Bicycle Mechanics - Is my LBS wrong on this?

I currently have a brand new CS-6600 Ultegra 11-23 10 speed cassette on Ritchey WCS Protocol wheels. I bought an SRAM 1070 11-28 10 speed cassette and took it to the LBS to install it. The LBS tried to install it and said they couldn't do it because my SRAM cassette was incompatible with the freehub. My documentation that came with the SRAM 1070 and everything else I've read states that it is compatible with all "shimano compatible driver body" EXCEPT Dura Ace. My cassette says CS-6600 right on it so it aint Dura Ace. Anyone else replace an Ultegra cassette with a SRAM 1070?

Shimano cassettes work on both 9sp and 10sp freehubs (the freehubs on the 10sp have a deeper spline). The SRAM is compatible only on the 9sp bodies.

Apparently the new Red cassettes address this.

--brett

Sonofa...I've been had.

Shimano has reverted back to the shorter spline, so you now have an oddball model freehub.

Maybe you can find a replacement free hub body with the shorter splines. That would make it easier now and in the future.

Did your Ritchey wheels come with a 10 speed only freehub body? I thought the only wheels being built with that freehub (except Dura Ace versions) were the Ultegra 10 wheelset. I would think that the Ritchey wheelset wold come with a standard 8/9/10 speed freehub. I can't find anything online to confirm that though.

The Ultegra 6600 cassette that I have fits on all of my wheelsets (3 different ones that I tried) which I also know all fit 8 and 9 speed cassettes. The 10 speed freehub body must be larger in major diameter (measured over the splines) but the same in minor diameter (major diameter minus the depth of the splines) to allow for this to work.

Change the subject a bit. Have you ridden the WCS wheels? I had a set of them and sent them back. The front brake surface was crap. Went thru 3 sets of pads before I gave up. Had alum. shards imbedded in the pad surfaces even after several hundred miles. Comments?

Change the subject a bit. Have you ridden the WCS wheels? I had a set of them and sent them back. The front brake surface was crap. Went thru 3 sets of pads before I gave up. Had alum. shards imbedded in the pad surfaces even after several hundred miles. Comments?

The worst case of that problem I've seen was a few years ago when I built up some wheels with Mavic X517 rims and installed brakes with Shimano XT pads. The rims were being ripped to shreds, they would have been ruined very quickly had I continued to use the XT pads. I've used Kool Stop salmons since then, and have had absolutely no problems since with those particular wheels. I learned later that Shimano was recommending only Shimano wheels with those pads, with machined brake surfaces. It didn't make any sense to me, but whatever. At any rate, what I found was that it wasn't the rims, but the pads that were causing the problem-

Have a SRAM 10 speed cassette on my Bontrager/Shimano wheel. Went right on, who knows?

The ritcheys are a deep spline 10 spd hub so it means you only get to use shimano deep spline
cassettes or the sram red cassette right now

I have a 11-28 10 speed SRAM cassette on my Ultegra 6600 rear hub.

I have a 11-28 10 speed SRAM cassette on my Ultegra 6600 rear hub.

Shimano Ultegra 6600 HUBS have the short splines and will accept any 8, 9 or 10-speed cassette including SRAM. Ultegra 10-speed WHEELS have the tall splines and will only accept Shimano 10-speed cassettes (or the SRAM Red cassette which apparently also has the same deep spline pattern).

As Bob Barker noted, Shimano has redesigned Dura Ace hubs to go back to the short spline pattern and may also have redesigned the Dura Ace and Ultegra wheels to use the same freehub.

I currently have a brand new CS-6600 Ultegra 11-23 10 speed cassette on Ritchey WCS Protocol wheels. I bought an SRAM 1070 11-28 10 speed cassette and took it to the LBS to install it. The LBS tried to install it and said they couldn't do it because my SRAM cassette was incompatible with the freehub. My documentation that came with the SRAM 1070 and everything else I've read states that it is compatible with all "shimano compatible driver body" EXCEPT Dura Ace. My cassette says CS-6600 right on it so it aint Dura Ace. Anyone else replace an Ultegra cassette with a SRAM 1070?

If you have the old cassette off and try to install the new Sram cassette it should be obvious whether or not it will work. Ask the shop to physically show you what they are talking about or try it yourself.

Hate to bring this topic back...

I've got a SRAM red cassette, and the same Ritchey WCS Protocol wheels as the OP had. I thought I was pretty stupid...couldn't get the splines lined up for about 20 minutes...then I realized that the step in the freehub body was the problem. in talking with MY LBS they said that shimano changed things up recently (probably at the advent of SRAM's road gruppos) to make it harder to use shimano branded items with SRAM...at all. In other news, the cassette does fit on an older shimano hub that I had my 9-spd on, as well as my mountain wheelset...in case I ever want to get a little crazy.