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I've just fitted a new chain and it's skipping under load on some of the smaller sprockets (it's fine spinning gentley). Now I know that this is usually a sign of a worn cassette, but this is the first chain change on this cassette and the old chain was only showing .75% wear on a Park Tools chain checker. I tend to wipe the chain down and re-lube after every ride and replace the chains when they start to show .75% wear; I'd expect to get 3 or more chains to a cassette this way. I think that this is my first SRAM cassette though, but surely that shouldn't make a difference.
There was far more skipping on the same sprockets in the middle ring than the big ring - I don't know if that's relevant. Looking closely and the spockets' teeth I am starting to see the start of a worn 'shark fin' look, but it's not extreme (can take a photo it that would help). I'm suprised that the cassette seems to have worn more than the chain.
The only real change to my usual routine was that I left the waxy coating on the chain and put some dry lube on top. Would it be worth cleaning down the chain and re-lubing or riding the chain in a bit more or will I just increase wear on the chainring - should I just bite the bullet and get a new cassette.
Sure its not the rings that are worn? It can be quite hard to see sometimes.
To be honest, I'd be suprised if the rings were worn, they're steel Deore ones (XT aluminium big ring) and I'm not getting any chainsuck, so I'd still go for the cassette.
Perhaps its your rear mech? Try adjusting the cable tension
.75 worn on the chain but if you ride in the bottom 3 cogs all the time they will show more wear than the chain will take.
i find that because i ride the big ring to the bitter death i use more of the rear block and get lots of chains to a block !
That's probably the case, I need to learn to use the big ring more and spread the load. Presumably the larger sprockets wear less quickly as the load is distributed over more teeth.
I think that a new cassette might be on the cards. What exactly do you get for your money though? I can get a nice solid Deore cassette for £20 or an SLX for £33. I assume that the SLX is slightly lighter (it's got an aluminium carrier for the 3 biggest sprockets) but is there likely to be anything noticable in terms of performance?
I had a deore cassette but changed it to a 28/11 SLX so i could run a road mech that my mate gave me.
I was suprised how much lighter the slx was, if your bothered about the weight go for an slx.
checked for a stiff link? easy to do when joining a chain
Stiff link is most likely cause
Thanks for the thoughts. I can't spot a stiff link, so maybe it is just wear on the smaller sprockets. I'll have another play tomorrow.
With slightly worn components it's not uncommon to get skipping when putting the power down at first; it usually settles down in a couple of hundred miles.
Beyond that, there are loads of possibilities (as above, mostly worn components, or play in rear DR), but also worth checking the B tension (the screw pointing backwards behind the dropout). This controls how well the chain is wrapped around the cogs on the cassette, basically you want as much wrap as possible but you don't want the upper jockey wheel to be bouncing off the cassette.