gregjones

I have a 11-30 8sp cassette on my around town, store and back bike. I'd like a X-34. The Shimano 11-34 jumps from 26 to 34 teeth and I don't think that I'd really like that. I don't care about 11t and the 13-15 jump would work for higher gears for me.

I could toss my 11t and just add 34 past the 30. That would give me 26-30-34, that seems better to me.

The description of the Miche cog says:
Miche replacement cogs are designed to replace worn Miche cogs or to customize existing Miche cassettes. They are not designed to be interchanged with other brands of cassettes.

I understand the "designed" part, that's all well and good.

My question is despite what it's designed for, will it work on my lower-end (HG31) Shimano cassette?

Thank you.

FBinNY 

here are the considerations, and you can make your own decision.

1- 1st (outermost) position sprockets are different in that they include the spacer. There's no way around this because 1st position sprockets overhang the freehub body by an amount roughly half the sprocket width, and so would slip otherwise.
2- the built in spacer thickness is calibrated around the thickness of the flat sprockets. While the on center distance matches, the actual thickness of sprockets and spacers can vary by brand.
3- Hyper (or whatever) glide sprockets are phased with the tooth positions and shift gates positioned so the chain shifts smoothly and engages immediately. Mixing brands, or even skipping a sprocket within brands is at the expense of that phasing, and so may cause "non-glide" shifting. This isn't a crisis, but has to be accepted.

So, assuming Miche makes sprockets for the Shimano spline pattern, it's your call.

gregjones

Thank you.

Point 1 explains why a "first position" cog is needed. I figured that they had reason to exist but didn't what it was.

Point 2 is extra good stuff.

Point 3 was explained in Sheldon Brown's cassette section. He said that the mixing different styles can degrade the shifting quality but is less noticeable as the different cog gets closer to either end of the range.

I think I'm gonna go for it.

FBinNY 

One other note.

Many cassettes pair larger sprockets on aluminum "hubs" (aka "spiders") to save weight, and in the case of very large sprockets, spare the freehub from the concentrated torque load on a less than 2mm engagement width.

gregjones

OK.

Lower end Shimano stuff. I think that I'll get the 8sp 11-34, without the 13t cog, and see what I'm up against. If it does have a spyder I might just try the big jump on the low end to see if I'd live with it. If I can make up the cassette that I'd like to try...great, I'll get the 13t cog. The worst that can happen is that I have to sell it on eBay. There's not a lot to lose with a twenty buck part.

Thanks!!

Bike Gremlin

Same problem - almost only Shimano available where I live (taxes and post expensive for on-line foreign purchases) and all the 8 speeds start with the 11 tooth cog - one I almost never use. 13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32 would be a perfect cassette for me. For road, I'd like a tighter spaced 13-28 one. But none available.

dr1445

i went for a sunrace 13-32 8 speed recently, yes i know they have a bad rep, but for the $ i decided to give it a go. in the past i got used shimano cassettes from ebay and swapped cogs. i did the same with new sram units but the largest 1st cog is 12. still building the sunrace bike so i have not tried it out yet.

gregjones

I read that the deal on the 11t for the 30 to 34t cassettes is to provide a bit more of top speed with the smaller chainrings on MTBs. The thing is my MTB is my carry-stuff bike and I don't care about top end.

Even on the road bike I've gone to 12-XX cassettes. I don't have that many places flat enough to use the 11t and a 12t is fast enough for me. I'd rather have another middle cog and keep the ratios bumped closer together. I found that trading the 11 for a 16 is wonderful.

dr----the sunrace should give you good service. Looking around at different sites for cassette ideas I found several major brand names were using them as new OEM parts.

Bandera

This is a pet peeve of mine having come up "back when" through shops w/ a "cog board" where we could build a custom FW or Cassette or simply replace individual worn cogs as required.

To get the gearing I require for the triple crank 52/39/30 conversion on my Soma I had to buy a CS-6600 13-25 "Junior" and a CS-5700 12-27 to build a 13-27 10 cog set-up with the steps I require for efficiency. $80 & $40 and I have a spare 12-25, a message from the mfgs: "You can't get there from here."

11T and many 12T top cogs are an absurd & useless affectation suitable for down hill time trails or plodding along and posing at Starbucks.
The standard for the mid/wide range 11 cog cassettes is 11T: Pass.

-Bandera

berner

I would go for it Greg. I have an 8 spd cassette also and have mixed sprockets on two rear wheels. One sprocket is for longer rides where steeper hills may be encountered and the other is 13-26 on the around town wheel. Shifting is smooth with either one so I'd it is worth a try with little to lose.