So uh, how important is rear derailleur minimum sprocket spec? Is it more less safe to go under by 1? I wouldn't be exceeding the capacity. I have a 1989 bike with a Shimano Exage Sport LX A452 rear derailleur. Image is the manual I could find.
Mistakenly I bought a 12-32 cassette and planned to use a road link knockoff to accept the large sprocket, but I realized the current cassette is 13-26, not 13-28 as I had thought. Comparing with another bike I realize I've become accustomed to the high gearing on my local landscape of big hills, and I don't want such low gearing actually. This is paired with a 52-42 Biopace chainring setup but I've thought about leaving the option for 52-40 if I go with the 12-28 cassette. However the LBS I bought the cassette from only has an 11-28 cassette as their 7 speed option. 52:11 is a high gearing I'm going to have to really work towards effectively using on anything but a downhill.
As an aside, I'm kind of impressed by the weight of this. Is lower weight normal on lower gear count components? I know nowadays 7 speed stuff is low end so you don't expect it be weight optimized but I saw FSA's new groupset (12 speed I think?) has a rear derailleur that weighs a few more grams than this.
>>1826279I don't seek them out. I live at the bottom of several large hills in my town. Here and the city next door hardly have any flat land. There's actually a half decent ski area about half hour drive from me, as well as a slope for kids in town. As was probably obvious by my speed I'm a beginner, I do a little over 100 miles a week and I'll have 7000 ft of elevation gain to show for it.
