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Strada Mountain Champion

Are you planning to climb some extreme passes? Here's how to prep your Strada as a 1x mountain goat (or mountain G.O.A.T.)

Posted by Gerard Vroomen - 13 November 2019

Say you have a Strada and are planning a trip to a very mountainous area. Or say you LIVE in a very mountainous area and want to add some 1x simplicity to your cycling life. Here is now to do it.

1×11 mountain goat solutions

This applies to Stradas with Force 1×11 (Strada Pro, Strada Team Force1, etc). They come standard with an 11-36T cassette, great for flat and hilly areas but if it gets super-steep, you may want something more.

Option 1 – Reduce the chainring: This is the lamest option, but I do want to mention it once again because sometimes we let our egos get in the way of the simplest and best solutions. Do we really need that biggest gear? 50×11 is pretty big when you consider people win the Tour de France on 53×11. And they have traffic-free roads, have domestiques, and put out a hundred or more Watts beyond mere mortals.

Even for the descents, the advantage of having a large top gear is limited. If your terminal velocity on a descent is 50mph/80kph, you won’t be pedaling anyway. The top gear only determines at what point you can stop spinning, you’ll keep accelerating regardless. That last little push with the bigger top gear provides just a small advantage, after that any gear is rendered useless.

I have a gravel bike with 34×11 as my biggest gear. Even when I ride that on the road, I rarely miss having a bigger gear (sometimes I do of course, but it’s surprisingly rare). At 120rpm it gets me to 45kph, more than enough. Beyond that, I’ll just enjoy the scenery as gravity pulls me towards that 80kph.

I’m not suggesting you go down to a 34T, but there is room to reduce your top gear and gain a much more useful bottom gear. Maybe you could run 46×11 or 44×11 as your biggest gear, or even 40×11. These options would immediately give you an 8%, 12% and 20% smaller smallest gear too.

Option 2 – Increase the cassette range: If you don’t want to reduce your top gear, this is your solution. Sounds simple, but there is some good-old hacking involved. That is to say, you get to do something that the main powers in the bike industry (Shimano & SRAM) don’t want you to do, but it doesn’t actually require any fiddling. So it’s “hacking for lazy people” or more cycling-appropriate: “hacking for riders in a recovery phase”.

What are the options for 11-speed cassettes? The 11-36T standard cassette is great, but there are wider cassettes available: 9-32T, 9-36T, 11-40T, 11-42T, 10-42T even. The first two are a little counter-intuitive as their biggest cogs aren’t bigger than you have already. but the smallest cogs are 18.2% smaller so you can really cut down on the size of your chainring, which helps your smallest gear without giving up your top gear.

The other options all offer a “bigger biggest cog” so clearly that gives you a smaller gear even without changing the chainring. But the rear derailleur you have on your 1×11 road bike is a so-called medium cage derailleur, meaning the maximum cog it can handle is 36T. That may make going with a bigger cassette sound like an expensive proposition – except it isn’t!

A medium cage derailleur with a 10-42 cassette? No problem!

We’ve been testing all sorts of combinations in the lab and on the road, and this is what we found. With a medium cage SRAM Force1 cassette, rated for 36T max cogs, you can shift all of the aforementioned wide range cassettes, if you take good care of the chain length and derailleur setup.

BrandCassetteRangeNote
SRAM11-36327%Standard Strada cassette
3T9-32356%Needs xD-R driver on rear hub & 18% smaller chainring for same top gear so all benefit goes to the smallest gear
Shimano11-40364%Use 1 linkset less than recommended (single-speed chain length method)
SRAM/
Shimano
11-42382%Use 1 linkset less than recommended (single-speed chain length method)
Leonardi9-36400%Needs xD driver on rear hub & 18% smaller chainring
Hard to find nowadays, mediocre shifting performance
SRAM10-42420%Needs xD driver & 9% smaller chainring for same top gear. Use 1 linkset less than recommended (single-speed chain length method)

 

So depending on the terrain, you could easily go from 11-36T to 11-42T by just changing the cassette. For the 10-42T cassette, you also need an xD (or xD-R) driver.

