Since my initial construction of the cassette I’ve done a couple of weekend rides with my intended load. And this last weekend I received the Miche 14 tooth first position sprocket mentioned on the first page, which I fitted to the cassette. So my final set of sprockets in the cassette are:
14-15-16-17-18-21-24-28-32
The 14 tooth sprocket doesn’t make a huge difference over the 13 – it’s still a fraction too high a gear for riding on the flat, unless I was on someone’s wheel. And when I’m in France there certainly will be times when I’m riding with a few guys trying to complete a Tdf stage before dark. In those situations having the tight block of 14-15-16-17-18 will be handy.
The issue of having slightly mismatched hyperglide ramps (the little indentations in the sprockets that assist the chain moving from one sprocket to the next) isn’t really a big problem. The only real side effect of this is that sometimes the chain will shift with a bit more of a clunk than normal. This isn’t severe enough for me to bother doing anything about it. I have read that you can adjust (ie make bigger) the small keyway on the sprocket where it mates to the cassette to allow the sprockets to be rotated to different positions and line up the ramps properly, but I can’t be bothered.
Having done a couple of loaded rides I can say that I really like this cassette. It has the range I need for getting up big hills, but also has the tightly spaced higher gears that make it much easier to find a comfortable cadence and get into a good spin. I consider this experiment to be a success.
Andrew's blog 
Thanks for posting this, have considered ordering from Harris Cyclery, but I will now home brew!
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Brilliant!
I am not a tourer as such but loved the post. I ride road mostly but am a little bit crippled (I can say it as I am). My left leg got in the way of a bloke with a ford mustang say no more….
So i cannot push an 11 or even a 12 tooth cog on a light road bike, but I can spin up ok in higher gears.
Cycling saved me, I have almost no pain cycling and live with pain otherwise 24×7; I do not do drugs and try not to drink too much. Pain is the eternal enemy.
So now I am adjusting my cassettes like you but Aldi, ie different. The ramping is an issue for noise and clunky changing, but for the moment I can live with it.
the issue is when I move to 11 speed descending and fast (the only time I use the 11), I can hardly push it, as I have less (a lot less) power in the problem leg but, IF i shift back up to 12 or better 13 I can spin ok. (I have come down Le Mont Ventoux 5 times, I like France too, and I cannot push the 11 but I can descend at 80 kph in higher gears).
I am keen to understand that manufacturers sell maybe 13 tooth first gears! Miche you mention, who else do you know? And are they expensive (probably does not matter as I sure that are not the cost of a full cassette).
I really loved the information… thanks.. hope you can reply, it was a long time ago…
Ray…
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Hi Ray thanks for the comment. I’m not sure what other sized first position cogs are available. I found a 14 tooth Miche for my nine speed cassette back when I wrote this. To be honest I rarely use 11 or 12 cogs on other bikes but the 14 gets used regularly. Good luck finding something that gets your gears in the right zone. And thanks for reading!
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Hi Andrew .Good article !
I am going to make my own cassette starting from 16 (shimano make a close ratio hyperglide cassette for youth racing.Its 16 to 27 and I intend to put some bigger sprockets on the last 3 or four for climbing.
Not a fan of cassettes at all really as everyone needs they’re own ratios .Makes me think of the shimano 600 with its separate sprockets ahh happy days.
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Thanks for the comment Gareth. Glad the article was useful, and good luck with your custom cassette!
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Model for the youth racing 16 to 27 Hyperglide, or where to find it?
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https://kidsracing.co.uk/collections/cassettes-chains-british-cycling-triathlon-gearing-rollout-limits
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Wonderful. Thank You. I’m riding an1986 Cannondale ST-600 (formerly 6 speed Uniglide) 7 speed early Hyperglide hub that is threaded Uniglide compatible at the end and have a 17 threaded cog as my 1st and it’s set-up 17-18-19-21-24-28-32 with a Shimano Biopace triple 46-38-28. After 22mph (33kph) I’m coasting downhill.
I’m thinking of changing to 24 or 26 for the inner chainring ($20 each in steel) and then see if I need a 36 big cog in back. It’s rolling hills here with some fairly steep climbs and I’m an “In the seat” cyclist.
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That is such a great experience reported here. I love it the way I’m making a GIY (Gravel it yourself) from an old frame. I don’t care about light stuff and performance, I just want a bike with a good position to travel and enjoy with.
The problem is that I love campagnolo and Italian style. But most or freehub are shimano. and I don’t want to go into changing the freehub or the hub itself. So I was thinking : what if I buy a shimano crankset, and just print some spacer at the right thickness ? And you just gave me the clue.
A big thanks ! Hope my project will work. Best regards !
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