need help with cassette

[cous i hill]

hi there can any one help me i'am fairly new to road cycling and need some advice on which cassette i need i ride a barracuda 16 speed 13x23 39x 53 and the hills are killing me was told this gearing was to advanced for me just want to know what cassette to buy and any other suggestions to the hills easier

[NUKe]

What rear mech have you got if its a short cage which it proably isthen anything up to a 27 tooth rear is likely to fit. If you look the mech up onthe Shimano site it will tell you the largest (I assume Shimano If not then try the other manufacturers) another alternative is to replace the front chainset with a compact double these can be found relatively cheaply ~£40 if you look around on the internet. you could have 50, 34 or 50 36.

[cous i hill]

would changing the chainset make the gearing easier than changing the cassette thanks anyway for the information

[cous i hill]

me again can i put any shimano compact on my bike ?

[rickwiggans]

Doing either will make things easier. Changing the cassette is likely to be an easier and cheaper first step. For info, I run a short cage Ultegra rear mech, and when required, a largest sprocket of 28T, which is fine. You could try changing the cassette, see if that does it for you, and then as a next step, look to change the chainset, as suggested above. Also, have a look at Sheldon Brown's gear calculator - http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ - it will give you an idea of the effect of the various changes you could make.

[PBA]

Firstly are you sure it is actually a cassette rather than a hub? How many gears are there? - that's often a good clue!

It's likely you'll need a new chain too...