The Gx cassette on my xc hardtail is coming to the end of its life. Seems I’ve done 5000km on it on sandy tracks, and the bike was second hand so probably acceptable.
I normally have HG free hubs and like the fact I can buy relatively cheap cassettes, but I don’t know much about XD options. So what am I best getting? I’m not especially concerned about weight but longevity is good.
If cost performance is your metric, you might want to look at the cost of a free hub body and fit cheaper Shimano or Sunrace cassettes.
I like Garbaruk cassettes but I also like light weight.
A bit part of this is how much chain care you do. If you're the hose wipe wet lube type, don't bother trying to maximise drive life. If you keep things clean and hot wax, then investing more in higher end kit can pay off in the long run.
This holds true with chain treatments and to some degree cassettes.
I’m a Zero Friction fan boy so doing the Silca thing
11 speed? XG1150 10-42t is the best of the SRAM options IME. Durable and good shifting and a decent weight, if that matters.
12 speed. I should have said!
Ah. 12-sp I'm moving away from XD and XG1275 GX cassettes due to cost. Already had Microspline freehub for one bike but will need to buy another (at £80 FFS) if I want to change the other. Happy with 12-sp Deore cassette on another bike.
Or, sack off 12-sp and go 11-sp LinkGlide using HG freehub. I got the whole XT shifter, XT mech LG700 11-50t cassette and LG500 chain for my eMTB for £150ish, i.e. similar to cost of a XG1275 cassette alone. Not sure how prices fair in AUS$.
SRAM GX are probably the best VFM for XD. I've thought about changing the freehub to microspline but I've had mixed results mixing and matching shimano and sram drivetrain parts.
There is generally good feedback of the aliexpress cassettes from ZTTO but they are still around £100 (at least the genuine ones are). In the UK you can get GX 10-52 for around £140 so doesn't really seem worth it.
I've just bought a £50 Sunshine 12sp 10-52 cassette from Aliexpress which I'm going to try. Expectations are pretty low, but if the shifting is terrible then it'll get put on the hardtail.
There is generally good feedback of the aliexpress cassettes from ZTTO but they are still around £100 (at least the genuine ones are). In the UK you can get GX 10-52 for around £140 so doesn't really seem worth it
As far as I can tell the lightweight ZTTO XD cassette is around £100, claimed under 300g.
The Heavier 500g+ version is around £50
I put a fair few miles on the heavier version I bought this time last year.
Im a bit of a destroyer of cassettes and it’s held up pretty well. No bent teeth or poor shifting.
I've just bought one of those Sunshine 10-52 cassettes as well, the 9-42 was even cheaper. It's for my wife's Levo so going to run the current gx & chain into the ground, then try the sunshine and eventually move to linkglide. Absolute no need for lightweight 12speed on an ebike.
I will pay the extra for X01 Cassette and Chains on my bikes, fit multiple chains till they get to 0.5 and chuck a new one on. Current cassette is at 4800km and I expect it to last for a few thousand more KMs.
I keep an eye on FB Marketplace, Pinkbike and eBay for sram being taken off of new completes and sold, saves paying new new prices.
I got an E13 Helix with a big discount, I don't think it'd be a good option at RRP but then it seems to be one of those products that's impossible to buy at RRP. Very impressed though, it's light and is lasting about as well as SRAM, and held onto its good shifting which is ime where cheaper ones often let you down. Fitting was a pain in the cock though,it has the feel of patent dodging or similar "we're doing it the hard way".
Honestly though SRAM are very good.
Unless you're on a tighter budget I think GX cassettes are probably the best option TBH. There isn't much ££ to be save going 3rd party. And I've not seen any 3rd parties claiming to use any sort of super hard steels or anything that would be worth swapping to.
I'd even reluctantly* suggest running GX cassettes on a Shimano Drivetrain if your riding involves a disproportionate amount of the granny gear.
*SRAM always seem to come out with amazing products on paper, but I've never owned anything SRAM that I'd ever recommend to anyone else. It always fails far too quickly.