1×12 mountain goat solutions

This situation is both easier and more difficult. If you have a 1×12 Force AXS or Red AXS drivetrain, you have a 10-33T cassette. There should be a bigger road cassette (I begged and pleaded with them a year prior to launch, but unfortunately, no dice). On the positive side, there are bigger cassettes available. Rotor makes an 11-39T cassette and an 11-46T, while SRAM makes an 11-50T and a 10-50T. e13 makes a 9-46T and even a 9-50T. That allows you to ride up a wall.

Bad news is, the AXS road derailleurs are pretty finicky, so unlike for their 11-speed counterpart, the max cog rating of 33T is not far of the mark. Even the 11-39T Rotor cassette won’t work, let alone those other options.

But not all hope is lost, and the solution is all in those three letters: AXS. AXS is the “communication platform” SRAM has set up for their electronic parts to talk together. This means your AXS road shift levers can talk not only to Force AXS and Red AXS rear derailleurs but also to Eagle AXS rear derailleurs, SRAM’s electronic mountain bike group.

And because it’s all wireless, switching out your rear Force/Red AXS derailleur for an Eagle model is a snap. Once you have that Eagle AXS rear derailleur, all the aforementioned cassettes will work.

There is just a small detail to keep in mind: the Eagle AXS rear derailleur only works with an Eagle chain, it does NOT work with a SRAM 12-speed “Flattop” road chain. So to make the ultimate Strada 12-speed mountain goat, you need to change the rear derailleur, cassette AND chain.

But of course you needed to remove the chain to mount the rear derailleur anyway, so it’s not a lot of work, and Eagle chains are not that expensive (you can get the lowest model, you don’t need the top of the range chain).

BrandCassetteRangeNote
SRAM10-33330%Standard Strada 1×12 cassette
Rotor11-39355%Requires standard driver
Rotor11-46418%Requires standard driver
SRAM11-50455%Requires standard driver
Only available in mid-range, so not the lightest
SRAM10-50500%
Requires xD driver.
Available only in top-range versions, so expensive
e139-46511%Requires xD driver
e139-50556%Requires xD driver

 

Important notes

Linkset: I mention a few times that your chain should be 1 linkset shorter than recommended for the best shifting. By linkSET, we mean a set of 2 links, one narrow link and one wide link for a total of 1 inch in length. This recommendation is based on the “single-speed chain length” method, see below.

Single-speed chain length OFFICIAL method: Run your chain directly over your biggest (or only) chainring and your biggest cog. Do not run it through the derailleur. Take the chain length with the chains tight as you can over cog and chainring like this, and add 2 linksets (4 links, 2 narrow and 2 wide). Note that “as tight as you can” may not be very tight, because you always need to add links in pairs for 1x. So if the route around cog and chainring is just a tenth of a link longer than your chain, you need to add another “1.9 links” to make the chain whole again.

Single-speed chain length method HACK: The above is the official recommendation. For the big range cassettes in combination with the medium rear derailleur, you add only 1 linkset (2 links, 1 narrow and 1 wide) as described in the main article., instead of adding 2 linksets as mentioned in the official method. To avoid any confusion, this means with the hack, your chain will be shorter than with the official method by 1 linkset (2 links).

Correct chain length: Listed above are the ideal chain lengths for the best shifting performance using the single-speed chain length method. You do have some leeway here. If you use one of the setups only sparingly and can accept occasionally slower shifting, you can try to run your medium range and wide range cassette with the same chain length. In fact, with a bit of luck both of their ideal lengths are the same (since we recommend shortening the wide cassette chain length relative to the standard). In fact, in most cases (it depends a bit on the exact chainring size), the ideal length will be the 11-36T and the 11-40T cassette if you keep the chainring the same.

B-gap: When you start playing with these cassettes sizes and chain lengths, you will find that the B-gap (the gap between the upper pulley and the biggest cog has a big effect on how well it works. The exact recommendation for the B-gap differs from derailleur to derailleur, so best to check the manual for the exact number. And then you may deviate a bit to see if you can get the shifting even better.

xD vs. xD-R drivers: Whenever I say the cassette requires an xD driver, that means the xD-R driver will also work as long as the 1.8mm SRAM spacers is added between the driver and the cassette. xD and xD-R drivers are identical except for this 1.8mm length difference.Hope this helps, happy climbing!

