Noob questions re: wheels/spokes/cassette

Selekt0r · 13 Mar 2017 at 08:30

I've been doing a bit of road cycling over the last couple of years to lose weight/keep fit - nothing serious, but trying to do 30-40 miles at a weekend, and a shorter jaunt midweek.

Anyway - I had a couple of broken spokes on the rear wheel recently, so had them replaced and the wheel trued. Only my last ride I've had another one go, so I'm guessing they are all prone to breaking now?

Thinking of picking up some new wheels ( https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-rs11-9-10-11-speed-clincher-wheelset-EV200785 ) as the current ones are showing a bit of wear on the rims after some grit got stuck in the brake pads.

My main question is around the Cassette, which is probably also due for replacement. The current one is a Shimano Tiagra 12-30 10 speed cassette. Will I be OK to replace it with a 11-32 Cassette ( https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-tiagra-hg500-10-speed-road-cassette-EV252972 )?

Thanks

booyaka · 13 Mar 2017 at 09:37

Perfectly fine to replace with 11-32.

Normally you tend to replace the chain and cassette at the same time, but it's not nessecary

Roady · 13 Mar 2017 at 17:04

Chains wear faster than a cassette, if your chain is the same age as the worn cassette it's long overdue changing!

Old chain & new cassette will feel rough... Until the old chain has worn the cassette extra quick...

Selekt0r · 13 Mar 2017 at 20:29

booyaka said:
Perfectly fine to replace with 11-32.

Sadly, after a bit more research it looks like this is not correct. The rear derailleur is the 'short' variant and will only take up to 30.

Annoyingly, the Tiagra 12-30 cassettes are discontinued. So looks like i have to choose between sacrificing some ratio on the hills with a Tiagra 11-28 (probably not a good idea, as i struggle on steep climbs anyway) or shelling out for an Ultegra 10-30 which apparently will fit

Roady said:
Chains wear faster than a cassette, if your chain is the same age as the worn cassette it's long overdue changing!

Old chain & new cassette will feel rough... Until the old chain has worn the cassette extra quick...

The chain has been replaced a couple of times. I was intending to fit a new chain as well as the new cassette.

DaleTheWhale · 14 Mar 2017 at 14:39

11-28 and dig deep, rule #5 applies.

6thElement · 14 Mar 2017 at 17:52

Check ebay, might be some NOS still available somewhere.

mattyfez · 11 Apr 2017 at 07:34

Is there no medium or long cage derailleur available that you could fit?

With regard to the broken spokes, assuming you had all the spokes checked for correct tension you should be fine, I assume they would do that when they fitted the new ones and trued the wheel but you didn't specifically say.

PermaBanned · 11 Apr 2017 at 15:49

Are the spokes that broke both from the same side of the wheel? Could be an issue if you've had the chain shift into the wheel at some point which has damaged them. I did that once and just had the shop replace all of those spokes just in case.

If you do want new wheels you could also consider a hand built set from CRC or somewhere, with Claris/Sora hubs on something like Mavic A119 rims. Would be a lot more durable, possibly even lighter too.

You don't have to get casettes specifically from your groupset, just as long as they're the same number of gears and spacing. Rear mechs are one of the things I find it doesn't really matter what spec you get - so you could also swap out the derailleur for something like an Altus M310 which you can get for around £15 which would let you go up to 32t easily.