So i just bought a giant reign from 2015 and i want to change the rear cassette to an 11 speed with a different gear ratio so i can climb easier. problem is that i don’t know where to start and what to do.
i imagine i will have to buy a derailleur and maybe a new chain but how do i know what cassette will fit on my wheel?
by Mr_Midnight_86
10 Comments
An 11 speed mountain cassette from Shimano will fit your hub, Shimano 11speed non road cassettes use the same free hub as 10 speeds and usually will list their compatibility on the Shimano website if you look up the part number.
You will need a new shifter, rear derailleur, chain, and chainring to convert to 11 speed. If all you want is a better climbing gear it might be worth getting a smaller chainring to start
Most wheels built for 10 or 9 speed gears won’t take the 11 speed cassette. Also you’d need a new shifter that is 11 speed.
I’d suggest just getting a bigger gear range rear cassette. You will only need that and a new chain since it will be a longer route. Of course, you may have problems with the gear capacity of your rear derailleur also. But, current one could work.
If you wheel is 10 speed hub, you can use shimano 11speed MTB, 11s MTB cassette. You can buy a m5100 shifter and m5100 or m6100 RD, that’s the cheapest options.
For somebody who’d like to down thumb, it’s the manual.
https://preview.redd.it/920rtf9d3rmc1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b36f0fd4aefd086c547b60e67c06e8b35b7c79b
Hi. It will depend on the freehub body on your rear hub. Pretty sure you will have an “HG” freehub. If that’s the case then you should be able to fit an 11s cassette no problem, but you’d need a matching derailleur, shifter, chain and therefore chainring.
If top end isn’t a big concern a smaller chainring would be a simpler solution.
Cheapest option is just buy a wider range 10 spd cassette and a longer chain. If you do convert to 11 spd know that the tolerance for derailleur to be out of adjustment is much smaller. Bump the derailleur on an 11 or 12 spd and shifting could suffer. Not nearly as bad on 9 or 10 spd mountain bike in my experience. Enjoy the bike. I had one for about 3 years.
I wanted to upgrade from 9 speed to 11 speed on my gravel bike and I was going to need to replace.
* Shifter levers
* Cassette
* Crankset
* Chain
* Front Derailleur
* Rear Derailleur
Add in labor and I was looking at $800.
You’ve got a 1x so you don’t have a front derailleur to replace.
If you want to do a more affordable upgrade, you can get a new cassette with more teeth on the lowest gear or a chainring with fewer teeth. Either one will decrease the gear ratio when you’re in the lowest gear, which will make it easier to climb. If you change either of those you should get a new chain, so that an old, stetched chain doesn’t exacerbate the wear on the new component (and you may have to get a new chain if the chain isn’t long enough). And if you get a larger cassette, you’ll want to make sure your rear derailleur has enough reach to be compatible with it. Seeing as its a mountain bike, I’d be surprised if your current rear derailleur has any issues with a slightly larger cassette.
The trade off when changing the gear ratio to make it more climbing friendly is that you are either going to decrease the gear ratio of your highest gear (can’t go as fast) or you are going to increase the jumps between gear ratios. If you don’t want to sacrifice either of those, you would need more gears.
Personally I would be looking at a new cassette and chain, I used to run a SRAM 1x 11 set up however a new bike came with a Shimano 1×10 on it and it has a better range than the 11 speed. Can you see any more details on the rear derailleur? Is there a model number stamped anywhere? We could possibly help you with finding a wider range cassette if we know how big a 10th gear it will handle
Having done a bit of digging I’ve found out the bike is a 2015 giant reign advanced 27.5 1. This came with an xt 10 speed rear derailleur. The xt rear derailleur that was current at that time was able to handle either maximum: 35 tooth for a short cage or 43 tooth for a long cage.
I can’t see from the images if it is a long or short cage but it looks like the cassette is smaller than a 43 tooth cassette. Potentially you could gain a better low gear just by replacing the cassette however we need to confirm the model of derailleur.
Can you take a good look at it for model number? It’ll be something like RD-M786
check Deore 1×11 upgrade kit – 11-51 casette, chain, derailleur and shifter for about €130