Mountain Biking - 7-Speed cassette

A friend of mine his cassette has three worn out chainrings (the 3 smallest). I was thinking it's better to replace the whole cassette instead of just 3 rings because the others might wear out shortly as well and because of glide-ability (is that a word?) with non-stock rings. He uses his MTB mostly for commuting. It's a 7 speed. Weight is not an issue but cost is (and durability), so I'm looking for steel. I hear (read) good things about Sram cassettes. Any thoughts on a good cassette?

Also, since the chain will be replaced as well, is there anything else I should consider, or problems to expect? Thanks.

How is the middle chainring. It's usually the one with the most use. Your buddy should look at it as well.

L8R

I have a SRAM cassette. They're all pretty much the same, but I've heard some complaints about the range of SRAM's cassettes being wierd.

Chainrings aren't part of the cassette. The Cassette is made up of cogs

My apologies for not replying here sooner. :o

Jim311, the Sram cassettes being weird in what way?

Raiyn, Cogs you say. I didn't know that, English isn't my native language. So I guess the chainrings are those on the bottom bracket, right? :)

My friend prefers high speed over a range of lower gears since he commutes mostly on road (he uses the two highest gears with the middle chainring but also often the big one). I've ridden his bike a couple of times and often had the feeling my legs had a little more to give in the highest setting. I read a thread somewhere on this board about cogs/rings which made me wonder about a cog/chainring combination that would allow the highest possible speed. He doesn't need to go Armstrong-fast but it would be nice if he (or we :p) could get the maximum out of the 7 speed setup.

Any input on this is greatly appreciated!

chain rings? i always thought they were called sprockets...gah.. so confused.

Speeder,
Yes it is reccomended that you replace the entire cassette and the chain at the same time. This is done because of wear. If you have alot of miles on the cassette and you replace a few cogs the chain cold skip all over the place. Also replacing a few cogs can ba just as expensine as the whole cassette. Also the smallest rear cog you can get with a 7 speed cassette is a 11t. However if you were to replace your outer chainring with a 52t sprocket then that would get you some speed.
Also don't worry about Raiyn he is always like that.

Thanks for your input Hunter. One thing I don't understand though...



Also the smallest rear cog you can get with a 7 speed cassette is a 11t. However if you were to replace your outer chainring with a 52t sprocket then that would get you some speed.

Are you saying a 11T rear cog is less important to achieve more speed then a 52T chainring?
Or is a combination the best?