SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

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hoogerbooger
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SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by hoogerbooger »

Currently have a SRAM 10 speed groupset on a road bike. I'll need to change the cassette soon. £52 for the 11-36 SRAM 1050 cassette ....£28 for the Shimano 11-36 HG50, which is only slightly heavier. On-line it seems to say SRAM/Shimano cassettes are fully cross compatible. But my LBS shop says best to stick with a matching SRAM cassette.

I think he's telling a porky ? I can see that with change timing that the chainrings should be matched and the sprockets on the cassette should be matched, but I cannot see that the timing at the front affects the timing at the rear or that the rear SRAM derailleur could be technically prejudiced against a non-SRAM cassette.

Anyone agree with MY LBS ? if so why ?

( no idea how SRAM get away with charging so much more otherwise......unless they last twice as long )
old fangled
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cycleruk
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by cycleruk »

SRAM/Shimano 10 speed cassettes have the same spacing and Sram fit Shimano freehubs.
No reason that you can't use any Shimano cassette as long it's in the range compatible with the rear derailleur.
You'll never know if you don't try it.
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geomannie
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by geomannie »

cycleruk wrote: 20 Mar 2023, 6:54pm SRAM/Shimano 10 speed cassettes have the same spacing and Sram fit Shimano freehubs.
No reason that you can't use any Shimano cassette as long it's in the range compatible with the rear derailleur.
What cycleruk said. I generally run SRAM cassettes on my otherwise largely Shimano drivetrain so no problems going the other way.
geomannie
mattsccm
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by mattsccm »

SRAM/Shimano are the same spacing as are the Chinese ones. Mega bucks may get you slightly better quality of shifting and longevity but may be not.
Other than that buy what's cheapest.
TheBomber
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by TheBomber »

Like Geomannie I also have a Sram cassette in a Shimano 10 speed (road) setup and it mainly works. It’s not quite as good as the Ultegra I also have but Shimano 10 speed runs on a knife edge so that may be what your LBS is thinking of. However, as I understand it, the much greater cable pull of Sram means that it is far less finikie so you should be fine.

Note the stop screws on your rear mech may need adjusting when switching between brands as they don’t sit on the freehub body in quite the same way.
NickJP
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by NickJP »

I've been using ZTTO cassettes for a number of years. From my experience, the shifting and cassette life are on a par with SRAM/Shimano, and the cost is considerably less. Their 11-36 10s cassette, for example, is £16: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32906597254.html. Postage generally seems to take three or four weeks for items to arrive after ordering.
torrens
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by torrens »

If your current 10sp SRAM cassette fits on your freehub without a spacer then I think you’ll need to fit a 1mm spacer if you swap to a Shimano 10 speed road cassette.
At least, IIRC, that*s what I do on my 10 speed road bike (using a 11-28 road cassette).
AndyK
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by AndyK »

Eee, I remember the days when SRAM cassettes were the cheap option and I could be smug knowing that my SRAM cassette had cost half the Shimano one everyone else was buying. I do wonder if SRAM are losing the plot in the same way Campagnolo did.

SRAM's UK distributor sent me a SRAM/Shimano compatibility wallchart a while back - see attached photos. For completeness I've included all three pages of it, with recommendations for chains and lower-speed cassettes, in case it's of use to anyone.

It turns out that SRAM consider the PG-1030 (not the PG-1050) to be the equivalent of Shimano's HG50. (Brilliant naming job there by the marketing team.) If you accept that then the price differential isn't quite so great - but the HG50 is still cheaper then the PG-1030, both at trade price and RRP. The HG50 will be fully compatible. To pick up on torrens' point, if your current cassette has a spacer behind it, you'll need that spacer for the Shimano cassette. If it doesn't have a spacer, the new one won't need one either. The cassettes are the same depth-wise, it's the freehub that makes the difference - and you're not changing that. Things become more complicated at 11-speed.
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Sum
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by Sum »

The higher-end Shimano 10 speed road cassettes are shorter by 1mm and require a 1mm spacer to fit on a 'normal' 10/9/8-speed, MTB 11-speed hub. The Shimano compatibility chart shows which ones:-

https://productinfo.shimano.com/#/com?a ... &cid=C-544

The lower-end 10 speed road cassettes don't e.g. the Tiagra CS-HG500-10, CS-4600 etc. SRAM 10-speed road cassettes are a direct fit without the need for such a spacer.
hoogerbooger
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by hoogerbooger »

Thank you all. I will probably try the shimano CS-HG50.

(current SRAM cassette is on a Mavic Askium hub and has a spacer. Will presume that is needed..... plus have others available of varying widths, should the cassette prove of differing stack height. Potential to reset stops noted)
old fangled
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Sum
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by Sum »

Your Mavic hub may be 11 speed road compatible, i.e. the freehub is longer than a 8/9/10 speed freehub, and may have been supplied with a 1.75 or 1.85 mm spacer. You will need that spacer for a 8/9/10 speed cassette.

Some Mavic hubs came with a 0.55 mm spacer to allow the cassette to clear the flange.
https://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Cassett ... _3257.html

Edit: Forgot to add that the Shimano CS-HG50-10 is a MTB cassette and won't need an additional 1mm spacer that some of the 10 speed road cassettes require to fit on a 'normal' 8/9/10 speed freehub. It's only the road cassettes CS-7900 / CS-7800 / CS-6700 / CS-6600 / CS-5700 / CS-5600 that require the 1mm spacer (according to the Shimano compatibility chart I linked to previously).
gxaustin
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by gxaustin »

Sum wrote: 22 Mar 2023, 8:03am Your Mavic hub may be 11 speed road compatible, i.e. the freehub is longer than a 8/9/10 speed freehub, and may have been supplied with a 1.75 or 1.85 mm spacer. You will need that spacer for a 8/9/10 speed cassette.
I have a 1999 pair of Mavic Cosmos wheels on which I have fitted a Shimano 11 speed cassette.
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CyberKnight
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Re: SRAM/Shimano 10 speed compatibility

Post by CyberKnight »

I use microshift cassettes with no issues with sram or shimano
11-36 for a tenner from CRC , order a couple and something else like an inner tube to get free postage over £20
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mic ... lsrc=aw.ds
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