Everything You Need to Know About Bicycle Cassettes: Common Range of Cassettes for Different Types of Bicycles

Everything You Need to Know About Bicycle Cassettes: Common Range of Cassettes for Different Types of Bicycles

Cassettes come in various sizes to suit all types of bicycles. The size of a cassette is usually indicated by its smallest and largest sprocket. For example, a typical modern road bike cassette might be 11-32t. For mountain bikes, the range might be around 10-52t.
 

Road Bike Cassettes

 
Historically, an 11-28 cassette was considered a large training cassette which is now on the lower end of the spectrum for road bikes. Recently, sizes have increased significantly. For example, Shimano's Dura-Ace R9200 now offers a minimum of 11-28. This advancement is due to the increase in gear steps, providing a larger range without big jumps between gears. Modern 12-speed road bike kits enable greater ranges with relatively small gear jumps. Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 offers 11-28, 11-30, and 11-34 options. Campagnolo also provides 11-29 and 11-34 options for their 12-speed kits, while SRAM has taken a different route with its 12-speed AXS kits offering 10-28, 10-30, 10-33, and 10-36 options.
 

Mountain Bike Cassettes

 
With the advent of 1x drivetrains, mountain bike cassettes are now much larger, such as Shimano's 10-51 and SRAM's 10-52 options. Typically, Shimano offers 10-45 and 10-51 sizes for their 12-speed products, while SRAM's Eagle line provides 10-50 and 10-52 options.
 

Gravel Bike Cassettes

 
Gravel bikes can be equipped with either road or mountain bike cassettes. However, specific gravel-oriented gearing options are now available, such as SRAM's XPLR AXS, which offers a 10-44 range. For even more versatility, gravel riders can mix SRAM's Eagle eTap AXS with drop-bar shifters. Campagnolo Ekar offers narrow 1x options with cassettes as small as 9-42. Shimano GRX offers 10-45 and 10-51 for 12-speed 1x, and 11-34 or 11-36 for 2x configurations.