Is the steel any harder in Alivio vs Deore cassette

9 speed on CRC are £18 vs £10

Also will chain rings better than Deore last longer and be better value in the long run

Thanks for your help

PS i snapped the chain and it looks too worn to do the chain only. Impressed at how cheap 9 speed stuff is now

Like a lead balloon……..

Last chance

clearly wheel size is much more exciting

I don’t know the answer to your question as I have not tried them to see.

I don’t see that the Deore will give 180% of the service of the alivio

What it might do is give a better quality shift for longer.

My advice for keeping drive-train costs down are to clean the chain after every ride – and keep checking it. Swap the chain early enough and you can save the other components. Some advocate getting 2 chains from nes and having one in a jar of diesel / petrol to clean it then swapping every so often (this is easy to do with a quick link)

Hope this helps!

Did someone mention wheel size in here. Now that’s a topic I can get on board with!

The Deore cassettes last a long time, I’m on to my third chain, but they weigh a lot so worth fathoming that into your decision.

I don’t think anyone has done a hardness test on both. Both will last for ages I reckon.

If you just want the bike to work over the winter save the £8 I’d say.

I run alvio cassettes on my commuter, functions perfectly but heavy.
Deore rings work perfectly but are steel so heavy, i swopped out the brand new xt rings on my crank with deore as I wanted 36t and they were a £10.
Work as well as any other ring but as said above heavier than a more expensive alu ring but will last much longer.

I use alvio on some bikes to xt on others, all work perfectly just the more you spend the less it weighs.

By swapping chains and cassettes as needed, usually two chains and one cassette a year, the Deore chainset on my 3×9 lasted for over 4 years quite happily, even then the 32 was quite worn , 22 not far behind and the 44 barely worn at all. I changed the rings for Superstar ( wasn’t expecting much) and here we are, 18 months later and they are shagged. Not going 1×10, but expect to be 2×9 this time next week and back to Deore rings for certain.

Are we talking just nine speed or Enduro nine speed? If it’s the latter then it’s likely to be 150% more gnarr. You can double that again if you’re going 650B which will make every gear shift come alive.

With a winter bike you’re going to get it covered in claggy mud anyway, so even the most svelte of XC machines will end up weighing the same as a mid-noughties All Mountain monster. I suppose it all comes down to shifting quality, in which case I’ve never had cause to complain about Deore.

Thanks folks

My commuter is 8 speed Alivio and shifts fine

Apparently the Alivio Deore weigh about the same. Its further up the range tha the alloy carriers save weight

I think I’ll go cheap as it will ground in gloop and possibly under loved

Thank you all