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My caadx 105 has a short cage rear mech and I have been running a set of road wheels and gravel wheels both with 11-32 cassettes (clearance is tight between the jockey wheel and cassette but it works. However, I decided I wanted a tad easier gearing off-road so I have just put an Ultegra 11-34 cassette on my gravel wheels and I got an RX800 rear mech as a treat to myself 🙂
Is it possible for me to leave the 11-32 on my road wheels and swap between wheelsets without having to change chains or do I need a chain for each cassette size? I got a couple of new ones with quick links but ideally I'd like to use just one of them to avoid the hassle of swapping chains. Any tips much appreciated.
In theory and for best performance, yes you should swap chains.
In practice and on a bike like a Caadx, I bet it won’t catch fire and kill you over a two tooth difference unless you’re already running a chain on the short side. It would only ever be a problem when cross chaining, anyway (I actually do this a lot because I’m uncivilised and don’t like front shifts)
Thanks very much vincienup - that's what I was thinking / hoping. I'll have a bash at it on Saturday and let you know how it works. Also taking the opportunity to put an R8000 front mech on because I too am uncivilised and would likely stand a chance of representing England at the Olympics at cross-chaining, and I understand that the new mech is a lot lighter and crisper at shifting.
2 tooth change in cassette size is only a half a full link in chain length anyway so the chain may be the "right" length for both anyway. Just make sure it's not too short. My experience with swapping between 32 and 36 (on SRAM) is that it works fine but the b tension needed a tweak to keep the shifting working OK.
If you look at the Park chain length equation you'll notice that each chain size would cover a small range of tooth counts. You've as much chance of them both fitting as not. But even if they didn't, it would most likely still work, it just wouldn't be optimal.
I've never had any trouble doing this.
If you want everything to be perfect, you'd need to swap chainrings and chain along with the cassette to make sure everything wears together. In practice, not a real problem.
did something similar for quite a while with no problems
9 speed Ultrega STI's XT rear mech 32 and 34 cassettes
used a chain checker on a regular basis to avoid wear issues on cassette - chain ring wear for me less of a concern as going to get worn and not a lot to do to manage other than keep separate chains and as per OP not my choice either
just about to try 34 - 36 with an XTR rear mech 10 speed 105 set up - quite happy with 34 but found wheel just set up tubeless has a 36 cassette on it and no idea why been baffling me all week
Great to get everyone's input, I really appreciate it because I'm learning bike maintenance as I go. I'll size the new chain on the 11-34 cassette and then test it on both wheelsets. I wonder if the RX800 might help take up the slack when running the 11-32 because the clutch tensions the chain to stop it flapping around?
I'm not super worried about chainring and cassette wear - the drive train takes a beating all the time with commuting, rain, gravel dust and lots of mud. I clean my bike weekly to keep it running smoothly and reduce wear but I think I'm getting to the point with my cycling that next year I'll think about upgrading the chainset to something lighter with a power meter, and cassettes are relatively inexpensive if one them dies, so adding a little wear due to slightly suboptimal chain length doesn't sound like a deal breaker. Also - i've been running an 11-32 on a short cage 105 rear mech and the clearance to the cassette is at best marginal and since Sunday when I did a very muddy 50k cx sportive, despite adjusting the b screw, on the largest cog at the back I can't back pedal without the derailleur pushing backwards so I doubt that the tight tolerances I've been running for the past few months have done my cassettes much good 🙂
I've run 11-28 and 11-32 on Ultegra 11 speed mid cage for 3 years on my Tripster, never noticed an issue on either, one road wheelset one CX wheelset.
I sized the chain using 11-34 cassette wheelset, rode those around for 20k or so with flawless shifting from my nice new R8000 front mech and RX800 rear mech (frickin love that thing - my bike is now stealthy - totally silent drivetrain even when hammering over potholes and off kerbs - disproportionately enjoyable for some reason). I swapped to my road wheels with an 11-32, adjusted precisely nothing and boom - the drivetrain continued to respond beautifully!! 😃 😃 😃 WHOOP!! Thanks very much everyone!
You should be fine. I swap wheels between a 32 and 34 with a 50/34 and never altered the chain from whatever length it was out of the factory. Using a 105 SGS 11 speed mech