whats your record for wearing out a cassette?

TheWildHaggis

I have had my current XT Cassette for just over 5months, I am getting a load of chain skip and looking at the cogs the 4smallest are quiet worn. Mostly use the bike for ridding the local forest trails and commuting to work (14miles/day).

So whats your record for wearing out a cassette?

Chunkers1980

Well if you've not changed your chain for over 1,400 miles then wear like that is inevitable. XT blocks are 3 times the price of a chain - do the maths...

TheWildHaggis

Now that I have seen the error of my ways.... Will be replacing the chain a bit more often now as the lesseon has been learnt ( the hard way)

Mccraque

3 chains and 2 XT cassettes in 12 months.

kaytronika

Hoping to get a bit more use out of the 16 year old one on my old bike. :shock:

TheWildHaggis

not just me then, Altough 16years must be some sort of record!

Does anybody know if the Deore/Lx/SLX or SRAM's cassette's are more durable than XT?

kaytronika

TheWildHaggis wrote:

not just me then, Altough 16years must be some sort of record!

Does anybody know if the Deore/Lx/SLX or SRAM's cassette's are more durable than XT?

To be honest, the bike has barely been used in the last ten.
Very heavy use in it's first few years though.

That's an old Alivio cassette

MacAndCheese

This thread worries me after having just spent out on bling Sram 990s for both bikes! Hoping to get at least a year out of them!

njee20

Well if you've not changed your chain for over 1,400 miles then wear like that is inevitable. XT blocks are 3 times the price of a chain - do the maths...

That can still cost you more than eeking out a cassette though! I know when I used to change chains when stretched I used to end up buying so many chains it was cheaper to just eek out the whole transmission a bit longer.

Saying that, I certainly don't get skipping after 4 months! You can replace the loose sprockets on XT cassettes if they're the only worn ones.

tiny_pens

TheWildHaggis wrote:

not just me then, Altough 16years must be some sort of record!

Does anybody know if the Deore/Lx/SLX or SRAM's cassette's are more durable than XT?

Not sure if it is true of cassettes but more expensive chain rings used to be made of aluminium instead of steel to save weight. There was milage (geddit!) in using cheaper components then for commuting as the steel would wear slower.

I don't know if the same is true about cassette rings. That said, when I last got my commuter serviced the shop only replaced the worn rings in the rear cassette (new chain as well obviously).

projectsome

still going since september, will replace them in july

TheWildHaggis

Supersonic mentioned about replacing the individual worn cogs, and that Petra Cycles sells them however at about £8 for a cog, and I need 4 of them I am just as cheap to buy a SLX cassette at £30 from merlincycles.

Wonder whats more economical then?, swap chains ever 2months or use the one chain anre replace the cassette every 4?

hmmm... (bear with me while I work this out)
.....
Chain avg price £15 (should last at least 2months)
Cassette @ £30 + chain @ 15 = £45, based on the above last 4months

so in theory if you swap chains every 2months, you should get at 8months of wear out of the cassette (based on my cassette being busted in 4months with 1 chain) . So that comes to £60 for chains (4 * 15) and 30 for cassette over 8months. Total £90.

or

Run the one chain untill it knackers the cassette (approx 4month in my case) then replace 1 cassette and 1 chain at a cost of £45. So in 8months thats a total of 2sets of cassettes and chains so..
£90!

Is my theory flawed? The above shows no benefit either way!! :?:

captainfly

We're on sandstone and coal around here (the grit and dust make a lovely grinding paste) and my favourite riding/session spots are a former open cast mine and an old sandstone quarry, so chains and cassettes don't last long 200-300 miles on a chain maybe the same or double on a cassette.

fredy

i have done almost 300 miles on the north downs which is very sandy but i clean the drivetrain almost every week. I tiook the bike in for a service and the folks there thought i only use the bike on road as the casette isn't worn at all.

CFS

Seem to have just got less than 6 months out of a SRAM chain and shimano cassette on one of my bikes. Not impressed really given the previous ones worked without a problem for over 3 years and were only changed as a precaution as they were looking pretty worn. Maybe it was the rough winter we had.

My oldest bike had the same chain and cassette for 11 years and it was used regularly, the rollers on the chain wore through eventually and the chain broke. The current chain and cassette on it are now approaching 4 years old although that is on commuting duty now.

I would just run them till they go wrong unless you have spent a fortune on the cassette.

Chunkers1980

TheWildHaggis wrote:

Supersonic mentioned about replacing the individual worn cogs, and that Petra Cycles sells them however at about £8 for a cog, and I need 4 of them I am just as cheap to buy a SLX cassette at £30 from merlincycles.

