# Spare cassette for hilly rides 11-32 or 12-32?



## Spursrider (Jun 8, 2010)

My bike currently has SRAM Red shifters, Force FD and Force compact crank, Rival RD (short cage) and PG-1070 in 11-26 ratio.
I'm getting a new wheelset and plans to buy a cassette that would give me more options on hilly areas. 

I'm going to swap the RD to a mid-cage Rival or Apex (Any difference between these 2 apart from price?)

As for cassette, I plan to get a PG-1070 or PG-1050 with the size 32 gear but notice that there's a big difference in gear spacing between 11-32 and 12-32 :

11-32 : 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 28, 32

12-32 : 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 32

12-32 cassette seems ideal for me as I seldom use size 11 but there's a big jump from 24 to 32. Will there be any difficulty going from 24 to 32?


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## TomH (Oct 6, 2008)

I dont think difficulty is the right word.. chunky maybe. I had a bike with a huge jump like that a long time ago. Its a clunky shift. It takes you from not low enough, to too low with nothing in the middle. 

I think you'd appreciate the 25 and 28 cogs. Even with a standard double, 28 is pretty low. Im pretty heavy and not exactly in climbing shape, and a 39/28 gets me up nearly everything.


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## twinkles (Apr 23, 2007)

Are you sure that the 12-32 has an 8 tooth jump? I'd stick with the 11-32 if you need that low of a gear.


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## Kontact (Apr 1, 2011)

It appears that the 12-32 is supposed to be like having a 12-24 with a 32 bail out gear. That will give nicer gear transitions for 9 of the cogs than the 11-32.

I doubt they would make it if it doesn't shift right.


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## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

I hope you can find the 12-32. I looked, but never found one out in the wild. I'm sure they are out there somewhere.

I run the mid cage Rival RD with an 11-32 with no issues on my Force shifters.


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## rjcamsr (Mar 3, 2004)

I've had a 12 32 on my bike for a few weeks, using it with the Rival medium cage derailleur. It doesn't have the big jump shown on the SRAM website. The spacing is 12,13,14,15,17,19,22,25,28,32

There are some on ebay like this one 12-32


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## LongIslandTom (Apr 20, 2011)

The 12-32T SRAM PG-1050 and PG-1070 cassettes were readily available at several places found through Google Shopping..

I bought my 11-32T from Outside Outfitters and it looks like they have both the 1050 and 1070 12-32T in stock.

Personally I like the more evenly-distributed teeth intervals on the 11-32T. Using it on my bike with an Ultegra 6700GS rear derailleur.


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## Spursrider (Jun 8, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the feedback. 
I just came back from my LBS where I had a look at the 2011 SRAM catalogue. Seems that the sprockets spacing for SRAM PG-1070 and PG-1050 (12-32) cassettes is 12,13,14,15,17,19,22,25,28,32 and not 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 32 as mentioned in their website.


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## tenrec (Jul 30, 2009)

LongIslandTom said:


> The 12-32T SRAM PG-1050 and PG-1070 cassettes were readily available at several places found through Google Shopping..
> 
> I bought my 11-32T from Outside Outfitters and it looks like they have both the 1050 and 1070 12-32T in stock.
> 
> Personally I like the more evenly-distributed teeth intervals on the 11-32T. Using it on my bike with an Ultegra 6700GS rear derailleur.


I'm looking at a combination like this. I currently have an 11-25 Shimano 105 cassette and my rear deralleur is a Shimano Ultegra 6600. I'm considering changing the cassette to a SRAM 11-32 or 12-32 for easier hill climbing, but I don't know if the derailleur can handle these sprockets. Would I be able to use my existing derailleur without modification or replacement?


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