New Cassette Installation

ACCESSORY 44: Sunrise 11-34T Cassette $19.48 shipped @ Amazon.com

I may have lost count of accessories I've purchased for the trike, but I think I'm at 44. Talk about an obsession! As I returned home this evening after dinner, I wanted to continue listening to the particular radio talk show. Rather than sitting in the driver seat in the garage, I hopped out looking for something to do.

Installing the new cassette came into mind so I gave it a try. It turns out the cassette that I had though was broken or defective was actually perfectly fine! I just didn't know enough about the component to know at the time. After attempting the installation, I quickly realized the cassette was in good shape and everything was going to turn out okay.

30 minutes later it was done! I gave it a test run and ran through the gears on the trainer and everything clicked perfectly. I can't wait to take it up on the hills again and see the improvement from the previous 30T large cog to the now 34T cog.




The smallest cog is also a couple teeth smaller. I went from a 13T small high gear cog (correction, see below) to an 11T. This brings my gear inches up from 82.2 to 93.8. Top speed should increase noticeably. Low end difference should be like night and day.

Perhaps it's worth reposting the GI charts for comparison:

Before:











After:












I still can't believe I have 8.9 GI's. That's ridiculously low. I don't know anyone who would even attempt getting down to that low. This trike's gotta be the best KMX tree climber out there.

With an improvement in both low gears and high gears, what's the drawback? Smooth transition between gears. But I'm sure with 63 gears, I can manage something that will work. My concerns are more about the complete low and high end. This new setup satisfies what I'm looking for in prepping the trike for the ALC. Hope it works out.

With the poor reviews of the Sunrise cassettes that owners say often break, I may have to get backup replacement.

UPDATE: 4/18/11
I just discovered that I was not riding on a 13T cog. The cassette is actually a 12-30T - not a 13-30T. It's a custom cassette, so the size is a bit unusual. I always thought it was a 13T b/c 13-30T cassettes are fairly common. Now that the cassette's been removed, it'll be easier to confirm the tooth sizes of all the cogs. I'll do that tomorrow and update the GI charts.