Cassette for direct drive (Saris H3)

Equipment
1

I’ve a Dura ace 12-28 cassette on my road bike and I just bought a Saris H3 trainer. Trying to source similar one on the cheap n cheerful and the cheapest I see is $120 used on eBay.

Would using a 11-28 cassette on the trainer be of any problems on the drivetrain and or experience?

2

You’ll pick up a 105 or Ultegra cassette for less than that. I run a 105 11spd cassette on my trainer and Ultegra 11sp cassette on the road. It doesn’t matter the weight of the trainer cassette as long you get the same speed. 12 v 11 tooth won’t make much difference either, especially if you are running ERG.

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3

If you are going to use this with Trainer Road in Erg mode then the gear range is essentially irrelevant. If you may use the Trainer is a reactive environment like Zwift then maybe it matters a bit more and you might want to stay close to your road gearing selection.

As mentioned in another response, skip the Dura ace and get 105 instead. No functional difference between the two on a trainer so why spend the extra money. I would go even further and suggest skipping the Dura Ace cassette even on the road. In blind testing you can’t tell the difference and given the cost difference it is hard to justify Dura Ace at all.

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4

Better yet, get a SRAM 11spd cassette, which is even cheaper.

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5

I’ll bare that in mind if I ever replace it :+1:

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6

Thank you for your response, yeah I was planning on going even as low as some no name cassette from Amazon as the weight of the cassette does not matter, 105 is still more affordable.

The only thing I was curious was about the 12-28 vs 11-28 was because I only see 12-28 in dura ace only and wanted to see a 11-28 would require any sorts of bike chain tinkering or cause any issues during shifting gears

7

Nah, you are good.

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8

Thank you for your response, will be getting a 105 for the trainer.

I was looking for a light carbon bike and found it on eBay for a steal of a price which came with dura ace group set. I’m a newb in cycling world, just ride 40-50 miles solo at my convenience and have no intentions of doing anything remotely competitive on road.

I got the trainer for the garage for winter months and I may do some challenges on Zwift but that’s about all. Way too too heavy to fuss about few hundred grams

9

Microshift H11. Sure, it’s heavy. But you’re not going anywhere.