just ask Juniors doing Senior races. It used to be that they could use Senior gears when racing with Seniors but now they're limited to Junior gears all the time. Even spectacularly strong Juniors (like ones that turned pro) would have to launch very early to have any chance of doing well in a field sprint, even against significantly less gifted racers.

Eddy Merckx could turn gears fast when he wanted to, but it'd have been much easier to loaf along in a 54x11 instead of spinning a 54x13 (or whatever).

[skijoring]

14 final tooth and above could interfere with a thick/beefy seat stay...something to eyeball before jumping onboard.

[GregL]

on a related note. why no love for 12t small cogs? i see big range 11-28 and up to 11-32 cassettes but for 12t, i only see one offering which is DA and quite expensive.
My favorite cassette is the Dura Ace 11-speed 12-28. Combined with 52/36 chainrings, it's good for 99% of my riding. I liked it so much, I made an Ultegra version using a 12-25 and 11-28 cassettes.

Greg

[thunderworks]

I've been using a 14 X 28 with my compact crank (ETap SRAM) for several years. High gear is around 96" and I spin it out around 29mph. I'm an old guy and don't have a problem giving up higher gears and the opportunity for speed - which I don't have anyway. The shift pattern is a little odd, but for my purposes, the trade off of a tighter shift pattern for upper end speed is a positive one and it works well for me.

YMMV

R.

[hokoman]

I have one with about 15 miles on it. I went around the park a couple times on it, and then ended up selling my bike it was on, but wanted the cassette before I sold it. $50 shipped if you want it.

[simonov]

on a related note. why no love for 12t small cogs? i see big range 11-28 and up to 11-32 cassettes but for 12t, i only see one offering which is DA and quite expensive.

There's an Ultegra 12-25 offering. It's a great cassette for all but big climbing days.

[Ralph]

I have used a Campy 10 one on one of my bikes. It was a 14-23. I used the 14-19 (14-15-16-17-18-19) cogs paired with a 21-24-27-30 to make a 14-30 with a 39-52. I can pedal that up to about 30 MPH down hill....plenty for my riding. Worked good on a long ride.
Or.....if I find one cheaper than my favorite 13-26.....just use the middle cogs to replace the ones that wear out fastest on a 13-26.

Junior cassettes are a good source for loose cogs on the lower level Campy loose cog 10 cassettes. I tend to wear out 15-16-17-18-19 cogs first.

[vqdriver]

thanks all. kinda echos my thoughts. tho i hadn't considered seatstay clearance, that's something i should definitely look at.
seeing this pic, that 14 does look fairly big...
https://images.amain.com/images/large/bikes/shimano/ics680011428.jpg?width=475

[Plum Hill]

I’ve had a Campy 9 14-28 paired with a 34/50 on my beater bike for years. The bike is used on trails, paved and unpaved; running errands; and slower group rides. I’ve only spun out a few times when rides got aggressive but caught up when they petered out.
I was never a speed demon and liked hills, so the 14 is OK with me. I like the narrow jumps and find the cassette likable, moreso that a 10s 13-29 or 11s 12-32.
If you think it’s reasonably priced, try it. It’s the only way you’ll know if it suits you.

[Gummee]

I've fat fingered a few junior cassettes (then sold em to a junior) but I always figured that they'd make great CX cassettes. All the 1-tooth jumps are in the middle where you're (theoretically) riding the whole race.

M

[ultraman6970]

Call veloclasique and get a custom cassette from them. They can make you one with the gears you want. I think they can start with a 14 w/o any problem.

[bfd]

Another option, Total Cycling has junior 11 speed cassettes for $66.54 in sizes 14-25, 14-27 and 16-27. Yeah, 16-27....

https://www.totalcycling.com/Mobile/en/Miche-Primato-Light-Junior--Schoolboy-Racing-Cassette---11sp-Shimano/m-m-22941.aspx

Good Luck!