How to change a rear cassette?
 

I ride a Cannondale Prophet and am still new to biking. I'm not too technically savvy, which is to say I can get things to work - it just takes a while. For example, I took off my rear wheel last night and it took about 30 minutes for me to get the SOB back on again; but it did get back on...

Anyway, I ordered a new rear cassette and instead of lugging it to the bike store, I figured this was something I could do myself. First off, can I? If not, there's a shop nearby and I'm sure they'll do it for me. If it's something that I can do, is it hard and are there instructions that could walk me through it?

And I have stumbled across a few of these, but it looks like they require special tools and don't have enough pictures for me.

Thanks for the help (in advance)!

Considering you took half an hour to put a rear wheel in... :rolleyes:



http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQcogs.shtml

All you should need is the proper cassette tool (~$10) and an old length of chain or chainwhip.

That park website is an excellent resource.

You can do it. Cake.

After a pump and a set of hex wrenches, a cassette too and chain whip is an excellent tool investment.

Swapping out a cassette is easy to do but you'll feel like Sheldon after doing it.

Fyi...I did take my back wheel off again to clean the frame and it only took me a few minutes to get it back on this time. So there's hope for me yet. Still no idea as to what a chain whip is, but I guess I'll look around...

This looks too hard, I'm not even going to waste my time. I'll just take it to a bike shop. I'd rather pay people to do my work for me anyway...

Yeah, and it frees up more time for smoking carpet. :rolleyes:

Then I guess you don't need this forum since you already know how to swipe your Visa card........

If you feel like giving it a shot, here are the simplified directions, since the Park Tool version attempts to cover all bases. Since your Prophet is a shimano based 9 speed group, its really easy.

Remove the rear wheel. You've gotten some practice at this. :)

Remove the quick release skewer from the wheel.

Get Park Tool FR-5, cassette lockring tool. You should be able to buy this at any bike shop for less than 10$, and it will last forever. It is the tool for removing lockrings from Shimano and SRAM cassettes.

If you look at the cassette on the wheel, you'll see that around the axle there are a bunch of notches. The tool will fit perfectly in these notches! Unfortunately, if you try to unscrew it, by turning it counter clockwise, you'll notice that the cassette just spins around, so you'll have to lock the cassette in place. That is what a chainwhip is for, its a long handle with a length of chain attached, you can buy it at the same time as the Cassette Lockring Tool, its not expensive, and it'll last forever.

Loop the chain on the chainwhip around a cog on the cassette to grab it. Now hold it still with the chainwhip, and turn the cassette lockring tool with a big crescent wrench counterclockwise. It'll start to unscrew. When the lockring has been removed, you'll be able to slide the entire cassette off the wheel. It may fall apart a bit, but thats OK. Pay attention to how the parts fit on, since the new cassette will go on in the same way.

Now you can take your new cassette and slide it on. Notice that one of the ridges (splines) on the freehub body (the thing the cassette slides onto) is smaller than the others, this is how you line up the cassette to make sure it all goes on right. If your cassette is in several pieces, then just assemble it piece by piece, remembering to put a spacer in between each cog. When the last cog goes on, you'll be able to screw the new lockring into place to hold it all together. It should look exactly like the old cassette did.

Once the lockring is hand-tight, put the cassette tool back into the splines, and turn it with the crescent wrench clockwise to tighten it. It should be pretty tight, but don't use all your force, or you may strip it.

Put the quick release skewer back in, and then put the wheel back on. Enjoy your new cassette!

See, just two tools (and a crescent wrench), and only a few minutes. Plus, you leave with the satisfaction of having done something yourself, and you've saved some money, and ended up with two very useful tools.

But you can just take it in and swipe the visa if you want.

peace,
sam

Thanks for your help phidauex, I'll give it a shot and I appreciate you taking the time to try and explain it to me rather than just offering up smartass comments like sydney and capwater (very helpful guys...).

Smartass?! How's this one for smartass?... "I'd rather pay people to do my work for me anyway..." You come in seeking advice and then cop a John "I can't even change a flat tire" Kerry elitist attitude?? OK, maybe I was just up too late last night. Anyway, give it a shot. Worst thing that can happen on any bike repair is you get stuck and have to take it to the shop and swipe your Visa card. Good luck! You can do it! It's really a piece of cake and takes less than a minute to perform. Think of all the extra cash you'll have for smoking carpet. Hey Syd, we talking 70's shag or more like the kid's playroom berber here?

I must be getting old, I have no idea what "smoking carpet" means. Maybe some "inside the loop" bike riders term...

At any rate, I'll be giving the cassette thing a try, if it works - great and if not I'll have contributed to the general well being of my local bike shop...

DVD: It really is very easy. It's really not much tougher than taking a blank dvd out of a 50 stack container. Cassette tool is about $5, chain whip about $10 (length of used chain clamped down with vise grips works as good). Once you're done, you'll wonder why you ever doubted your ability. You'll be fine young jedi......

and if it doesn't just spin, what then?

Ok gang, well I was at my LBS and had the parts in hand when the guy asked what I was doing with the parts (I thought it kind of obvious), when I told him he said they'd do it for $5 (the parts would have cost me $21.99) I felt that was probably the route to go. Anyway, I do thank everyone for their help and these forums are an invaluable resource for information. So I do appreciate everyone's help...

I still don't know what "smoking carpet" means though, although I do assume it's some sort of backhanded remark. Anyway...

...and after paying them to do it 4 more times, plus time and gas to get to the shop....But hey, all the more time for carpet smoking ...Eh? :rolleyes:

Coca Cola through the nose, it took me by surprise because it was contrasted by the "math" comment beforehand.

Never expected that to happen to me.

Joe