Cassette question for a Mountain Bike
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I have a 2005 6500 Trek mountain bike and I have been rideing it for about a year now. I mostly ride in gears 4-8 and the teeth have worn down on the rear Cassette to the point of needing replacement. The bike came with CASSETTESRAM 850 11-32, 8 speed. I am thinking about the dishing out the cash and getting Shimano XT cassette. If I get a higher quality cassette like the Shimano XT will the teeth last longer or will I just get better performance without the teeth lasting longer?
Thanks,
-dman
Thanks,
-dman
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SRAM cassettes are fine and you won't get better wear or better performance from a Shimano cassette. However, compare prices as Shimano's lower line cassettes may cost the same or less and perform just as well as XT.
Raiyn is correct. You NEED a new chain too and should take better care of it. Lube is cheap, metal is expensive. If you wore out a cassette in a year either you do very high miles, ride in extremely abrasive conditions or do no maintainance on your chain.
BTW, what do you mean by "gears 4-8"? The five smallest cogs or the five largest cogs? If you are wearing out the five largest, that really implies difficult riding conditions and poor maintainance.
Raiyn is correct. You NEED a new chain too and should take better care of it. Lube is cheap, metal is expensive. If you wore out a cassette in a year either you do very high miles, ride in extremely abrasive conditions or do no maintainance on your chain.
BTW, what do you mean by "gears 4-8"? The five smallest cogs or the five largest cogs? If you are wearing out the five largest, that really implies difficult riding conditions and poor maintainance.
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I really like the 12 to 34 XT. My wife uses one too.That said, the bigger two cogs bend easily (I sometimes shift when out of the saddle on climbs) and I'm on my second unit because of that. That's of course a 9-speed with a very large cog. I don't think the 32's have the problem.
Next time I may try the new (2006) SRAM PG 990 11-34. They've changed the gearing a little more to my liking, though I have no use for an 11.
I put about 1200 miles on the XT I bent. No sign of cog wear. I ride in really bad sandy conditions mostly, with some mountain terrain. I use a wax lube and the basic Park chain stretch measuring tool.
I have read that the cheaper SRAM Cassttes do wear quickly. Note the 2006 SRAM unit's appear to be much higher quality than before.
Al
Next time I may try the new (2006) SRAM PG 990 11-34. They've changed the gearing a little more to my liking, though I have no use for an 11.
I put about 1200 miles on the XT I bent. No sign of cog wear. I ride in really bad sandy conditions mostly, with some mountain terrain. I use a wax lube and the basic Park chain stretch measuring tool.
I have read that the cheaper SRAM Cassttes do wear quickly. Note the 2006 SRAM unit's appear to be much higher quality than before.
Al
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Originally Posted by Raiyn
The wear won't automatically be reduced by throwing money at the thing. The SRAM 850 is a fine cassette in it's own right even if it is a cheaper model
I'll be now taking a good break from the Sram cassettes.
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Yeah, it was the four smallest clogs that were wore out and had to be replaced. The bike mechanic said the chain was still good and had about a couple of months of life in it left. I ride my bike everyday so I don't know if the smallest clogs wore out from a lack of lubrication or just me rideing. I took the bike to the shop almost every month for maintence so it did get lubed once in awhile.
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Originally Posted by Dman777
Yeah, it was the four smallest clogs that were wore out and had to be replaced. The bike mechanic said the chain was still good and had about a couple of months of life in it left. I ride my bike everyday so I don't know if the smallest clogs wore out from a lack of lubrication or just me rideing. I took the bike to the shop almost every month for maintence so it did get lubed once in awhile.
There exits a brand making apparently more durable cogs than Shimano:
https://www.bbbparts.com/products/bik...cassettes.html
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Typically, you don't pay for strength, but for light weight. My LX cassette is all steel, and tought as can be, but it weighs a ton. My XTR is full titanium, so it actually wears faster (though not fast enough for me to have noticed anything), but it's like a feather.
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Originally Posted by 2_i
I have put a custom cassette together a year+ ago, using two higher-end 9-speed Sram cassettes. As I did not think the whole thing completely through, I had two throw in a couple of smallest Shimano cogs. Recent behavior of my drivetrain suggested that some of the cogs have worn out. Subsequent measurements of the wear with the Rohloff tool have shown that all the medium down to small Sram cogs had to be changed but not the smallest Shimano cogs. Nominally, the latter should go first.
I'll be now taking a good break from the Sram cassettes.
I'll be now taking a good break from the Sram cassettes.
I won't be purchasing another Shi*No cassette anytime soon
Originally Posted by Dman777
The bike mechanic said the chain was still good and had about a couple of months of life in it left.
Originally Posted by Dman777
I ride my bike everyday so I don't know if the smallest clogs wore out from a lack of lubrication or just me rideing. I took the bike to the shop almost every month for maintence so it did get lubed once in awhile.
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Whats the best way to clean a chain before I relubricate it? And are there any other metal parts that I should lube often so the metal doesn't grind away?
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Originally Posted by Dman777
Whats the best way to clean a chain before I relubricate it? And are there any other metal parts that I should lube often so the metal doesn't grind away?
You don't need to spend a ton of cash for grease as commonly availiable Marine Trailer Bearing Grease ($3 at Home Depot) works perfectly well for this purpose
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/139241-what-grease-campy-hubs.html
as for the chain cleaning it gets beat to death around here so I'd suggest that next time you:
Code:
Repost of the chain cleaning method that's been posted a gazillion times already by me
Originally Posted by Raiyn
You'll need a few things.
Seal and shake for a minute or five.
Remove the chain.
Use the brush to get any residual gunk off (there won't be much)
Rinse the chain using water.
Proceed to do a general drying of the chain using the towel (It doesn't have to be perfect as you'll let the rest air dry.)
Reinstall and relube the dry chain
- A SRAM power link (makes chain removal a snap)
- A plastic container (I'm partial to Country Time Lemonade powder containers but 20 ox Pepsi bottles work well with the wide mouth)
- Some degreaser (Simple Green works well as does the dollar store's Awesome Orange))
- A toothbrush (One that you no longer use for your teeth)
- Water
- A large rag of some kind
Seal and shake for a minute or five.
Remove the chain.
Use the brush to get any residual gunk off (there won't be much)
Rinse the chain using water.
Proceed to do a general drying of the chain using the towel (It doesn't have to be perfect as you'll let the rest air dry.)
Reinstall and relube the dry chain
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Originally Posted by duckliondog
Typically, you don't pay for strength, but for light weight. My LX cassette is all steel, and tought as can be, but it weighs a ton. My XTR is full titanium, so it actually wears faster (though not fast enough for me to have noticed anything), but it's like a feather.