Gearing - I don't need Mega Range!

No, it hasn't.

has the industry gone too low?

For me riding where I ride, no.

Use a road/gravel cassette then?

Elaborate humblebrag 7/10

You didn't say how many sprockets you need, but there are definitely 11-36t cassettes available in 10 and 11 speed flavours.

Spreads you want are available - intended for double set ups, but that doesn’t matter.

On your MTB, either fit a bigger chainring if there’s clearance, or replace with. 10-45 when time comes.

Lowest ratios on common set ups like 32x10-51 on 29” are no  lower than old triple set ups on 26”.

Loads of options if you are upto 10 speed. 

At the moment I've managed to find enough parts to replace everything - but only using stuff Shimano view as obsolete.

I currently have a kitchen full of Shimano boxes to send back. I've been experimenting with the new CUES and Linkglide stuff. I've found the Shimano compatibility guide is spot on. If you want One-by the highest cassette that will work is now 43T. (I'm excluding older versions that are still hanging around). Going down the road/gravel route means splashing quite a lot extra on the flat bar versions of shifters. If you want to go down to 39T then you have to go Two-by - which I'm never going to consider.

The alternative is to downgrade to Alivio 9 speed which is functional but loses the nice spread of gears.

I’m hoping LinkGlide and CUES is successful because the 11 speed version so much more durable than other 11 speed cassettes I’ve used. It also comes in 10 and 9 speed (and 8?) and they’re all compatible with each other. I’m planning to change my Levo to a 10 speed cassette once this one finally dies.

Forget all the derailleur nonsense with its consumable parts.

For a commuter all you need is singlespeed or 3 speed Sturmey-Archer hub and you'll not have to worry about drivetrains for another decade or so.

There's 100 years or so of evidence that that worked for previous generations. (TIC 🙂 )

I agree that for some people 1x goes too low - I've got 2x 12 speed, I never use the 51 & 45t sprockets because it's mainly flat where I am. On another bike I'm using a 10 speed 11-36 cassette with Deore M6000 mech (42t max/min largest sprocket) and it's fine but not perfect.

Most cassettes are going too low for where I ride.  I have ridden fixed for most of the last 20 years so may be used to riding a higher gear than most geared riders would choose up hill but when I had a geared road bike last year I ran 44 chainring with 11 - 26 cassette which was great as 44/26 was much lower than anything I would ride fixed and the gear spacing went up in increments of 1 from 11-19.

Just get a smaller road cassette, there are loads of them to choose from.

I'm really not sure what your problem is. Here is the wholesaler that loads of smaller lbs use and there are piles of cassettes in every mix of ratios from 7 speed upwards:-

https://www.bob-elliot.co.uk/viewproducts.php?catID=303&subcatID=1859

Yes. I use a 32/46 and never want for a lower gear.

I’m lost

Do you have an HG driver on the back wheel? Will it take a 11 speed road cassette?

How many speeds do you want?

There are loads of 10 and 11 speed cassettes

Do spa cycles not have something

I can see 11 36 10 speed for example

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m8b0s150p0/Drivetrain/Cassettes

Assuming you are talking a road commute, why not use road gearing?

You are criticising mtb gearing for having too wide a range for your road commute.

Use a flat bar road shifter, with road drivetrain pull ratios. Something like - https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/shimano-sl-rs700-i-spec-ii-flat-bar-gear-shift-lever

Then for the rear mech, 11spd 105 maxs out at 11-32 in theory. So use a 11spd 2X GRX 600 rear mech if you really need the 36T. Or use a 105 rear mech and drop a tooth or 3 on your new chainring. If you go 12spd I think 105 now goes up to 11-36.

But returning to mtb gearing - no, I need all the range I can get! Think of the cassette as the range - then fine tune your chainring to suit your use. 1X has benefits but range is more limited compared to our 3x days. Personally I'd rather the missing range was at the top end rather than the bottom.

