MrsIHN share a smart turbo for Zwifterizing in the garage. Thing is, her bike has a 10-spd, mine has an 11spd (and hers is an 12-32t, so my mech wouldn’t cope with it anyway).

The cassette on hers is a HG500, so all but the littlest two cogs are together in one body, so putting it on is pretty quick once it’s lined up properly with the little spline. Mine is an Ultegra, so all but the three largest, and the associated spacer rings, are separate. Lining them all up with the one little spline so they go in the right place is, quite frankly, becoming a bit of a ball-ache.

Has anyone come up with a natty way to keep a similarly-separately-pieced cassette in (pretty-much) one piece when taking it off/putting it on?

Lift it off in one piece wheels lying flat, two hands, fingers around biggest sprocket, thumbs on smallest, lift off and then plunk on the other wheel.

Nail varnish dot the small spline on each piece. It won’t keep it together but it will make lining up a doddle?

Ah, sorry, should have explained, it’s coming off the freehub on the turbo then being kept on the workbench until the next time it’s going back onto the turbo. It’s not going straight into another wheel. So I need to somehow keep it together whilst it’s being stored.

Did you keep the little plastic sleeve it came on?

Zip tie.

Put it onto an old freehub for storage.

+1 to the plastic sleeve. It’s designed so you can slip the cassette off the freehub onto the carrier.

Nope, don’t have the plastic sleeve (or freehub). Anyone have a spare plastic sleeve?

Zip tie

Cable tie it all together? Use a few… 3 at least.

Reusable zip-ties.
Makes life easier later – and better for the environment!

Yeah, the plastic spacer it comes with is designed so the cassette can be easily slipped on with all the cogs lined up. I’ll have a dig around in the garage.

I use zip ties for the same thing

change groupset for sram axs

change groupset for sram axs

Why bother with the half measures – buy two new bikes and two new trainers and leave them on there. If you don’t have space, buy a new house too.

Get some cling film and lay it over the cassette.

Get some milliput epoxy putty and mix it up.
Make a long sausage, lay it over the cassette and film and push it into the teeth a little.

When set, remove by sliding outwards, and then you have a cassette keep-togetherer thing….maybe….or just a mess.

Why bother with the half measures – buy two new bikes and two new trainers and leave them on there. If you don’t have space, buy a new house too.

Perfect answer ^^ 🙂

@IHN – if you have no joy getting a spacer, it sounds like the kind of thing that would be pretty easy to 3D print.

I’d be happy to help for the cost of postage and a donation to my daughter’s money box.

Only problem is I have no idea of the dimensions.
I’ve got a 9-speed MTB cassette in the garage. Would the inner diameter and spline size been the same? It would only need to be a cylinder with the widest spline down one side, wouldn’t it?

I imagine a bike shop would be happy to give you one

The idea of sliding a whole cassette off a freehub amuses me somewhat. I normally have to prise each sprocket off with a screwdriver.

The idea of sliding a whole cassette off a freehub amuses me somewhat. I normally have to prise each sprocket off with a screwdriver.

And putting them back together in a oner any even slight alignment issues on one cog and you’re back to doing it one by one and cursing.

I have 3 wheelsets for my Amazon and swap them round pretty often. I usually get the cassette off and on in one piece using nobeers method.

Using the Shimano packing piece it’s just a question of lining it up over the freehub, removing the black “U” shaped clip and the cogs then slide on to the freehub, all aligned,

Time for a 2nd turbo by the sounds of it

Or gorilla glue it together

Haven’t you got a beater bike you can dedicate for the turbo and share it? Use one of those really uncool adjustable stems so you can tweak the fit, could also swap seatpost and saddle for comfort and saddle fore/aft setting

This is total hack suggestion, but have you actually tried running the 10spd bike on the turbo with the 11 speed cassette*. Obviously the the indexing won’t be perfect but 10spd setups aren’t that fussy about indexing and it will pedal fine. I suppose there may be interference issues with the relative width of chains but but I bet it’ll work.

*or vice versa I suppose.

I feel your pain, OP. Had exactly the same problem in last lock down. 10 speed on my wife’s bike and 11 on mine. Never really found a good way to do it. Shimano cassette packing spacer thing is a bit fiddly and not that great. Doesn’t help that the turbo is down low on the ground. I just left the tools by it and got some rubber gloves which as good for tightening the cassette against.
I did think that some kind of long magnet could be the solution but never got round to trying it.

Change her bike to 11 speed?

Cheers all for the ideas

I just left the tools by it and got some rubber gloves which as good for tightening the cassette against.

Yeah, I’ve left the tools out next to it. Are you saying you just hold the cassette with the gloves when tightening the lockring, rather than mess with the chainwhip? This would be handy, as I need to show MrsIHN how to swap the bikes over and I can see the chainwhip being tricky.

I got some thick marigolds to stop my hands getting oily and they do a pretty good job of tightening the lockring without the whip which I do find quite tricky as you say.

Sorry, is there something about turbo trainers that needs the chain whip to be used when fitting a cassette?

Freehub rotates when you try and tighten the lock ring on my Tacx Neo 2T and my previous Tacx Flux.

I run an old mtb wheel with a 7 speed cassette on my turbo, my sram apex 11 speed mech and shifter works almost perfect… most of the time you need 2 clicks to shift but sometimes just one. I can get every gear without nasty noises, just don’t try to shift beyond the top cog or it will be in the spokes.

So you could try fitting a 7 speed cassette to your smart trainer and you may well get all the gears acceptably on both bikes.

Thinking about it 8 speed has very similar spacing as 7 but a wider cassette, so might be a better choice as no risk over over shifting into the spokes.

This would be handy, as I need to show MrsIHN how to swap the bikes over and I can see the chainwhip being tricky.

Decathlon chain less chainwhip.

Sorry, is there something about turbo trainers that needs the chain whip to be used when fitting a cassette?

Do you just slip it over the cassette that’s already on like?

If you really don’t think you are capable of explaining how to use a chainwhip couldn’t you just show her a youtube video?

Sorry, is there something about turbo trainers that needs the chain whip to be used when fitting a cassette?

Do you just slip it over the cassette that’s already on like?

Luckily, the explanation I was looking for was posted by @servo.

Modeling clay.
Make a cast of each cassette on the freehub, without lockring. Once it’s cured, undo the lockring and then drop the cast over, fingers round the largest sprocket and pull. Keeps it safe on the bench and all aligned for refitting.

Spare freehub body? On my directo it would take less time to swap the freehub than swap the cassette. Remove qr adapter, pull off, push other on on, fit qr adapter.

If possible, spend many hours researching, building and iterating a solution that will save literally 10 seconds per day.

(I like computer programming too.)

Luckily, the explanation I was looking for was posted by @servo.

Even so how would you take the cassette off before you put the other one on withough a chainwhip?