Rear Cassette Rivets

[hondated]

Given the sprockets on the cassettes fit to a splined shaft can anybody tell me why on the more expensive cassettes five of the sprockets are riveted.
I ask as I want to make up my own cassette from several I have got and I am wondering whether just fitting the sprockets and spacers onto the shaft without the rivets could cause me any problems. Thanks

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I am assuming this.
Lightness / more rigid.

Watch out if swapping cogs as they are unique to that build, ie, changing gear might be more problematic as the ramps won't synchronise.........

[Ray]

I never had trouble fitting the sprockets un-riveted as you describe - until I did it on a (fairly cheap) wheel with alloy splines. The separate sprockets (steel) bit into the alloy, and it was a hell of a job to remove the cassette. I am not a big, powerful rider by any means. If you do use separate sprockets, my advice is (a) to avoid alloy splines and (b) to fasten the cassette locking ring very firmly.

I always use Shimano hubs. I seem to remember someone suggesting that Campag splines are deeper, and therefore less likely to suffer from this problem.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I hadent really thought of the fact that when riveted up the load is spread more over the whole freehub splines, good point.
Lower ranges high torque, smaller cogs low torque.
Cassettes have been riveted like this (not my image above that's latter on) for many years, maybe not all models on all ranges?
Uniglide the forerunner of hyperglide used bolts with one cog threaded, some still do ?

[reohn2]

Given the sprockets on the cassettes fit to a splined shaft can anybody tell me why on the more expensive cassettes five of the sprockets are riveted.
I ask as I want to make up my own cassette from several I have got and I am wondering whether just fitting the sprockets and spacers onto the shaft without the rivets could cause me any problems. Thanks

The answer to your question is to buy cheaper end cassettes,Tiagra or Deore work just as good as Ultergra or XT etc and last just as long.They just weigh a little more,but can be split to make up your own custom cassettes which you can't with the high end stuff

[RickH]

All the Campag cassettes I've bought (mostly Veloce 10 speed) have just been a collection of loose sprockets & spacers, albeit supplied on a holder to keep them all together until you slide them onto the splines of the freehub.

I think may still have an old, worn 7-speed Shimano cassette floating around that has 3 bolts holding it together, the holes in the smallest sprocket being threaded.

As a side note, I was having a close look at a SRAM XG-1150 10-42 11 speed cassette



I was surprised how little metal there was in it. Only the largest sprocket extends to the freehub & is splined. It appears that only the smallest 3 sprockets make contact with the captive internal locking piece (I nearly called it a lockring but it is much deeper than a ring running the full width from the space inside the cassette). All the sprockets are pinned to their neighbours & each sprocket is a 2-3mm circle of metal with teeth on the external edge & a few struts on the internal side to locate the joining pins from the next smallest sprocket. It is only the joining pins (123 of them it says in the link above, I've not checked) stopping 10 of the sprockets from rotating independently. Seems to work OK though.

[peetee]

The answer to your question is to buy cheaper end cassettes,Tiagra or Deore work just as good as Ultergra or XT etc and last just as long

I would go along with that. IIRC I weighed a Tiagra 12-28 10 speed with direct mount cogs and it was around 20g heavier than the comparable 105 with alloy top-cogs carrier.

I occasionally need to fit 7 speed cassettes which are hard to come by. The most economical way to get round this is to remove the top cog from an wider ratio 8 speed cassette by drilling out the 3 blind rivets.

[reohn2]

The answer to your question is to buy cheaper end cassettes,Tiagra or Deore work just as good as Ultergra or XT etc and last just as long

I would go along with that. IIRC I weighed a Tiagra 12-28 10 speed with direct mount cogs and it was around 20g heavier than the comparable 105 with alloy top-cogs carrier.

I occasionally need to fit 7 speed cassettes which are hard to come by. The most economical way to get round this is to remove the top cog from an wider ratio 8 speed cassette by drilling out the 3 blind rivets.

You don't need to drill out the rivet heads,a sharp tap with a hammer and centre punch from small cog side will shear off the rivet heads.
8sp cassettes are spaced the same as 7sp ones,and 7,8 and 9sp sprockets are all the same thickness and so are interchangable with the correct spacers.
A 9sp top cog and integral steel spacer can be used on 8sp custom cassettes with a Shimano 1mm spacer as the indexing for top gear is taken care of by the top limit screw on the mech.