I used to do mixed road and light cross country on a 3x9 26" hard tail. At one point i did a 100 mile charity ride on it. Geared with 48, 38, 28 iirc on the front and 28-11 back, and slick tyres, I got a few comments from roadies at the speed I was doing on it. At point I went back to a 11-34 on the rear. I doubt there would be clearance for that sort of high gearing on a hard tail these days. It did make the boring road sections much more fun especially downhill with the wind behind me seeing how fast I could go and still be quite capable off road.

I think that what you're looking for is literally Shimano Megarange. 34 toothed big cog on Mega range cassettes so pretty much what you are after:
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/technologies/component/details/megarange.html

At the moment I’ve managed to find enough parts to replace everything – but only using stuff Shimano view as obsolete.

I currently have a kitchen full of Shimano boxes to send back. I’ve been experimenting with the new CUES and Linkglide stuff. I’ve found the Shimano compatibility guide is spot on. If you want One-by the highest cassette that will work is now 43T. (I’m excluding older versions that are still hanging around). Going down the road/gravel route means splashing quite a lot extra on the flat bar versions of shifters. If you want to go down to 39T then you have to go Two-by – which I’m never going to consider.

The alternative is to downgrade to Alivio 9 speed which is functional but loses the nice spread of gears.

I'm honestly baffled, you're poking about the interweb, you've found your way to CUES but can't locate a straight replacement for your old 11-36 cassette? You've still not said how many gears you want, and I still can't fathom why you can't use an 11-39 (CUES 9speed?) cassette in 1x configuration? You don't want to spend money on some flat bar shifters (not sure which) but Alivio is too down market for you...

It doesn't read like you had any particular technical issues, just some strange axe to grind about wide range cassettes on commuter bikes, which nobody is compelling you to buy...

WTAF are you trying to assemble? And what is the actual problem that you are encountering?

I n r a t s but you are really concerned about the weight of a larger chainring?

literally a few grams. And it will last longer.

I” doubt there would be clearance for that sort of high gearing on a hard tail these days. It did make the boring road sections much more fun especially downhill with the wind behind me seeing how fast I could go and still be quite capable off road.”

I’ve not tried it but I’m reasonably sure i could buy all my old 3x10 parts and bolt them onto my ‘boost n’all’ Solaris and have more or less the same gear range you were talking about there. I just don’t really find I have that much need for a 40+ tooth front on a mtb these days given that even with a toddler-trailer-towing 26t chainring I was still pedalling at 20mph. If it suits your use, crack on, I just really don’t understand the weird judgeyness that seems to be implied about how other people get to a setup that works for them.

OP- Merlin have 10s 11-36 shimano cassettes and either deore or xt mechs to go with them to taste. They still work as well as they ever did. Is that not exactly what you’re looking for?

You don't understand it because I wasn't being weird and judgemental. If it came across that way it wasn't intentional, I tried to write it as straightforward as possible, no need to read what isn't there.

Fair enough- in that case hands up, I misread it, apologies!

Oh bobbins I've started about three different conversations!

On the CUES topic: The lowest I have been able to get to work on a One-by setup is 11-43T. That's way lower than I want/need. Shimano does do a 11-39T cassette but it only works with Two-by. At least that's what Shimano says and what I confirmed with an hour's trying to get it work on One-by. For reasons I cannot fathom it refuses to shift nicely onto the biggest cog on a One-by setup. I was also under the impression that CUES was super inter-compatible, Shimano says otherwise. And LBS confirmed that they have found it only works in certain combinations.

I used to run a full road drive train with Tiagra flatbar shifters, but it was never as good as the MTB stuff. It always needed adjusting and didn't last more than a winter. I love single-speed most days, but on the increasingly windy days I like some gears.

I ordered a load of stuff from Merlin today to replace like for like. But it's getting harder to find.

The point I was making is that Shimano seems to heading to range that only covers very big cassettes. I suspect that next time I need to replace the 11-36T cassette or rear mech then I'll be stuck with a massive cassette.

