Cycling UK Forum

As in here?

https://spacycles.co.uk/m8b0s150p4880/T ... 9-Cassette

Do folks rate them compared to the "safe" buy of Shimano?

Anyone any experience of them?

Fair to assume that they don't actually make them anyway so they are most likely made by someone better at the job than Tifosi/

Anyone any idea who might make them?

In these straightened times with supply issues and certain retailers like Rose cut off from us over the water I guess a fair few folks are looking at alternative sources.

Interesting. This would be a better cassette for me - I hate the 17 to 20 gap in the middle of a Shimano one. Hopefully the top 2 sprockets are loose and easily changed to 13 and 14 to make this a really useful cassette.

MartinC wrote: ↑17 Aug 2022, 10:56am Interesting. This would be a better cassette for me - I hate the 17 to 20 gap in the middle of a Shimano one. Hopefully the top 2 sprockets are loose and easily changed to 13 and 14 to make this a really useful cassette.

My favourite cassette for two of my 9 speeds is a 12-36 (like you, as I read you, I don't want an 11T) but haven't found anyone who does them, tho you can find other folks doing 11-36.
In line with your other point/last sentence i briefly pondered swapping the 11 for a 12T, but question - where do you get those small spare cogs from at a price that makes it a realistic option?

I am using a 12-36 at the moment. In the past you could easily get spare sprockets from Rose and just getting a 14 would do the trick on an 11-34 'cos the 13 sprocket was a lipped and ridged top sprocket anyway if my memory serves me correctly. I have made 13-30 9 speed cassettes in the past by taking the top 3 sprockets off a 13-25 cassette but it's a dearer way to do it.

MartinC wrote: ↑17 Aug 2022, 11:40am I am using a 12-36 at the moment. In the past you could easily get spare sprockets from Rose and just getting a 14 would do the trick on an 11-34 'cos the 13 sprocket was a lipped and ridged top sprocket anyway if my memory serves me correctly. I have made 13-30 9 speed cassettes in the past by taking the top 3 sprockets off a 13-25 cassette but it's a dearer way to do it.

yep I used to use Rose - have the idea they were still £3 plus - so never really seemed worth the bother and expence.

Can always make minimal use of an 11T I suppose.

Anyone got any views/info on those Tifosi cassettes.

I noted later that Spa seems to be offering an extra 10 per cent off if you buy 3, which on the face of it, in these times, makes them very good value.

I bought three for the extra discount (essentially a free cassette compared to the price of 2 elsewhere) seem fine apart from perhaps being heavy but I ride a bike for excercise so that matters not a hot. Hopefully being all steel they should be long lasting, too early to tell that though.

wirral_cyclist wrote: ↑17 Aug 2022, 1:06pm I bought three for the extra discount (essentially a free cassette compared to the price of 2 elsewhere) seem fine apart from perhaps being heavy but I ride a bike for excercise so that matters not a hot. Hopefully being all steel they should be long lasting, too early to tell that though.

sorry to be pedantic wirral - so you have fitted one and ridden a fair few miles on one?

Fitted but ridden 50 miles only. A freshly waxed new chain runs nice and quietly, so out of the box I have no issues - unlike some chinesium bits I've had.

I wouldn't expect Spa to stock rubbish.

wirral_cyclist wrote: ↑17 Aug 2022, 1:30pm Fitted but ridden 50 miles only. A freshly waxed new chain runs nice and quietly, so out of the box I have no issues - unlike some chinesium bits I've had.

I wouldn't expect Spa to stock rubbish.

Thanks wirral, will give serious consideration.
Feel free to post and more impressions after further testing.

My favourite cassette for two of my 9 speeds is a 12-36 (like you, as I read you, I don't want an 11T) but haven't found anyone who does them

Hopkinson have 9sp 12-36 HG400 cassettes in stock.

https://hopkinsoncycles.co.uk/product/c ... tain-bike/

They're distributed in the UK by https://www.chickencyclekit.co.uk/shop/cassettes who have a 100-year reputation to uphold
They look accurately made, perhaps you could contact them and report back?

MartinC wrote: ↑17 Aug 2022, 11:40am I have made 13-30 9 speed cassettes in the past by taking the top 3 sprockets off a 13-25 cassette but it's a dearer way to do it.

Acquire a (Shimano) 12-27: 9-speed cassette. 12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27.
Get rid of the 12-13 high gears. Add a 13 top sprocket and a 30 low-end sprocket.

You will end up with: 13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30.

Covers all bases if you also run a triple.

Or a Tifosi cassette MCX37: 13/14/15/16/17/19/22/25/28. Get rid of the 16 and add a 30.

I have several 12-27 9-speed cassettes and some 13 top sprockets.

I can help someone out if they want to emulate what I've achieved.

De Sisti wrote: ↑18 Aug 2022, 6:29pm
Get rid of the 12-13 high gears. Add a 13 top sprocket and a 30 low-end sprocket.

Yes, I've contemplated this. The advantage of marrying the front 3 with the end 6 of two cassettes preserves the original position of all the sprockets and (hopefully, I've never checked this in detail but they change as smoothly as a standard cassette) their ramp timing.

I'd never heard of Tifosi cassettes, but decided to try the 11-34 as an alternative to my usual Shimano 11-32. On paper, I liked the spacing of the ratios. I ordered one from Spa and was able to give it a ride today.

My 30 mile test ride on undulating roads confirmed my expectations that the gaps in the ratios between each sprocket were ideal for me and allowed me to maintain a steady cadence without an unwanted 'jump' in the middle of the cassette. The changes were perhaps slightly less slick than a new Shimano cassette, but not significantly inferior.

I fitted the cassette to my 3 x 9 geared tandem. As a matter of course, I shift into small / small (26 x 11) when I finish a ride to take all the pressure off the cables and derailleurs. I normally reverse the tandem up the driveway and into the garage. What surprised me was when wheeling the bike backwards, the chain kept climbing up the cassette, as though the shifting ramps on the sprockets worked in both directions. The chainline on the tandem is OK and although I would never ride cross-chained to this extent, I don't have this issue with Shimano cassettes. Hardly a deal breaker and it wouldn't stop me using a Tifosi cassette (I do like the gear spacing) but it is just a little odd.

I've just bought 3 of these Tifosi 9-sp 11-34 cassettes because of the ratios. The extreme cogs look like they can be treated as over/under drives which I'm hoping will suit recumbent riding.