As an aside,the only cassette we've ever damaged on the tandem due to a mistimed change on a steep Welsh climb,was a 9sp XT one on which we bent out of alignment one of the large sprockets,No2 I think,due to their flimsy build.
I don't think there'd be enough torque going through the drivetrain of a solo to cause the same problem,but looking at the photo in Rickh's post above the huge range 11sp 11/40t looks lacking in metal to me.

[ANTONISH]

The only problem I had mixing and matching individual Shimano sprockets was when I had some "chatter" from the two largest. Presumably the inevitable chain misalignment didn't help. I riveted these two together and all was fine.

[hondated]

Thanks everyone for your responses to my question some great information there.
After making up a 11,13,15,16,17,19, 21,23,25 cassette I used it today with a 48-38-24 CS and it did not seem as hard work as the 11-34 x 44-32-22 CS
I have been using. I mainly used the 19 x 38 and on several hills the 21 x 38.
On reflection given its local rides I do think the 11 -34 x 44-32-22CS was a bit of over kill on my part. Appreciate any of your opinions on that.
I think my next step now might be to remove the 11 & 16t and replace them with a 27 & 30t. Again appreciate all opinions on that as well.

[MikeF]

I occasionally need to fit 7 speed cassettes which are hard to come by.

Good selection here and the 13-34 has a spacing of 24-29-34 compared with the 8 speed one which has 24-28-34.

[MikeF]

On reflection given its local rides I do think the 11 -34 x 44-32-22CS was a bit of over kill on my part. Appreciate any of your opinions on that.

Maybe. It depends whereabouts in Eastbourne you are. I cycled on the eastern side of Eastbourne earlier this year and couldn't believe how flat it is; the bike seemed to freewheel easily in any direction. It seemed absurd so many people were in cars. However if you go over the Downs those low gears could be useful.

[hondated]

On reflection given its local rides I do think the 11 -34 x 44-32-22CS was a bit of over kill on my part. Appreciate any of your opinions on that.

Maybe. It depends whereabouts in Eastbourne you are. I cycled on the eastern side of Eastbourne earlier this year and couldn't believe how flat it is; the bike seemed to freewheel easily in any direction. It seemed absurd so many people were in cars. However if you go over the Downs those low gears could be useful.

Hi Mike sounds like the area that is part of my routes. I try to cycle include at least once a week in my rides a ride over to Birling Gap and up to Beachy Head so let's when I need my low gears.
Great scenery

[MikeF]

On reflection given its local rides I do think the 11 -34 x 44-32-22CS was a bit of over kill on my part. Appreciate any of your opinions on that.

Maybe. It depends whereabouts in Eastbourne you are. I cycled on the eastern side of Eastbourne earlier this year and couldn't believe how flat it is; the bike seemed to freewheel easily in any direction. It seemed absurd so many people were in cars. However if you go over the Downs those low gears could be useful.

Hi Mike sounds like the area that is part of my routes. I try to cycle include at least once a week in my rides a ride over to Birling Gap and up to Beachy Head so let's when I need my low gears.
Great scenery

If you cycle over Beachy Head and need those low gears then it would be pointless to change. The lowest gear I have is 24x32 around 20 gear inches, and the 1 in 5 hills around here are too much for me even with that gear. As age creeps on I need lower ones not higher ones! The 44x11 will give you quite a high gear for the really flat bits, nearly 110 gear inches. You could always try 46-34-24 chainrings or perhaps the cheaper option of a more closely spaced cassette.

[reohn2]

The question I ask myself with gearing is,which gears do I use least and can do without?
The answer invariably is the big ones,that's how I arrived at top gear of 90inch(46x14 on 700cx40mm tyres),the lowest 3 gears(24x25/28/32) are seldom used but when I do use them they're needed so are bailouts for bad days,tired legs and steep hills.
The rest are gears with a nice progression that keep my legs close to my optimum sweet spot cadence of around 90rpm.
So in the most used gears I look for 2 tooth steps 15/17/19/21/23/25 as I find these are nice ratios gaps for my optimum cadence window,anything wider I have to spin the gear I'm in juusstt a leettle bit too higher than I like to get on top of the next gear.
What I don't find comfortable is a slooowww cadence, though the wider gaps in the lower gears doesn't matter as much as too low a gear when climbing isn't a problem and I don't mind spinning that gear out a bit,sometimes upto 110 or 120 rpm as it's a rarety I can cope with.
The triple 46/34/24 chainset with a 9sp 14-15-17-19-21-23-25-28-32,gives the progression and spread of gearing to suit my riding and also keeps a straightish chainline in the most used gears.
Hope this is of some help