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34 responses to “Strada Mountain Champion”

  1. G

    Gerben says:

    08 May 2020

    Hello Gerard,

    I am awaiting a Sram eTap AXS upgrade groupset (1×12 speed). Looking forward to it. In the meantime I am orienting myself to the ideal combination between chainring size and cassette range.
    Currently I ride a mechanical 1×11 speed drivetrain with a 46t single chainring in the front and 11-36t cassette at the rear. I like this setup and it does the job for me, because I don’t ride very steep climbs very often.

    However, the eTap AXS derailleurs have a maximum cassette range of 33t. Now I found two 12 speed cassettes with a 34t and 36t as biggest cogs. This is respectively 1t and 3t above the maximum range of the eTap AXS derailleurs. Want these cassettes give shifting problems; what is your view on this?

    If the 36t as largest cog will not work in combination with the eTap AXS derailleurs, but the 34t will, is it wise to switch to a 44t chainring?

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      14 May 2020

      There is now a SRAM option up to 36T. See here: https://blog.3t.bike/2020/05/14264/gravel-bike-tech-new-force-axs-etap-for-gravel/ and here: https://blog.3t.bike/2020/05/14290/sram-force-axs-wide-gearing-hacks-gravel-bike-tech/

      Reply
  2. W

    Will Marshall says:

    12 December 2019

    Sorry a noob question but Shimano is mentioned above for an 11-40 cassette. Am I right in thinking that I can use any Shimano cassette with my Sram Force 1x 11 speed? I cant seem to find an 11-40 Sram though I have found an 11-40 Sunrace – do they work ok?

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      12 December 2019

      11-speed Shimano and SRAM cassettes function pretty much the same, so for say 11-42T you can use either brand. SRAM doesn’t make an 11-40T cassette like Shimano, so you’d have to use an 11-42T if you wanted to stick with SRAM. Just like Shimano doesn’t make an 11-36T and SRAM does.

      Reply
  3. Neil says:

    18 November 2019

    Well, that was a success. Based on the article, I tried swapping out the wheelset on my standard Strada Pro (11-36T) for a set with an XD-driver and 10-42T cassette, keeping the 50T chainring up front. And it just worked. First time, no messing about. Ok, so when changing to the biggest sprocket it wasn’t the slickest (take note of Gerard’s comments that you really should ideally alter the chain length too which i didn’t because i’m lazy), but it worked perfectly fine, and the rare times I would ever need this, it’s great to know that it’s possible. Wished I’d tried it sooner! (well, the fact it previously had 35c CX tyres on the wheelset was a factor, of course!)

    In reality, as suggested here already, the range it gives is overkill of course, but it means that a far-more-reasonable 11-40T cassette is possible, which I *think* gives me about the same as a 2x compact setup with 11-28 on the back (which is what I had prior to the Strada) – again, I don’t think I’d want that as standard (the 11-36 is perfectly fine for me, gap-wise between gears) but good to have it in mind for those big days out in the hills (Pyrenees next year perhaps…). The 11-40T shimano cassette does look like it weighs an awful lot tho…

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      19 November 2019

      Yes, that’s the beauty if you’re lucky. Your bigger biggest cog means you need a longer chain, but the HACK calculation for the chain says to make it 2 links (1 linkset) shorter than official. Roughly if you make the biggest cog 4 teeth bigger, that equals 1 linkset extra, minus that HACK linkset you remove means you can keep using the same chain. You made your biggest cog 6 teeth bigger so it’s not perfect, but close enough.

      Reply
  4. A

    Amy Cuthbertson says:

    15 November 2019

    I’m just about to take delivery of a Strada Team and have found the e*thirteen 9-39t cassette in stock. I know it’s not in your list, but are we saying that should be able to run on a medium cage too with an XDR adaptor? Also, on a related topic, where can I get an XDR adaptor for the Discus wheels?

