I really like the gear spacing on the 10 speed 11-32 and 11-34 cassettes. When used with a front 32t chainring on a 29er a lot of time is spent riding single-track in the middle of the cassette. The gear spacing on these cassettes is really nice for that speed range. I've done this comparison to see if there's something offered in the 11 speed variety that offers than nice mid-range spacing but also more range in total.
The reason for this comparison was that I initially built my Trance X 29er with a 9 speed 11-34 cassette and the ratios felt great. I then went to 10 speed with a Sunrace 11-40 cassette to give better range and I found myself not liking the big jump somewhere in the smaller cogs (I suspect its the 15 --> 18 jump that I found annoying). I then put on my 11-34 10 speed XTR cassette and the annoying jump went away. What I'd like, is to get something 11 speed for this bike, but not have that 11 --> 18 jump.
Let's take the Shimano 10 speed 11-34t cassette as our benchmark and compare it to the Shimano 11 speed 11-40 and the Garbaruk 11-45t 10 speed and 11-48 11 speed:
Cassette | Gear | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| Shimano 11-34 10 speed | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 34 | - |
| Shimano 11-40 11 speed | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 31 | 35 | 40 |
| Garbaruk 11-45 10 speed | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 38 | 45 | - |
| Garbaruk 11-48 11 speed | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 42 | 48 |
| Sunrace 11-40 10 speed | 11 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 40 | - |
| SRAM 10-40 11 speed | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 42 |
We can also look at this gearing as the percentage change between the gears:
| Gear change | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5-6 | 6-7 | 7-8 | 8-9 | 9-10 | 10-11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shimano 11-34 10 speed | 18% | 15% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 13% | 15% | 13% | |
| Shimano 11-40 11 speed | 18% | 15% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 14% | 13% | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| Garbaruk 11-45 10 speed | 18% | 15% | 13% | 18% | 20% | 17% | 14% | 19% | 18% | |
| Garbaruk 11-48 11 speed | 18% | 15% | 13% | 18% | 20% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 17% | 14% |
| Sunrace 11-40 10 speed | 18% | 15% | 20% | 17% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 11% | |
| SRAM 10-42 11 speed | 20% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 17% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 17% |