Wonder whats more economical then?, swap chains ever 2months or use the one chain anre replace the cassette every 4?

hmmm... (bear with me while I work this out)
.....
Chain avg price £15 (should last at least 2months)
Cassette @ £30 + chain @ 15 = £45, based on the above last 4months

so in theory if you swap chains every 2months, you should get at 8months of wear out of the cassette (based on my cassette being busted in 4months with 1 chain) . So that comes to £60 for chains (4 * 15) and 30 for cassette over 8months. Total £90.

or

Run the one chain untill it knackers the cassette (approx 4month in my case) then replace 1 cassette and 1 chain at a cost of £45. So in 8months thats a total of 2sets of cassettes and chains so..
£90!

Is my theory flawed? The above shows no benefit either way!! :?:

I see your theory - but it's based on an SLX cassette not XT they are £45. You also need to factor in the rings on the front - if you use mainly the middle (for simplicity) and also have XT and new middle ring is £35 - the wear till it's ruined theory means more wear will be on the middle than if you'd changed chains regularly.

Also - a chain will last longer than 2 months - you can put them back on when it's more worn once you've used your new supply.

njee20

I guess it depends what 'worn' actually means. I've never had a cassette get to the stage it's slipping, but I do find that they're very heavily burred and the chains are a bit 'sloppy' after a season. I personally use the entire transmission for the year, then replace for the next year.

If I were to put a new chain on my cassette now I'm sure it would slip, but at the cost of XX cassettes I'm certainly not buying a new one!

cooldad

Have an '85 Specialised still running on original block and chainrings. Mighty 18 speed.
A record?

peter413

Just replaced my very worn cassette after 4 MONTHS :shock:

I suppose that isn't bad since I was doing about 100 miles a week the first 2 months and that was in VERY muddy/gritty conditions and there was a lot of salt on the roads.

Heres to hoping my next one does me through the next year untill next summer

pauljoes

Try this site www.cyclebasket.com very very cheap, been over there for a new inner xt chainring £10 thats a full new drive train on my stead.

jay12

so far i had my cassete for nearly 3 months now. works perefctly. the one on my old bike lasted about a year but i reckon it would have lasted longer but i got rid of the bike anyway so i don't know

Duffer

A chain every 2 months? I'd drive to work, it'll be much cheaper.

The cassette on my Pitch is over a year old, and i've just replaced the chain. Perhaps you should favour the big ring, and push a smaller (easier) gear at the back - this might reduce wear on the cassette...

vanamees

Mccraque wrote:

3 chains and 2 XT cassettes in 12 months.

1xt cassett - 5 chains - 5500 km - 1year.

pinkpyro

woah woah woah, hang on. new chain every 2 months? cassette every 4? wtf, im still on the ones i got with the bike 7 years ago!! i do neary 180 miles a week on mine. no slipping either. what gives?

nicklouse

ahh but 7 years ago items were made heavier so they lasted for a while.

njee20

I do find it fairly crazy I must admit though.

Do people just replace their chains when the Park Tool (or similar) tells them they need to? And is the cassette just worn when a new chain won't work with it?

TheWildHaggis

I shall post up a pic latter today of the worn 11T sprocket and the new 11T sprocket, Also looks like outer front chain ring may be worn as well.

njee20

Perhaps this is a side effect of the double and bash brigade, yes a 34/36t outer ring may be adequate, but it means you're constantly in the smallest sprockets on the cassette.

I personally find I spend much more time in the middle of the block with bigger rings, it's never the smallest sprockets which show the wear.

Hoopdriver

I do not understand how anybody can go through cassettes, chains, let alone chainrings so quickly. I did a 10,000 mile solo-tour through the Australian bush on the same chain and cassette - and you better believe there was grit and dust out there - and on a heavily loaded tourer, with as much as 23 litres of water aboard on some of the emptier long-haul stretches, and when I finally returned to Sydney, nine months later, the thing was still shifting okay. (Shimano XT if you are wondering) Admittedly, it was a seven-speed, but still....

I've a 9-speed Thorn eXp tourer now and still get thousands of miles out of a drivetrain...

What are you guys doing to wear out gear so fast? It stuns me.

richg1979

pg970 and slx cassette dead in 2 months.

Masey

Please do not under estimate the way in which drive trains are looked after, in terms of cleanling and lubrication. Also the right lube in the right conditions, there are not many grinding pastes as effective as wet lube and dust/sand. Mileage or time alone won't give a true comparison for wear.
If you consistenly ride the same terrain at the same time of year experiment with different lube and components to find what is best suited to you. :?