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      15 November 2019

      I would assume it works, but can’t guarantee it 100% as we haven’t tested it. Which exact Discus model are you referring to?

      Reply
    2. Gerard Vroomen says:

      15 November 2019

      So for most older Discus and DiscusPlus wheels, the xD-R driver you need is this one: https://www.3t.bike/en/spare-parts/xd-r-driver-kit-616.html?search_query=driver&results=3. For the new models, usually the xD-R driver is included in the shipment.

      Reply
  5. DrNeil says:

    13 November 2019

    What a fantastic article – answers an awful lot of questions I’d been pondering about how to make my Strada (Pro) more suitable for really big days in the mountains. I’d been thinking of the big 10-42/11-42 cassettes, but put off by the expense of a new rear derailleur.

    Fortunately, I have a set of wheels on my ‘cross bike with a 10-42T cassette on, and my ideal would be to swap those in for the extreme hill days – looks like this is possible, but I’d also have to drop the chainring by 9% . I assume this means dropping the 50T chainring down to a 46T. Is this essential?

    Equally a drop of 1 link for the chain – essential? the days when i’d need to switch to this setup are rare (maybe once/twice a year) so the less mucking around the better – I’m terrible at bike maintenance, so changing chain rings or dropping links is a major undertaking! (Yes, i’m THAT sort of cyclist, but trying to improve!)

    Really really useful article, invaluable information.

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      14 November 2019

      You don’t have to change the chainring, you would just get more out of it that way. If you change from 11-36T to 10-42T with the same chainring, you reduce your smallest gear by 14%. But you also increase your biggest gear by 9%, which is probably not so useful. So if you adjust your chainring size to keep the biggest gear the same as it was before, you would end up with a smallest gear that is 22% smaller than before.

      If you don’t want to do that, you may as well stick with an 11-42T cassette. That gives you the same 14% improvement in smallest gear and leaves the biggest gear unchanged (and also gives you less chain length delta between the two setups.

      As for the chain length question, I have added some notes to the bottom of the article on that.

      Reply
      1. DrNeil says:

        14 November 2019

        Thanks for clarifying, Gerard; I agree that a 50T with 10-42T gives a pretty useless top-gear, but it’s what I have to hand ‘for free’ and thus sounds like it’s well worth an experiment. Equally with the chain length comment, that helps enormously, and for my rare need to switch the range, it’s worth a try. The larger jumps between sprockets on the big cassette don’t bother me in practice.

        For me, the fact that you have shown options such as the 11-40T or even the 11-42T as viable with the medium-cage derailleur is a big eye-opener. I was put off trying other options over the cost of new derailleur. Feels liberating to be able to try a few cassette options to increase the range for the hills.

        Right, I think a weekend of tinkering is coming on…

        Reply
  6. M

    Miguel Santos says:

    13 November 2019

    Hi, I’ve already change the cassette from my strada pro for an 11-42, still with the original 50 chainring.
    However some challenges will come next year and I’m think reduce the chainring to a 46 or 44, what’s the suggestion?
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      14 November 2019

      My personal opinion is smaller is better, realistically I don’t know very many people (other than the pros I know) who need their biggest gear. People who run Di2 can see what percentage of time they spend in their biggest gear, and the numbers are almost always ridiculously low.

      Reply
  7. R

    Rich Jod says:

    13 November 2019

    So when is 3T gonna produce a 12 speed cassette with a better range than SRAM’s offering for climbing?
    Their 10-33 cassette is terrible. You’re limited on the upper cogs, as you have to make giant leaps from 21 to 24 to 28 and a whopping leap to 33. It’s impossible to keep a decent pace if you don’t climb like Michael Woods. I’m hoping 3T will solve this problem with a cassette similar to what was done with 11 cogs.

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      14 November 2019

      Eventually all problems are solved.

      Reply
  8. C

    Christian Borrman says:

    13 November 2019

    There is also a 9-36 by Leonardi, which i use with an oval 40t Rotor for the mountains, gives you something like a compact with 11-32t cassette? also the gold alloy ring with black cassette looks amazing with a gold chain and the blue, red or black strada, not that I am a bike tart tho, you understand 😉

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      13 November 2019

      I’ve added the Leonardi, but the 9-36T is hard to find nowadays. They seem to have gone more for the extreme cassettes now.

