While cassette extenders and narrow/wide chainrings have become fairly common, Ukranians machinists Garbaruk stand out with a combination of fanciful tool paths and relatively reasonable prices.
The company’s 11-45t cassette features ten cogs machined from a solid block of steel backed (not unlike SRAM’s higher-end models) with an aluminium top cog. Its a time-consuming but light way to do things: the $250 (£190), 265g cassette weighs nearly 40% less than the similarly-sized XT 11-46.
For those looking to take their existing cassette up several notches, the company’s extender replaces the top three cogs on an XT or XTR 11-36 with a 34-50t block. Going that large does require a derailleur cage with much greater offset than stock- which is shown and included in the $135 (£105) package price.
