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My current cassette is a 105 5600 12-27 the front is a 105 5600 53/39. I want to go compact so will the Shimano 105 5600 rear derailleur support the 105 5700 11-28 cassette?

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2 Answers 2

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As long as the 5600 and 5700 cassettes contained the same number of gears, the two cassettes will be interchangeable. They're both 10-speed, so you'll be fine. You'd have had problems going from a 9- to 10-speed, or going from a 10- to 11-speed. The reason in each case would be because of chain width.

update - as @jimirings points out, the RD-5600 is spec'd to only support cogs with up to 27 teeth, so it is possible there may be problems, although I'd have thought it unlikely. (In fact I too am riding a "28" cassette with a "27" derailleur and have not seen any ill effects.) If you're really concerned about this, possible workarounds would be using a different variant of the CS-5700, or upgrading to an RD-5700. If you're willing to spend to upgrade your crankset, the additional cost of a rear derailleur is quite small.

Incidentally, if you're wanting to go compact, why are you changing to rear mech? I mean, its no problem if you want to do this, just as long as you realise you don't need to do this.

To go compact, you can just replace your current crankset with a FC-5750, or even with an FC-5650 if you can find one. Try looking on eBay, you may find a bargain.

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Thats for the extremely detailed response! My current setup is full 105 5600 53/39 front 12-27 rear. All I have bought is the FC-5750 front 50/34 and the 11-28 5700 rear cassette to give me more flexibility and better gearing for climbing. I've not bought a new rear mech just the cogs so I wanted to check if everything was compatible, seems it is I guess, even if Shimano don't 100% say so –  Andy Aug 2 '13 at 21:37
@Andy If you've already bought them there's definitely an argument for "suck it and see" –  PeteH Aug 2 '13 at 21:46

According to the instructions for that derailleur, the maximum sprocket size is 27 teeth.

My guess is that one tooth won't make it completely inoperable, but it could. The derailleur might simply not have the range of motion to shift onto a sprocket that large. However, I'd bet that it's more likely that shifting just wouldn't be ideal.

On a side note, the change from an 12-27 cassette to an 11-28 isn't going to be huge. I personally wouldn't think it was worth the money unless the existing cassette was in need of replacement. And as PeteH mentions, the crankset is all you need to change in order to go compact.

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Jimi you're dead right, I wrote my answer just based on the current range (which is all I see on the Shimano web site). The 5700 cassette is available in 4 variants: 11-25, 11-28, 12-25 and 12-27 so possibly Op should avoid the second of these to guarantee compatibility. I will amend my answer accordingly. –  PeteH Aug 2 '13 at 20:34
As an addendum to my previous comment, I just checked and on my main bike I am running a 6700 11-28 Ultegra cassette with a 6600 rear derailleur which is only specc'd to 27 teeth. I've been riding this for a year (blissfully ignorant until now), but have had no ill effects whatsoever. –  PeteH Aug 2 '13 at 20:56
Maybe Shimano didn't offer the 11-28 cassettes on the 6600 and 5600 range. Nice to know they work fine together though –  Andy Aug 2 '13 at 21:39
@Andy I suspect that is the case. –  PeteH Aug 2 '13 at 21:45
On almost all bikes the 105 5600 der. will clear 28 teeth. Around here the most common cassette is the 11-28 (lots of hills in the PNW)...you may need to drive the tension screw in further. –  Ken Hiatt Aug 4 '13 at 4:41

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