Posted by: Endurimil
Posted by: nickmaffei
Now to my question - does anyone know of 12-speed XD cassettes that aren't enormous? I only see a Gabaruk 10-48 on the interwebz.
I assume the enormous you refer to is the pizza pie pan size cassette cogs like this.
Haven't looked closely myself at current 12 speed options beyond the pizza pan size as use pretty much 8 speed myself. My gut feeling is if there is a way to achieve that you would probably have to get a couple of same brand cassette's and tear it all down to individual cogs and spacers. Then figure out what would work and how to re-assemble it. Though this kind sounds like one could potentially end up with or close what used to be called a straight block cassette where there is like one tooth size difference between each cog. Don't even know if that is possible with current mtb cassette cog's.
Posted by: Blofeld
Sram makes some 10-44,10-33 and 10-36 12s gravel cassettes (XPLR series) that may technically meet your requirements. I’m not sure if that particular groupset requires robot derailleurs to allow backpedaling without dropping the chain though.
If you could convert to an HG freehub you would have a lot more options for custom cog stacking and economical drivetrain upgrade options. Some of the Specialized Roval hubs use DT Swiss internals and can be upgraded inexpensively. Others use a form of cheese for internal pawl ratchet components and require replacement frequently. Either way, I’d advise caution when making drivetrain decisions based on hub driver standards.
Makes sense. I was hoping to keep the SRAM-patiability and drop to a lower ratio. I hardly use my 52 tooth much (even on the steepest local climbs) and it just feels like the derailleur is almost touching the dirt ha!
I wonder if the HG is a good move to go Shimrano...thanks for the help Blofeld + Endurimil!