DUB - 24mm lasts longer
brakes - sticky pistons, and stuck levers.
mechs - go floppy
Maybe they've finally cracked it with mineral oil in maven's and Transmission, but unless it comes OEM on a bike I'm not going to try it when Shimnao just exist and reliably seem to make a better product.
You can pick 12 speed GX cassettes up for around £130 from the likes of Lordgun
Ive tried a few different cassettes over the years and the Sram GX ones always seem to be the best for length of wear v price
I do have a Sunrace 12 speed XD cassette on my hardtail, shifts flawlessly and only cost £70, looking online these are now £120! may as well pay the extra £10-£20 and buy a Sram GX one
In fairness dub is specifically designed to be a) incompatible with other products b) fitted in OEM specs and c) shite. It's the logical result of individual bike parts buyers having a buying power of 1 and OEM bike parts buyers having a buying power of 1 million. Making the cranks good enough so that nobody wants to replace them so we just feed them BBs is a work of genius tbh, bad crank + good bb = bad, bad crank + bad bb =, well, Isoflow, good crank + good BB = less BB sales. Good crank + bad BB is the optimum and there's just nothing we can do about that.
Brakes infuriate me, good reliable brakes were a completely solved problem 15 years ago, it's the endless need for reinvention and "innovation" and replacing proven products with new ones that causes it mostly I think. +3% power 2 extra dials but -50% reliability is not a good equation. Genuinely it feels like some manufacturers just don't really know how to make a brake so they roll the dice every few years and hope- but on the occasions when they make a great one, it never lasts, the product lifespan of the best brake most manufatcurers make is about the same as the lifespan of the worst.
I've changed freehub or even wheels before to move away from cost of XD.
It's saved money.
I’ve always put GX relative to XT as ‘a bit more expensive but a bit lighter’ and run SRAM moving parts with shimano mech and shifter and shimano or race face cranks.
11 and 12 speed GX cassettes combined with rotating two or three chains have always seemed to last for ages for me also- are you swapping chains? I thought the current 11 speed one was starting to look worn a couple of years ago after a few months hauling a toddler trailer through the mud, bought a replacement I saw cheap and still haven’t had to fit it.
The relative price of gx to xt does seem to have gone up lately and if I was buying from scratch I’d be quite happy to go with either, but if you already have an xd driver I reckon the economics of swapping out will take a long time to pay back if using comparable cassettes. If you use Deore the payback should be much faster.
Thanks for the ideas. I'm not swapping chains, but checking wear and then changing... I think i've used three chains.
Found a deal on a GX cassette with XX1 chain for the retail price of a cassette or a GX cassette for about 130 quid.
Funny how experience varies - i'm ditching Shimano derailleurs because i've had so many issues with them since getting 12s.
When my XO T type cassette wears out I will replaces it with another one. 3400km so far, on my third chain (swap at 0.5) and everything working perfectly. I reckon I'll get to 5000km no problem.
I'll start to keep an eye out for bargains shortly.
SRAM XO always seems to be a big step above everything else in their range.
I will not use Shimano as the mechs are made of cheese.
GX cassette with X01 chains for me. The chains cost more, but last way longer than the GX ones and if you're fairly diligent about changing them when due and general drive train care, you'll get a good lifespan out of the cassette.
I've got an X01 cassette on one bike and while it is a little nicer than the GX one, unlike the jump from GX to X01 on other drivetrain components, it's not worth twice the cost.
I will not use Shimano as the mechs are made of cheese.
I have the opposite, a box of bent or floppy SRAM mechs "just in case" an OEM one ever outlives it's jockey wheels.
And a box of Shimano mechs that outlived the bikes they were bolted to!
Just buy another GX cassette.
5000km of off road grinding on a second hand, lightweight, high end cassette? Sounds brilliant to me.
Shimano may be cheaper, and using Sram may mean you have to get used to being in a whole new 'ecosystem' but it just works, and works well. Unlike 12 speed Shimano.
GX cassette with X01 chains for me. The chains cost more, but last way longer than the GX ones and if you're fairly diligent about changing them when due and general drive train care, you'll get a good lifespan out of the cassette.
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