Bicycle Mechanics - How can I tell if my cassette is worn out?

How can I tell if my cassette is worn out? I have had this problem with it slipping, so I changed my chain and middle chainring and it is better than before, but I still have a little bit of slip. I know this problem was posted before and I will try adjusting my rear derailleur tomorrow as suggested.

Have the mechanic at your lbs check it out. It is kind of hard to explain how a worn cassette looks, but an honest mechanic will give you his opinion. Chainrings often get a very sharktoothed appearance as if the tips had been sharpened, a cassette usually gets the front part of each valley worn down a bit, however it is best to use your mechanics opinion, after all he sees worn cassettes everyday.

-Ryan

Ryan's right, if you are not familiar with what to look for you could get your LBS to check it. If they say it is worn ask them to show you because you want to learn. Since it is very flat here I tend to ride the same gear a lot of the time. The wear becomes quite noticeable. When the teeth on that cog get to be about half the width of the other teeth I replace the cog and usually the chain at the same time. Chainrings last quite a bit longer because there are more teeth to spread the wear.

Some sure signs that your cassette is worn out:

It has trouble sleeping
It has an elevated resting heartrate
It is irritable
It has diarhea

Give it a couple easy / off days to recover and see if that helps. ;)

At our shop, we usually suggest a new cassette with a new chain and vice versa. Replacing one without replacing the other will cause the new component to wear faster. In your case, the continued slippage would seem to indicate that a new cassette would be worth the investment.

I finely had a chance to change my cassette and that solved the problem. I had a good look at my old cassette and it doesn’t have the “sharktoothed appearance” as stated by BikerRyan. So new chain, chain ring and cassette; I’m set for the season!
Thanks again.
Gordon p.

The sign I learnt: the "U" into which the chain sits is elongated.

Regards,

^
That's a good thing to check-as a chain stretches it will elongate that "u."

Okay, now that I have it in my hands I can tell which cogs I use the most. Not much ware on the 12 and the 30, but the others are all elongated.
Gordon p

30T? is this a MTB or road bike? if road.....why do you need 30T?

LOL

Brendon
:beer:

I know it's probably not a common tool for most cyclists, but at the shop I work at we have a tool which essentially pulls a small bit of chain over the cogs tightly, and if the end of the chain falls off the last cog it goes over too easily, then we know the cassette is worn. You might want to look into one of these tools if you're interested. I would assume they are relatively cheap.