      Reply
      1. Mikey says:

        13 November 2019

        Don’t forget the E-Thirteen 11 speed cassettes of 9-34 and 9-39, though both have that hideous jump from 9 to 11 teeth rather than the more appealing 9 to 10 teeth of the 3T bailout.

        Reply
        1. Gerard Vroomen says:

          14 November 2019

          Those were great cassettes, but E-Thirteen doesn’t seem to make them anymore so I didn’t list them.

          Reply
          1. G

            Gerben says:

            18 May 2020

            I found this colorful 12-speed road cassette from the so-called brand ZTTO: https://bit.ly/2zLKpji

            This cassette is available as 11-32t and 11-34t and is compatible with a 10/11 speed Shimano HG hub. This means no 10t cog, unfortunately, but the remaining steps between the other cogs seems nice (and comparable to much more expensive cassettes from the well-known brands).

            In short, this ZTTO road cassette seems a promising alternative. Although I wonder if the Force AXS derailleur can reach to the ‘turned in’ biggest cog 32t or 34t. Anyone have a vision about that?

            For what it’s worth: ZTTO has a comparable 12 speed cassette with 11-52t for MTB use and that works and shifts – in combination with a mechanical Sram Eagle derailleur – surprisingly good, fast and quiet. However, you have to use the maximum range of the Eagle derailleur to be able to reach to the also ‘inwardly placed’ 52t cog. But it works.

            Reply
            1. Gerard Vroomen says:

              18 May 2020

              I’m not sure which problem these cassettes solve though (other than maybe if you find your bike color too boring :-)). SRAM already offers 10-28, that’s the same range as 11-31. If that’s not enough, then the 10-33 is the same range as an 11-36. Not sure if it’s that important to have two options in-between those.

              Reply
              1. G

                Gerben says:

                18 May 2020

                Haha! I feel you, Gerard. The rainbow color is a taste sensitive thing? But at the same time very personal and therefore subjective.

                Still, why would this ZTTO cassette could not be a solution? For example for someone who prefers one or two extra cogs for the steeper stuff, but does not necessarily need a 10t for a top speed that he / she will never ride. You can still play with the size of the chainring.

                In addition, everyone seems to be wildly enthusiastic about Sram’s new 10-36t wide cassette, as well as Rotor’s 11-39t. This ZTTO cassette is one of the closest 12-speed alternative to those cassettes, if not the closest, at a much more attractive price.
                Moreover, someone who now drives Shimano 11 speed and like to switch to 12-speed does not have to invest extra in an XD body (which not rarely is not or bad available for many hub brands). After all, not everyone drives around with the versatile hubs from DT Swiss 😉

                Finally, there are very few 12 speed road cassettes options available, so every alternative is a bonus. So what is not to like?

                Reply
                1. Gerard Vroomen says:

                  18 May 2020

                  Like you say, you can change the chainrings, so the starting cog isn’t really that important. The 10T does not lead to a gear that’s too big if you adjust the chainring accordingly.

                  People are enthusiastic about the 11-39 and the 10-36 cassettes for the same reason: a bigger range of around 360%. But the ZTTO cassettes aren’t really close to that in range. SRAM’s 10-33 cassette is closer to the aforementioned than the ZTTO.

                  Best to look at the range %:

                  SRAM 10-36T: 360% range
                  ROTOR 11-39T: 355% range
                  SRAM 10-33T: 330% range
                  ZTTO: 11-34T: 309% range
                  ZTTO: 11-32T: 291% range
                  SRAM: 10-28T: 280% range

                  Reply
                  1. G

                    Gerben says:

                    18 May 2020

                    I hadn’t looked at it that way. Thanks for the insight. Much appreciated.

                    Reply
      2. M

        Marcus Lay says:

        14 November 2019

        The Leonardi has also a quit good spacing, but sadly enough the shifting performance is actually not that impressive.

