How much to spend on a cassette?

[junglegusset]

Went to replace my chain and my 8 speed cassette was pretty much spent. Went to lbs and they had Sun Race for £15, some Shimano ones for £16, and then there was a massive leap to £40 plus for shimano.. because 3 of the sprockets were aluminium alloy. I bought the Sun Race one. I'm overweight, what difference is a few grams gonna make? I don't race, I commute and hack some singletrack. Have I done the right thing here or is there something I am missing?

 

[ianrauk]

nope, you have done the right thing.
Lot of extra cash for a few extra grams lighter.

 

[Cubist]

I hate to say it but LBS prices for consumables will always make you go down this same route. I have just replaced an 8 speed cassette (Shimano) and chain (KMC) for £18. eBay power sellers Woolyhatshop are always good for bargain cassettes.

 

[Cubist]

Just checked purchase history, that chain was £4.50, and the cassette was a Shim HG41 for a tenner. Postage brought the whole deal to under £18.

 

[MrJamie]

I did the same kinda thing as Cubist, i got a HG41 11-32 cassette for about £10 and decided to try a posher KMC x8.99 chain for about £10 and bought a cassette remover for £3. It took me about 15minutes and a monkey wrench and everything was fine having never done it before.

 

[billflat12]

For the weight conscious in our sport It,s considered rotational weight is more important so the larger sprockets tend to have alloy carriers to save most of their weight, In my opinion common sense prevails over costs in this area , more important is compatibility & durability as basic cassettes can be traditional threaded freewheel .or "shimano cluster type " (ie. freehub splines & a lock-ring.)

As a guide see ; http://sheldonbrown.com/k8.shtml
Also KMC chains have been a good choice in my experience and offer the advantage of a quick link similar to sram.

 

[junglegusset]

Just checked purchase history, that chain was £4.50, and the cassette was a Shim HG41 for a tenner. Postage brought the whole deal to under £18.

That really is cheap. Shame, I really like my lbs, I'll only buy smaller consumables there if I need them in a real hurry now I think.

 

[Cubist]

I persuaded my lbs to join the C2W scheme so I could buy my bike there, and have bought three others for the family, and ordered a dozen more from him for work. He offers me a 10% loyalty discount so i will still get things like tubes,cables, bottles, pumps and seatpacks and occasionally clothes or shoes from him. Chains, chainsets, pedals, cassettes, brake pads, lights, he just can't compete with the online boys.

 

[GilesM]

If you don't care about the weight, then the only other rason for going for the more expensive cassettes is that the ones with an alloy spider will not cut into an alloy freehub body in the same way the cheaper cassttes will, but if you don't care about the weight, you probably haven't got an alloy free hub body. In general I'd agree with you comments about the difference a few grams make, it's just where do you draw the line, a few grams everywhere ends up being alot of grams across the whole bike, and riding a lighter bike is just more fun, (obviously the price / benefit / fit for purpose has to be considered) it's a bit like a tailwind is more fun than a headwind.

 

[albion]

I though Shimano had abandoned the 3 smaller spockets design for 1 separate small sprocket.

 

[Cubist]

I

If you don't care about the weight, then the only other rason for going for the more expensive cassettes is that the ones with an alloy spider will not cut into an alloy freehub body in the same way the cheaper cassttes will, but if you don't care about the weight, you probably haven't got an alloy free hub body. In general I'd agree with you comments about the difference a few grams make, it's just where do you draw the line, a few grams everywhere ends up being alot of grams across the whole bike, and riding a lighter bike is just more fun, (obviously the price / benefit / fit for purpose has to be considered) it's a bit like a tailwind is more fun than a headwind.

Indeed. Never underestimate the cumulative effect of " a few grammes here and there."

I have to smile at the thought of a weight weenie Five owner though Giles!!!!

 

[GilesM]

I
I have to smile at the thought of a weight weenie Five owner though Giles!!!!

It's not as heavy as it looks, although don't confuse that as meaning it is light, it just isn't as heavy as some other stuff that is designed to make you smile on the way down.

 

[mickeydrippin60]

are you saying my mrs is heavy?

 

[RhythMick]

I hate to say it but LBS prices for consumables will always make you go down this same route. I have just replaced an 8 speed cassette (Shimano) and chain (KMC) for £18. eBay power sellers Woolyhatshop are always good for bargain cassettes.

+1 for WHS

 

[Cubist]

are you saying my mrs is heavy?

If she goes down and makes you smile I can only be jealous........