Need lower gearing...what's the best way?

Unless you are regularly spinning out you biggest gear, a smaller ring is the cheapest and easiest way.
Bigger cassette will need a new longer chain as well, where you can drop 2 teeth on front ring without shortening your chain.

what clubby said

I think the garabuk site suggests that >46t on Shimano 11 speed needs their modified cage.

On my aether 9 with 11 speed I've gone 46t on the back and a one-up switch ring on the front. I've 28, 30 and 32 tooth rings for it depending on where I'm riding. Also planning to swap to a 10t rear cassette at some point.

A 30t chainring on the front will give you the same top end as a 32/11 did on 26" wheels but a noticeably lower climbing gear so I'd go that route first. The Deore cassette (presuming you have the old HG driver not Microspline being 11 speed) has some odd gaps between gears to get to the 51t that can feel a bit odd, presumably you get used to it as I've only ridden a demo bike with it on.

@oldtennisshoes - don't think the Aether can take a front mech, lots of bikes don't anymore.

Are you using an oval ring? Can be nice on climbs

Dropping to a 30t chainring is the way to go. Next time you’re out, take a mental note of what gear you’re in when on the flat or descending, I wouldn’t be surprised if you never got into the highest gear. If you only use the Aether off-road I doubt you’ll ever spin-out in top gear with 30/11 gearing.

Smaller (30t) chainring first.

if that's not enough, a Sunrace 50t cassette (cheapest good option) would work.....

....and you can use a 12 speed rear mech with 11 speed shifter/cassette too, if you need more range out of a rear mech.

I take the view that I go quite fast enough downhill without peddling.

Not worried about spinning out on tarmac and with a set up for bike packing I have a 28 oval.W

Works for me, I hate getting off and pushing

As someone who rides fixed gear so very into minor differences in gearing I would not expect a very big difference in feeling when going from 32/46 to 30/46 as that is around 1.5 gear inches. 28/46 gives you around 3 gear inches which would be a better option if you actually want a noticeable difference.

i ended up with a 30 /51 on my 29er on its heavy tyres and wheels (only a 46 on the xc set)

Deore 51 tooth cassette, xt 11 speed mech no issues except its a bit noisy in the big gear due to chain angle probably caused by super short CS.

I do spin out however on faster pedally blues etc

I live and ride in the Tweed Valley.
I run 30-50 11 speed on my 29er.
XT 11 speed mech with Sunrace 11-50 cassette.

Keep in mind that changing chainring size will have a bigger impact on anti rise than changing the cassette.

Whether you'd actually notice that change is a whole other conversation.

Bigger rear sprockets are the way to go to change gear ratios significantly. That or a Fd and double, or for more bling, a Hammerschmidt BB. One tooth on the back is about 2 to 3 on the front. Go with a bigger cassette. Or just push harder 😉 (says another fixed rider)

One tooth on the back is about 2 to 3 on the front.

30/46 gives about 18.9 gear inches
28/46 gives about 17.6 gear inches

You'd have to go to 30/49 to get (not quite) as bigger change so 2 on the front = 3 and a bit on the back

Is your calculator upside down?

That rule of thumb works on track bikes with ~3:1 gearing (48:16), you can make a big change to the gearing by going to a 15 or 17t sprocket, or fine tune by swapping to a 47t or 49t chainring.

But yea, when looking at a 32:46 gear dropping 4t at the front will make a much bigger difference than adding 5t at the back.

30 or 28 at the front

You will lose a bit of top end speed but 30/11 at 100 rpm is about 36kph, at 120 rpm is 43kph

On 28/11 the same are 34 and 40kph

TBH, if I'm approaching those speeds on a MTB on proper terrain my limiting factor isn't leg speed or gearing, it's size of balls and length of likely hospital stay.

oldtennisshoes
Full Member

ah, the solution that needs a new chainset, chain, front mech, shifter and . . . frame. Seems ideal.

mashrFull Member
oldtennisshoes
Full Member
ah, the solution that needs a new chainset, chain, front mech, shifter and . . . frame. Seems ideal.

Whoosh!

When you change your chainring, try fitting an oval one as this will help minimise the lack of top speed. The below explains it better than me:

https://wheretheroadforks.com/oval-vs-round-chainring/#:~:text=This%20shape%20effectively%20changes%20the,are%20easier%20on%20the%20knees.

I've used ovals on and off over the years and think theyre best suited to singlespeeds and 1x gears. You will not only benefit from being able to spin a bit quicker, you also benefit from it being easier to grind up a climb. Obviously you'll hear lots of contradiction to the abov but IME they definitely work.

nixie
Full Member
I think the garabuk site suggests that >46t on Shimano 11 speed needs their modified cage.

I'm running a 9-46t e thirteen cassette with an 11 spd xtr mech and it works perfectly on a 30t chainring, smaller chainring is the way to go in this case

I ride in the Ochils.

I run a 28t chainring with a Shimano Deore 11-51t 11-spd cassette and M5100 rear derailleur (£20 from Amazon last month).

Many of my friends now do the same.

Keep in mind that changing chainring size will have a bigger impact on anti rise than changing the cassette.

Whether you’d actually notice that change is a whole other conversation.

Ben from Bird has written about this here specifically for their bikes - https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/fs-and-chainring-size/

you can drop 2 teeth on front ring without shortening your chain.

Going from 32T to 30T on the Aether 9, I recommend removing one link from the standard 116 link chain. Otherwise it's loose when in the smallest cog.

Awesome, thanks for all the responses and advice about other cassettes, derailleurs etc.

I'll start with a 28t chainring as the cassette is still young, then explore a larger cassette when the time comes.

Cheers

Put a 30t on the front

Having re-read the thread I will start with a 30!

As many others have said, go 30 or 28 on the front.

Related to that, it irks me that, as mentioned above, suspension systems are still designed around 32T rings.  32 was sort of settled on in the 26in wheel days.

Now a typical susser will be 29,  bigger tyres,  shorter cranks...

I suppose it's my own fault for not embracing a giant cassette, but my 11 speed 42 SRAM works so well compared to any 12 speed I've tried that I'm loathe to ditch it.

For what its worth,

I changed my whole drivetrain over the weekend, yesterday was the first ride, i went from a 33t front (on an old converted triple) down to a 30t front ring. I found myself riding alot lower down the cassette than previous. I didnt even get into the largest sprocket which is something i did use a few times before.

So to summarise, defo try a smaller chainring first!

oldtennisshoes
Full Member

Whoosh!

Soz, just looked like standard STW from here