Compare 11-28 with 11-32, or 50/34 with 52/36: every gear in gear inches and speed, the gear range, the biggest jump between cogs and the difference on your easiest climb.
53/39 crankset with an 11-30 cassette: every gear compared
Compare 11-28 with 11-32, or 50/34 with 52/36: every gear in gear inches and speed, the gear range, the biggest jump between cogs and the difference on your easiest climb.
The calculator below is set to a 53/39 crankset with an 11-30 cassette on 700x25C tires, speeds in mph at 90 rpm. Press Calculate for every gear in gear inches and mph, the gear range, the easiest and hardest gear, the cadence at 6 mph on a climb and the biggest jump between cogs. Change the tire or the cadence and every number follows.
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A new cassette, before and after you buy it
Swap an 11-28 cassette for an 11-32 on a 50/34 crankset and the easiest gear falls from 32.0 to 28.0 gear inches. On a climb at 6 mph that is the difference between pedaling 63 and 72 rpm, while the hardest gear stays exactly where it was. This bike gear calculator lays out every combination of your chainrings and cogs in gear inches and speed, works out the gear range and the biggest jump in the cassette, and puts a second drivetrain next to the first so you can see what a change of cassette or crankset really buys.
Going by the box label
- "11-32" says nothing about which cogs fill the middle
- A bigger range looks better even when the jumps between cogs grow
- Crankset and cassette changes get compared by feel, one ride apart
- Wheel size is left out, though a 29er changes every gear
Running it through the calculator
- Every cog is listed with its gear inches and speed
- The biggest jump is named, cog to cog, as a percentage
- Two setups side by side, with the difference in each row
- Your own tire size and cadence feed every number
Comparing two drivetrains in seven steps
- Speed unit - mph or km/h for every speed in the result. The climbing check uses 6 mph or 10 km/h to match.
- Chainrings - largest first, separated by a slash: 50/34 for a compact, 52/36 for a semi-compact, 53/39 for a standard double. A single-ring bike takes one number, such as 40.
- Cassette - pick one of seven common layouts, or choose custom and type every cog, smallest first, separated by dashes.
- Wheel and tire size - from the tire sidewall, or a measured circumference in millimeters.
- Cadence - optional. The speed columns use it; leave it empty for 90 rpm.
- Compare - choose a second drivetrain to open setup B. Leave its chainrings empty to keep the same crankset, or pick "same cassette" to change only the rings.
- Read the result - the gear range on top, four tiles, then the side-by-side table and every gear of each setup.
The arithmetic behind gear inches and range
A gear is a ratio. Divide the chainring teeth by the cog teeth and you know how many times the rear wheel turns for one turn of the cranks. Multiply by the wheel diameter in inches and you have gear inches, the figure American gearing charts have used since high-wheel bicycles; multiply by the circumference and you have the distance covered per crank turn.
speed = chainring / cog x circumference x cadence x 60
gear range = hardest gear / easiest gear x 100%
jump = next cog / this cog - 1
What each upgrade buys on a climb
Six common changes, each run through the calculator with setup A as the bike you have and setup B as the one you are considering. Road wheels are 700x25C; the last row is a gravel bike on 700x40C. The cadence column is what you pedal at 6 mph in the easiest gear, and the last column is what the hardest gear is worth at 90 rpm.
