Roadbike gears

[Abel Du Plessis]

Need some advice please.  My Fuji TeamSL has the Shimano Ultegra shifters. The crankset has 2 rings: 36/50 teeth.  The groupset is 10-speed, 11 - 23 teeth.

I am not as young and fit as when I brought it, and find that I am struggling with climbing. I would like to have some more, larger rings in the back, and a 3rd smaller ring in the front. 

Is this possible with the same Ultegra shifters?  What do you experts recommend I do?

[MTBRIDER1234]

50 minutes ago, Abel Du Plessis said:

Need some advice please.  My Fuji TeamSL has the Shimano Ultegra shifters. The crankset has 2 rings: 36/50 teeth.  The groupset is 10-speed, 11 - 23 teeth.

I am not as young and fit as when I brought it, and find that I am struggling with climbing. I would like to have some more, larger rings in the back, and a 3rd smaller ring in the front. 

Is this possible with the same Ultegra shifters?  What do you experts recommend I do?

 

I am a MTB guy through and through, so not an expert on road.

But I know you will need a new front derailleur, front shifter, crankset and cassette (widest range 10 speed cassette I could briefly find: https://evobikes.co.za/product/shimano-ultegra-6700-cassette/)

I think your rear derailleur and shifter should work with the new wider range cassette, but if not, you can most likely make it work by using one of these :https://www.rapide.co.za/product/rapide-derailleur-hanger-extender/

Hope that helps somewhat!

[Jbr]

I'm no expert but 36/23 is pretty rough for every day rides. That's what I had and it is okay for racing, but 28 cassette is a minimum for the normal rides. If you are not very fit you'll probably want to go bigger, not sure what the sizes are in 10 spd, but maybe aim in the 30-32 range that should help. Then you should be able to keep your front blades as is

Edited June 9, 2022 by Jbr

[MTBRIDER1234]

Just now, Jbr said:

I'm no expert but 36/23 is pretty rough for every day rides. That's what I had and it is okay for racing, but 28 cassette is a minimum for the normal rides. If you are not very fit you'll probably want to go bigger, not sure what the sizes are in 10 spd, but maybe aim in the 30-32 range that should help

Haha thanks for stepping in.

Like I earlier stated I know pretty much niks about road

[Martin Olckers]

You can not use a tripple chainset. The shifters are 2x only. But you can use a 50/34 chainset on a 11/34 cassette. Should be perfect for easy going on hills as well. Just be sure to use a long cage derailleur. 🤘

[cadenceblur]

As the man said.. Bigger at back and compact is your best bet 

[Ncayi]

I consider myself as a relatively fit young man (as I suck in my beer belly). But the thought of only having a 23 as my biggest cog in the rear while riding up Suikerbossie frightens me😱

I agree with getting a bigger cassette at the back and you should be able to keep the rest of your components. But the jumps from one cog to another will be noticeable and will take some time for you to adjust. But your knees will thank you for it. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Sibulele

[throttles]

Get a 11/30 cassette..

 

[RobbyB]

Before you buy a new rear cassette - check to see if you have a short cage rear derailleur (the two pulley wheels will be fairly close together (like about 5,5cm apart). If so you wont be able to fit a bigger cassette without installing a hanger extender (see above). 

An 11-25 cassette could work on a short cage derailleur but will still be a bit of a slog on a long/steep hill. As said above the most normal cassette these days is an 11-28 (for 11 speed) but cassettes do go into the 30's if the hills you climb are very steep. But I'm not sure what range you get on a 10 speed cassette.

Good luck with your choices...

[MongooseMan]

I had an 11-25, upgraded to an 11-32. Then realised my derailleur couldn't handle that range, got a hanger extender, and now everything works great. 

Also using shimano ultegra. 

[buckstopper]

8 hours ago, MongooseMan said:

I had an 11-25, upgraded to an 11-32. Then realised my derailleur couldn't handle that range, got a hanger extender, and now everything works great. 

Also using shimano ultegra. 

Look at Tiagra RD 4700 medium range rear derailleur. It'll take a 11-34 Shimano HG500 10 spd cassette. To tweak your front you could drop to a 34 in front. Will make a huge difference and improve low end by nearly 50%

[Ispeed_V]

SHIMANO HG500 10SP 11-32 CASSETTE

As mentioned, you may need to upgrade your RD to ensure that it can cater for the additional range as going from a 23 to a 32 to quite a big leap.

[MongooseMan]

25 minutes ago, buckstopper said:

Look at Tiagra RD 4700 medium range rear derailleur. It'll take a 11-34 Shimano HG500 10 spd cassette. To tweak your front you could drop to a 34 in front. Will make a huge difference and improve low end by nearly 50%

I haven't found something I can't handle with my 39/32 granny gear, plus I like the ultegra derailleur I have. Works fine once I added the hanger extender (which was only R100 vs who knows how much for a new derailleur) 

Edited June 10, 2022 by MongooseMan

[David Marshall]

Chances are that you have a short cage RD in which case the biggest ring on the cassette that your derailleur can handle will be 28 or max 29T.  This will make a massive difference compared to the current 23 and will probably solve your problem.  If not enough the next step would be to change the 36T chainring for a 34.

In the unlikely event of this not being enough you could try a derailleur extender and go to a maximum of 32T at the back. At this point I would not spend any more money.

Be careful of mixing new with old.  The current 10 speed Tiagra components are not compatible with the older 10 speeds.

[JJDT]

Agree with David regarding the upgrade from 23 to 28 and beyond that the 2nd step for a smaller chainring in the front. This first option will most probably solve your climbing ability.

[DieselnDust]

Change the front 36T chainring to a 34T

then fit a 11-28t rear cassette. 
a derailleur range extender could work but it can also cause problems with accuracy if shifting and indexing if anything is even slightly out of alignment