Cassette change or not?

rokkala
rokkala Posts: 649
edited April 2010 in Workshop
Hello.

With the weather being good I have started using my good bike again for last couple of weeks, and during this week I decided to check my chain for stretch. Chain tool sat in the chain past the 0.75 and 1.0 marks, so although i wasn't having any shifting problems i decided to change it.

Now when i'm on the small chainring and using some of the smaller sprockets on the cassette (12/13/14/15) and put a lot of force through the pedals, like out of the saddle up hills, the chain keeps 'sneezing'. Making it pretty impossible to climb well in those gears.

Before i start fannying about with re-indexing etc, should i just change the cassette as well because its likely to be too worn? I suspect that is probably the case because i'd imagine 12-15 are the most used, and therefore worn, of the sprockets on my cassette.

Had the same chain and cassette on since i got the bike last July, rode it until end of the year, then got a winter bike so it's been hibernating mainly until last couple of weeks. I have a cassette in the house but was saving it for new wheels i have coming so just wanting opinion on whether it definitely a case of cassette worn out, or maybe something easily tweeked.

Cheers

Comments

  • maddog 2
    maddog 2 Posts: 8,114
    well if the indexing is correct then the slipping is due to a worn cassette, so change it.

    Also, running a new chain on an old cassette will accelerate the chain wear.
    Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,446
    sounds like cassette wear

    you can use 3 chains per cassette and swap the chain each month, the dirty chain gets a good clean then goes on the shelf until it's next turn

    by the time all the chains have worn to the limit, the cassette will be getting to replacement point as well

    for a given groupset, cassettes are usually much more expensive than chains, so in the long run it can save a fair bit of dosh vs. keeping a single chain on there a bit too long
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • rokkala
    rokkala Posts: 649
    Ah well, i'll bite the bullet and get the new cassette on then, sooner the better seeing as the chain is new after all.

    Cheers guys
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,072
    mmmm that's good timing I have exactly the same problem, so other than those symptoms you just described how can you tell?
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
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    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
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  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,446
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny