Just picked up the new Force crankset. 53-39 what is the best cogset to put in the rear? I do alot of hill riding. Steep and rolling. Not sure which one to go with. Can anyone help me out? Thanks:confused:

Specialized S-Works Tarmac combines 12-27 cogset with the 53-39..... This is with the Force, of course.

cog choice depends upon what you want to do and your fitness and strength. for endurance riding, assuming good fitness and strength, you'd probably want a 12-27. if you're doing criteriums or other races, you'd probably want 11-23. sram is unique, as far as i know, in that they make an 11-26 which sacrifices a couple of gears in the middle range, but provides a bit of ease on the climbs and still allows you to sprint.

on the other hand, if you're recovering from a long winter of doughnuts and beer, you'll probably want the 12-27. if you've been consuming lentils and water and spinning the rollers, you might want the 11-23.

or you could base the choice on your preferred vocabulary. if you prefer to swear all the way up a climb go with the 11-23. if you prefer more "G" rated vocabulary go with the 12-27.

those would be my three criteria for choosing cogs. hope it helps.
cheers

no one uses an 11 for sprinting velophilo.....except maybe thor, boonen, robbie.....

most use an 11 for descending, since it allows you to spin a bit lower cadence and recover a tad more.....i guess you could use it in a downhill sprint finish...if you ever have one....

depending on your needs:

climbing - 12-27...duh
crit bike - 11-23
all around riding (non-racer) - 12-27
road racing, cyclocross, fast all around riding - 11-26...yes you loose one middle gear, but the range of that is just phenominal....its what im going to get when i pick up my sram group in the spring (granted i already have 12-27 and 11-23 for various wheelsets for different types of racing...but i will use the 11-26 in place of my "bastardized" 11-25 i run for road races)

out here in the wilds of chicago guys are using 11s for sprinting who not the aforementioned gods. no climbs or descents to speak of just wind to battle.
cheers

Hi,
I've been riding the SRAM Force with 50/34t up front and 11-26 sram rear cassette since the first week of January 07. I've climbed Mt. Hamilton, China Grade, and Montebello and many others all here in the greater San Jose, CA area. You can look up gradients on ACTC.org and go to the road profile viewer.
So far it seems to be low enough gearing even this early in the year and with cold temps. Yeah, I know you guys are probably sitting in FEET of snow and we are griping here because it is below 60 degrees for the high temp.
Anyway. the SRAM cassette apparently works better with the SRAM chain so if you want a 27 or 28 cassette I'd suggest Shimano but also with a Shimano chain.
Funny how I found the same thing with my other bike which has a 12-28 campy 9 speed cassette that it worked best with a campy chain. Some of the SRAM 9 speed chains were pretty good but campy always worked best.