Using a sram 990 cassette, is their any wany i can protect it from gouging – New set of wheels?

Don’t worry about it.

yeh get a steel one, but i wouldnt worry about doesnt really cause that much damage!

You can buy tougher (but heavier) Steel hub bodies.

Probably more expensive than a splined cassette though!

EDIT: beaten by 11 seconds 😳

I have heard of people straightening steel staples and running them along the splines to protect them

You can get a steel version of the freehub if your ‘that’ worried.
Wasn’t there a thread where some-one had added steel bits in front if the spline, no idea how they fitted tbh.

In all honesty I’ve used a mixture of cassettes on mine & though it has ‘damage’, it not anywhere near enough to contemplate replacing it (4 years old at a guess).

I thought the issue was only with steel cassettes? The 990 is an alloy spider so shouldnt do any damage?

That said I’ve been running a steel cassette on mine for years – you can see the marks but it would have to be ten times worse before I change the freehub.

Yep, 990 is an alloy spider. The un-spidered cogs will still eat the freehub oer time though.

Thing is… You can buy a steel freehub. Or, you can just ignore it til it becomes a problem, which takes a very long time, and then buy a new freehub.

I just took a Deore cassette off my bike, been on there from new, about 6 months, not even a mark on the free hub.

I think it is the smallest 2 or 3 cogs that aren’t on the spider? I found over about 3 years it did mark the freehub quite a lot. but by then you will probably find that the bearings are shafted and you may have broken some springs. £50 for a new steel freehub body with new bearings in and new pawls and springs doesn’t feel so painful 3 years later.

neninja – Member

I have heard of people straightening steel staples and running them along the splines to protect them

Yes I’ve seen this on weight weenies forum. Did have a picture but can’t find it now. Looks like a reasonable bodge solution.

Edit: see my post on this thread: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/dear-oh-dear-pro2-content#post-2144728

That staple bodge isn’t a hope freewheel body though. I guess you could machine down the freewheel so you could fit a staple in if you have the resources but as far as I can see you can’t do it like that on a hope.

Just get on with it. An XX/XG999 cassette is the only one that won’t mark it, and they’re more than a whole new pair of hubs.