| From / to | Easiest gear | Cadence at 6 mph | Top speed at 90 rpm | Gear range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50/34, 11-28 to 11-32 | 32.0 to 28.0 in | 63 to 72 rpm | 32.1 mph, no change | 374% to 428% |
| 50/34, 11-30 to 11-34 | 29.9 to 26.4 in | 67 to 76 rpm | 32.1 mph, no change | 401% to 455% |
| 11-28, 52/36 to 50/34 | 33.9 to 32.0 in | 59 to 63 rpm | 33.4 to 32.1 mph | 368% to 374% |
| 53/39 11-28 to 52/36 11-30 | 36.7 to 31.7 in | 55 to 64 rpm | 34.0 to 33.4 mph | 346% to 394% |
| 50/34, 11-34 from 11 to 12 cogs | 26.4 in, no change | 76 rpm, no change | 32.1 mph, no change | 455%, no change |
| Gravel: 50/34 11-34 to a single 40 with 10-52 | 27.6 to 21.2 in | 73 to 95 rpm | 33.6 to 29.5 mph | 455% to 520% |
The fifth row is the one that surprises people. Going from an 11-speed to a 12-speed 11-34 changes neither end of the gearing, and the calculator says so in its verdict. What the twelfth cog buys is in the middle: the biggest jump drops from 18.2% to 14.3%, because the 12-speed keeps one-tooth steps from 11 to 15. The last row shows the other trade: a single 40-tooth ring with a 10-52 gives the lowest gear in the table by far, but gives up 4.1 mph at the top and steps between cogs of up to 23.8%.
Seven cassettes on a 50/34 crankset
The seven layouts the calculator offers, all on 700x25C. The 10-52 is a single-ring mountain bike cassette, so its row uses one 40-tooth chainring. Gear range counts from the hardest to the easiest gear of the whole drivetrain.
| Cassette | Cogs | Easiest gear | Gear range | Biggest jump |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-25, 11-speed | 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23-25 | 35.9 in | 306% | 10.5% |
| 11-28, 11-speed | 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25-28 | 32.0 in | 374% | 13.3% |
| 11-30, 11-speed | 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30 | 29.9 in | 401% | 14.3% |
| 11-32, 11-speed | 11-12-13-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32 | 28.0 in | 428% | 14.3% |
| 11-34, 11-speed | 11-13-15-17-19-21-23-25-27-30-34 | 26.4 in | 455% | 18.2% |
| 11-34, 12-speed | 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30-34 | 26.4 in | 455% | 14.3% |
| 10-52, 12-speed (40 ring) | 10-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32-36-42-52 | 20.3 in | 520% | 23.8% |
Read the last two columns together. The 12-25 has the smallest range and the smoothest shifts, which is why it suits flat-land racing; each step down the table trades a little smoothness for a lower climbing gear. From the 12-25 to the 11-34 the easiest gear drops from 35.9 to 26.4 gear inches, about a quarter lower, and the 11-34 also adds the 11-tooth top cog that the 12-25 does not have.
Where a compact crankset repeats itself
The full table of a 50/34 with an 11-28 lists 22 combinations, but several of them do the same job. These are the pairs where a gear on the big ring sits within 3% of a gear on the small ring, on 700x25C tires.
| Big ring | Gear inches | Small ring | Gear inches | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50x19 | 69.4 in | 34x13 | 69.0 in | 0.6% |
| 50x21 | 62.8 in | 34x14 | 64.1 in | 2.0% |
| 50x25 | 52.8 in | 34x17 | 52.8 in | 0.0% |
| 50x28 | 47.1 in | 34x19 | 47.2 in | 0.2% |
Merge every pair of gears that are less than 3% apart, working down from the hardest, and 18 distinct steps remain out of 22. That is not a flaw. The overlap is what lets you change chainrings in the middle of the cassette without a sudden jump in effort: from 50x21 to 34x14 the gear changes by just 2.0%.
The overlap also explains a habit good riders share. When the road tilts up, they move to the small ring while the chain is still in the middle of the cassette, so that the easiest cogs are still in reserve for the steepest part. The table of setup A in the result shows the same pairs for your own drivetrain: look for two cells, one in each chainring column, with nearly the same number of gear inches.
On a single-ring drivetrain there is nothing to repeat. A 40 with a 10-52 has 12 gears and 12 distinct steps, which is part of why the steps themselves must be bigger to cover a similar range.
Often asked before changing gears
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Calculator verified by the LiczGrupa.pl team
Content, formulas and results have been reviewed for accuracy and relevance by our team of specialists.
Reviewed by: Patryk Matyjasik