        Reply
        1. Gerard Vroomen says:

          14 November 2019

          I agree.

          Reply
      3. C

        Christian Borrman says:

        21 January 2020

        yep they have, but there are still plenty on 3rd party sites as the market for exotic cassettes has moved 12 speed 🙂 I saw this for a while when I was doing 1x on 10 speed as well!
        Thanks for adding the cassette and the ratios, very useful! I need to sit and read this again when not at the end of a long day… my experience is that 9-32 and 9-36 is better than 11-42 and 11-46, is that what you are saying as the jump in teeth is smaller, or do I need to sit again with a coffee tomorrow and read again …

        Reply
        1. Gerard Vroomen says:

          21 January 2020

          Well, there are two different issues. The first is that the smaller % range means smaller steps. But the other point is that starting with a 9, the first steps are slightly LARGER (9-10 is a little bigger than 10-11 or 11-12) but that can actually be beneficial, as it leaves you with more cogs left at the upper end of the range so you can have smaller steps there.

          Reply
  9. R

    Rasmus says:

    13 November 2019

    Considering that 2x solutions with Shimano GS derailleurs and 11-36 cassettes seem to work well (I run that on my Exploro and it seems to work pretty well except in the small-small combination which I try to avoid anyway) I’m not surprised that even bigger cassettes work well on 1x setups.

    Also, I guess throwing sanity out of the window and getting those 1080g “Rides of Japan” Extralite wheels and a bunch of THM components, titanium screws here and there also might help. Or at least it might make the brain think you can go faster. 🙂

    Reply
    1. C

      Christian Borrman says:

      13 November 2019

      I like the smaller chainring, and much better chainline in the big ring that going down to 9t gives, especially with the short chainstays I like. Before the Strada I had a Tarmac with 50t and 11-42t out back, with the Strada I have 9-36 and 40T to 44T, which makes everything much lighter (the cassette, the ring and a load less chain links) but much, much quieter as all the cogs are smaller and less ‘crossed’ and more gap between them if that makes sense?

      Reply
    2. Gerard Vroomen says:

      13 November 2019

      These are two slightly different issues though. The rear derailleur is limited in two ways: (1) the biggest cog it can handle without hitting it and (2) the total length of chain it can “store” while going from almost stretched out to almost completely folded up. A derailleur may do very well in one and poor in the other. 1x drivetrains require compatibility with relatively big cogs, while 2x drivetrains require a lot of capacity (that 13-17T delta between the chainrings has to be stored).

      Take for example the new Shimano GRX. It has a 1x and a 2x rear derailleur. The 1x GRX rear derailleur can handle a 42T cog, but put it in a 2x drivetrain with even just an 11-34T cassette and it won’t work. It doesn’t have the capacity to store enough chain for the 23T delta of the cassette plus the delta of the chainrings. Similarly with the 2x GRX rear derailleur. It can store all that, but it doesn’t want to go onto a 42T big cog (it will, but very slowly).

      Reply
      1. R

        Rasmus says:

        18 November 2019

        Thank you!

        Wiat about derailleur hanger extenders like the Road Link? To me, they seem like one of those “if they are so good, why don’t everyone use them”. In this case, why don’t all bikes ship with really long derailleur hangers? My guess is that they might position the derailleur too low for things like 11-25 cassettes, or (based on how my Ultegra Rx performs with 11-36) that the top pulley will be very far below the smallest cons, resulting in slightly ponderous shifting between the smallest cogs.

        Reply
        1. Gerard Vroomen says:

          18 November 2019

          Yes, very simply put, such a lengthening of the hanger increases the B-gap (distance between the top pulley and the biggest cog). That’s great for big cogs, not so great for small cogs. A derailleur designed for big cassettes has two features around this issue:
          1) It’s already designed for a big B-gap
          2) the angle under which it travels is steeper, ensuring that it still ends up in the correct spot for the smallest cogs on your cassette. Taking a medium cage derailleur and moving it over with a longer hanger or separate part works to some extend as it fixes issue #1, but only to a degree as it doesn’t address issue #2.

          So these things work, but only up to a point.

          Reply
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