Campy now goes to 12

[huskerdont]

Where does it all end?

https://glorycycles.com/ride-notes/this-one-goes-to-12/

[jrenaut]

Best thing I ever did for my bike was switch from 3X10 to 1X10. They can keep their 12.

[ian74]

I’m waiting for the 13 speed. You know. For luck!

[Harry Meatmotor]

(patiently waiting for the “Sheldon Brown sez 7spd was the pinnacle of human ingenuity!” post…)

[huskerdont]

I’m plenty happy with my 11 speed. Come to think of it, I’m plenty happy with my 10 speeds and my 9 speed, so I suppose I’d be happy with a 12 speed too, but it’s not something I can see the need for. It’s just fascinating to me how they can continually fit more in there. This has an even thinner chain that an 11 speed, yet they say it’s just as strong. I’ve broken chains before–even a new one–and did not enjoy it.

[hozn]

@ian74 177671 wrote:

I’m waiting for the 13 speed. You know. For luck!

You might not have to wait that long …

https://www.bikerumor.com/2014/09/10/ib14-13-is-the-new-12-phil-wood-shows-off-1×13-drivetrain/

[hozn]

@huskerdont 177663 wrote:

Where does it all end?

https://glorycycles.com/ride-notes/this-one-goes-to-12/

Just to be clear, SRAM has been 12sp for a couple years now.

[Tania]

When I’m riding, I can’t tell the difference between a 9sp, an 11sp and a 12sp. I shift up til I can’t any more and down til I can’t any more. I also can’t tell much difference between my 42 cassette and my Eagle (50-something other other) cassette. It’s same – I shift until I’m in my granny, curse a little, and keep spinning.

[huskerdont]

@jrenaut 177664 wrote:

Best thing I ever did for my bike was switch from 3X10 to 1X10. They can keep their 12.

You did that with your Volpe, correct? Do you ever hit any steep climbs, and if so, do you have enough gears? Or is it the case that this is a mostly around-town bike.

The 2X10 on my gravel bike is usually good enough, but there have been a couple of times, like when climbing that beast of a hill up to Dirt Farm Brewery, where I ran out of gears.

[jrenaut]

@huskerdont 177694 wrote:

You did that with your Volpe, correct? Do you ever hit any steep climbs, and if so, do you have enough gears? Or is it the case that this is a mostly around-town bike.

The 2X10 on my gravel bike is usually good enough, but there have been a couple of times, like when climbing that beast of a hill up to Dirt Farm Brewery, where I ran out of gears.

I’ve entered the Youth Soccer Every [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Day stage of parenthood so I don’t ride anywhere for fun anymore.

Here’s the money quote from the thread where we discussed my move to 1X10.

@jrenaut 154907 wrote:

So I was looking at a gear inch calculator. I’m currently 50/39/30 and 10 speed 12-30. The gear inches in gears I actually use on a regular basis range from 43 to 103. If I switched to 48 and 11-42, that would be 30 to 116. I’d never really thought about that.

[hozn]

I don’t typically notice anymore either. Heck, I run 1x on my road bike.

Road Bike:
2x setup, 36t/52t, 11-28. Gear inches = 34-124
1x setup, 50t, 11-40. Gear inches = 33-120
(I’m too slow to need to pedal faster than 36mph, so 50:11 works fine for me.)

Commute/Gravel bike:
Hypothetical 2x setup, 34/50t, 11-32. Gear inches = 28-120
Actual 1x setup, 46t, 10-42. Gear inches = 29-121

I don’t need 1:1 on the gravel bike. But I will likely drop to a 44t ring, since I also don’t need more than a 50:11 on that bike! (Especially with the big tires – that’s pedaling at 37mph w/ 38mm tires)

There are a few cases where I notice the gaps. For example, at Devils Backbone Monster Cross there is a several-mile climb on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s not super steep but it is a steady grade and it is in those circumstances that I sometimes look for a middle gear.

Note enough to wish for multiple rings up front, but enough to appreciate there’s some value in more gears / tighter clusters. (I don’t think Campy is pushing 12sp for 1x, though.)

[TwoWheelsDC]

The only annoying part about these “upgrades” is if you get the new groupset with more gears, you probably have to get new wheels too. If you’ve got a nice set of 11spd wheels, but then for whatever reason need to replace your groupset, you either have to buy an old groupset to match your old wheels, or buy new wheels to match your new groupset.

[hozn]

@TwoWheelsDC 177704 wrote:

The only annoying part about these “upgrades” is if you get the new groupset with more gears, you probably have to get new wheels too. If you’ve got a nice set of 11spd wheels, but then for whatever reason need to replace your groupset, you either have to buy an old groupset to match your old wheels, or buy new wheels to match your new groupset.

What I hear is an excuse to build more wheels!

At least for SRAM () the 10-, 11-, and 12-speed cassettes all fit on the same driver. There’s also XDR for the yet-to-exist “SRAM 12-speed road cassettes” (you can maybe order a 3T 12sp road cassette now?), which is wider, though may still fit on some hubs, since it is designed to be the same width as the 11sp [non-] SRAM/Shimano freehub body.

I was a little surprised that the SRAM 900 boost rear hub I just bought has an XDR freehub body (with the 1.8mm spacer, so I can run a regular cassette). Maybe someone expects road bikes to need BOOST spacing ?? — Or, maybe more likely, SRAM envisions using that extra 1.8mm to fit a 13th cog? I would like to see an Eagle cassette that maxes out around 40/42t. 50t is ridiculous for any non-MTB application.

[jabberwocky]

I’m guessing that 13 is where it ends, since thats where you literally can’t add another step on a typical 11-23 roadie cassette. Although I guess they could just start adding larger gears to the back. We can look forward to an 11-32 being the smallest cassette you can buy in 20 years, I suppose. :p

[huskerdont]

The article states that for this Campy upgrade at least, the 12 speed works with 11-speed wheels.

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