Shimano does do a 11-39T cassette but it only works with Two-by. At least that’s what Shimano says and what I confirmed with an hour’s trying to get it work on One-by.

I believe that you couldn’t get it to work. But surely a cassette can’t be 2x specific. There must have been another reason it didn’t work

In not talking talking to the OP just screaming into the void hear really

And presumably with CUES you can use any hg cassette with the correct number of sprockets?

Ok so five minutes poking indicates that 11-43 is a 10 speed cues option, there is however a Cues 9 speed 11-36 cassette, the range you originally said you wanted, and you can drop a whole extra sprockets worth of apparently critical weight.

As for Shimano literature claiming you can't use certain cassettes in 1x configuration? Well if people believed everything Shimano told them about 'compatibility' 1x drivetrains would never have been a thing in the first place.

Bet you that the model RD-U3020 assigned as "2x9" according to Shimano wouldn't complain if you used it in a 1x9 setup with an 11-36 cassette.

Which CUES mech are you using? If it's a 1x specific one I can imagine it's designed not to swing in closet to the larger sprockets. Ones labelled as 2x specific may well have better luck.

One is enough, a freewheel unnecessarily. Fit a 15T and get some serious fitness gains.

If you're running 10 speed you can use any hg500 cassette, they range from 12-25 (iirc) to something like 11-40.

1x makes it marginally harder to get into the extreme cogs on a casette, but if you can't get it in at all, your limit screw is set wrong

I've tried the U6020 and a the Deore linkglide mech. In both cases it wouldn't shift onto the biggest cogs. The chainline looked terrible. But weirdly 12 speed One-by works and looks fine so I don't think it's that. I noticed the U6020 rear mech cage is really long. At least 20 mm longer than an SLX 12 speed mech - it really did look odd.

I thought about 9 speed but it's the same issue where Shimano list the 36 tooth cassette as Two-by only.

As a side for anyone considering CUES or Deore linkglide is it's really overbuilt. It seems the focus is on e bikes which you can tell in the weight and chunkyness

I think you're over thinking this, and looking at brand new MTB products.

There's a road flat bar opttions from Shimano Tiagra or from Microshift.

When Shimano say 2x only they mean you cannot do 3x. But you can go 1x.

On a forum full of strange threads, this is one of the strangest. I can't work out if it's an elaborate troll, or just a failure to communicate. The OP has never actually said what they are trying to achieve, has made quite a few apparently contradictory or confusing statements, and people have made an interesting variety of assumptions in trying to help them out with their unspecified problem.

Anyway, carry on, I'm quite enjoying it, even if I don't understand it.

I’ve tried the U6020 and a the Deore linkglide mech. In both cases it wouldn’t shift onto the biggest cogs. The chainline looked terrible. But weirdly 12 speed One-by works and looks fine so I don’t think it’s that. I noticed the U6020 rear mech cage is really long. At least 20 mm longer than an SLX 12 speed mech – it really did look odd

The 6020 is a long cage mech, designed for 2x, that should work on 1x but will have excess cage. The 6000 is the medium cage mech only suitable for 1x

The point I was making is that Shimano seems to heading to range that only covers very big cassettes.

This is a good thing, we need to reduce our consumption, if Shimano/SRAM can also reduce the numbers of SKU by streamlining its production of cassettes, this is to be welcomed. There's nothing stopping you from fitting a wide range cassette, its just that 1. you don't want to, and 2. are used to having your every consumer wish catered for. Just buy a wide range cassette and have done.

I suspect that next time I need to replace the 11-36T cassette or rear mech then I’ll be stuck with a massive cassette.

Yes, probably, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, get over it.

I thought about 9 speed but it’s the same issue where Shimano list the 36 tooth cassette as Two-by only.

Thing is, you can lie to rear derailleurs if you want, they don't actually know you've not fitted a front mech 😉