Is it me but seems to be cassettes these days are better at shifting but tollerances after putting a new chain on (2 chains before and were talking 9 month cassette with minimal to moderate wear) are smaller and they just jump – visually they have very little noticable wear but jump like crazy on the smaller sprockets?

I spend a while fiddling last night only to put my newest casssette on from another bike and hey presto all works – I was amazed at how the older cassettes have "worn" in such a short space of time – Maybe I have just ridden more in teh last year 😉

IME its very difficult to tell by eye how worn a cassette is.

Sram cassette?

I switched to Sram cassettes this year and am massively unimpressed. I've had 2 last only 3 months or so each before you can't use a new chain on them.

No Shimano XT – both of them – I'm now on Pg990 (well the swapped cassette) as was cheaper than the XT at the mo – I think you dont need to get much wear in order for the chain to jump these days as SO says 🙂

Marchisio last OK, but the gear shifting is not as slick as Shimano or Sram.

I have 2 chains which I swap round on an XT (M770 32t) cassette, seems to work for me, or am I just fooling myself? 😮

Last couple of cassettes I've had I've gone to change the chain at less than .75 on the chain checker and the new chain has slipped on the smaller end of the cassette. So I've re-fitted the old chains and I'm going run it all until it's totally worn out.

It's predictable.

In the days of 5 speeds, the cogs were quite thick and had full size teeth. The only way to cram more ratios in is to make the parts thinner – less metal to take the load. Then top it off with machining most of the tooth off to make gear changes slicker.

It works, but derailleurs really are a massive kludge. Fine for racers, but not the optimum choice for people who pay for their own stuff.