"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Cassette Question: DA vs. Ultegra

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : Cassette Question: DA vs. Ultegra

brianappleby
04-26-08, 05:27 AM
Is the DA cassette worth it?

I know the differences regarding weight (50ish grams), material (some TI cogs), and price.

How much faster does the DA cassette wear out? Is it worth it for a race-day wheelset? What if (hypothetically) the price difference was around $45?

Thanks,
B.A.

EDIT: Yes its 545am in my time zone and yes i'm on bikeforums. I LOVE waking up early for races.

NoRacer
04-26-08, 06:03 AM
IIRC, DA 10 speed has a 3 cog and a 2 cog carrier. Ultegra only has the three cog carrier which, IMHO, makes it easier to customize the other 7 cogs to suite your purpose. e.g., today, I'm running an Ultegra 10 speed set made up of cogs:

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19 with a 3 cog carrier ending in 27t.

I have carriers ending in 23t and another ending in 25t, also, so I can do 11 x 23, 12 x 23, 11 x 25, 12 x 25, 12 x 27, or 11 x 27.
ZeCanon
04-26-08, 10:25 AM
DA cassette is not worth it by any stretch of the imagination. No performance gain for a huge leap in cost. Slight weight advantage, but you could use the money saved to upgrade something else and save a lot more weight.

rog
04-26-08, 11:47 AM
It's really only worth it if you, a, have lots of money, and b, really feel you need to save every gram. But you're certainly not going to feel any difference, and I seriously doubt you'd net any performance gain.
ElJamoquio
04-26-08, 02:07 PM
No.
Dubbayoo
04-26-08, 06:06 PM
DA isn't worth the premium over Ultegra and Ultegra isn't worth the premium over 105. save your money.
ifox
04-26-08, 11:12 PM
Sram.
brianappleby
04-27-08, 10:52 AM
thanks. ZeCanon, I like your mentality: Buy stuff with higher weight savings/cost ratio first. I often wonder what that is though... handlebars/stems look like a decent place to start.
caloso
04-27-08, 12:33 PM
Ask Bjarne: Ultegra cassettes last longer and cost less.
ZeCanon
04-27-08, 04:24 PM
thanks. ZeCanon, I like your mentality: Buy stuff with higher weight savings/cost ratio first. I often wonder what that is though... handlebars/stems look like a decent place to start.

For an 11/23, its about a 40g difference. Cost difference on coloradocyclist.com (just the first place I looked) is $120.
Stem and bars are a good place to start. Also, many seatposts have godawfully heavy clamp mechanisms. If you have one of these, you can pick up a nicer seatpost AND a nice stem for $120 :)